"Be careful who you call your friend. I'd rather have four quarters than a hundred pennies." ~ Al Capone.
I took a sip of my whiskey while I waited for my crew to show up with my take of this week's cut from my investments and other illicit businesses. As Junior had suggested I started delegating my business to my crew. Sky I had keeping an eye on my investments and made sure that everything was properly collected. Dove I trusted with the gambling schemes since he was the one to come up with it in the first place. And Russel started to run that bootlegging racket Toshi and I had started. Since Toshi was busy with his new duties for the Clan and I was busy working for Roman I had little choice but to have someone run that little business and Russel seemed the best for the job.
The door to the bar opened and I watched as Cardin and the rest of my crew arrived with my money. "Hey boss," Cardin greeted, flopping the envelope onto the table for me to pick up before sliding onto the bar stool next to me.
"Hey Gent," Russel said, giving me his payment before sliding next to me on my other side. "I might have a special deal to line up for some bootleg games."
"Oh?" I asked him, stuffing the cash into my jacket.
"One of our sellers came to me, some faunus apparently wanted to make a large order and have us fill it, he promised them that he'd talk to us about it," he explained to me.
"A large order?" I asked him, finding the idea a little strange. No one made orders for my bootleg business, I just gave my sellers whatever was selling well. "What do they want?"
"I don't know," Russel said with a shrug while the rest of my crew gave me their cash. "But they apparently are willing to pay good money so I thought I'd ask you about it."
"Did they leave the seller with a number?" I asked him.
"They did," Russel said to me. "Should I call and make a meeting?"
"Go ahead," I told him with a wave of my hand. "You know my schedule so just tell me what can be arranged."
I looked to the rest of them. "Anything else to report?" I asked them.
"There's some trouble with a few of those businesses under your protection," Sky explained to me. "But nothing I don't think I can handle without Cardin."
"Do what you have to," I told Sky before sipping down more of my whiskey. "You guys hungry? Dinner is on me."
They looked at one another. "We were actually planning on getting some beers and some pizza at our place," Dove explained to me.
"What's the occasion?" I asked, taking another sip.
"Poker night," Russel said, "Sky Dove and I used to have a weekly game back at Beacon so we're trying to restart the tradition."
I raised an eyebrow at Cardin, "you're not playing?"
"Cardin doesn't gamble," Dove explained flatly.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "He bet on those fights you helped us rig."
"Those were fixed," Cardin explained, "it's not real gambling."
"You want to join us?" Russel asked me. "We don't really hang out very often… it's usually just business when we get together."
"You want me to join you guys for poker?" I asked him, surprised by the suggestion.
"Sure," Sky said to me. "The more the merrier, we've been needing to hang out with you more."
I shrugged and downed the rest of my whiskey. "Sure why not?" I asked actually a little flattered to be invited to their game. I wasn't exactly a poker player but I figured I had more than enough money to lose learning.
"Before you go boss..." Cardin said, awkwardly scratching his head. "I need to take this Thursday off."
I raised an eyebrow at him that was the day after tomorrow. "There's a shop that we're supposed to hit this Thursday, it's going to be a big job," I explained to him.
"I know but… I was kind of thinking that I could sit that one out, you can split my cut with the rest of the crew," he explained to me calmly.
"What's going on next Thursday?" I asked him, wanting to know why he had suddenly decided to ask for that night off.
"That's my business," Cardin told me.
"Well your business is interfering with my business so I'm afraid I can't just give you that night off," I told him pointedly. I didn't like last minute changes.
"Boss… it's kind of important," he told me, almost begging.
"Can you tell me what it is?" I asked him noticing that the cuff of his suit jacket was frayed a little. That just fueled my annoyance.
"It's personal," he told me, averting his eyes.
"That's not good enough!" I told him, more sternly than I should have.
"We can just get some more muscle," Dove said, trying to defuse the confrontation.
"I want to do it with my crew," I told them, looking at them all. "Roman is going to be with us that night and things run smoothly with everyone there, we need to look good in front of him."
"I'm sure it'll be fine, it's just one less set of hands," Sky said, defending his former team leader.
"No I'll do it," Cardin cut in, relenting to my decisions and still not telling me what was so important that he wanted the day off. "I'm sorry, next time I'll try to give you more warning boss."
I nodded to him. "See that you do," I told him, reaching out and grabbing the frayed cuff of his jacket. "And another thing, get a real suit Cardin, you look like you bought this at a fucking thrift store."
Cardin just nodded to me. I took a little too much pleasure bossing him around like that, I was being a huge asshole to him.
"Come on boss," Russel said. "It's just a suit, there's no need to break his balls over it."
"It's not about the suit," I told them. "It's about image, we're meeting with Roman's caporegimes and if Cardin here dresses like a bum then I look like a bum. Capisce?"
"Capisce," the rest of them agreed. I could tell I made them all uncomfortable as I laid into their leader.
Cardin nodded and we all filed out to leave the bar behind and go to the poker night. Cardin made off to his own vehicle. "Have a good night," he said to all of us before driving off as the rest of us drove to the poker game.
"You all three live here?" I asked them as we arrived into a little three bedroom apartment downtown. It wasn't what I'd call a nice apartment but it was pretty spacious if a little run down.
"Yeah we got it after we started working for you," Russel said, pouring me a glass of beer while Dove sat down at the kitchen table and shuffled the cards.
I took a good gulp of the beer as I waited for Dove to deal the cards. Sky was ordering the pizzas on his scroll. "Where's Cardin staying?" I asked, finding it strange that he was the only one not living with them.
"Cardin… he lives with his family," Sky said to me, setting his scroll down on the table.
"Oh," I said. I didn't know that Cardin had family in this city. In all honestly I had never even tried imagining Cardin as someone with a family, I just saw him as Cardin.
Sky gave me a serious look as Dove passed out the cards observing as Russel sat down to my left with his glass of beer. "You shouldn't be so hard on him boss," Russel said to me. "I know he gave you a rough time back at Beacon but he wasn't the only one, we all did our share of picking on you back then."
"Cardin was at the forefront of it all," I said simply, wishing that we could just get to playing poker instead of having an intervention.
"Maybe so dude but we're trying to put that shit behind us," Russel told me. "And it seems you've gotten over the rest of us being dicks to you."
"Cardin is too proud to say it Jaune but… he's actually very grateful for you paying off that debt," Sky told me. "He needed that money badly and you saved his ass."
I looked at them all. "Why did Cardin need that money?" I asked them, voicing what was bothering me.
They didn't say anything. They all looked down, averting their eyes from me.
"Come on tell me," I ordered them. "If Cardin isn't happy then tell him that I twisted your arms. But how the fuck did Cardin end up seventy five grand in debt to a loan shark? What the fuck did he do?"
"It wasn't Cardin that owed the guy," Sky admitted to me with a sigh. He took a gulp of beer before continuing. "It was his dad… he borrowed it from the loan shark and then he gambled it all away like an idiot."
I felt like such a fucking asshole.
"Cardin's old man skipped town when he couldn't pay up," Russel continued on. "So that loan shark put the squeeze on his family. He showed up at his little sister's school, dragged her into his car and drove her home. He then told her to tell her mother that if they didn't start making payments then the next time he wouldn't be driving her home. She'd just disappear."
"Fuck," I said. And considering this loan shark was in league with the Atlesians and helped get Cardin a job as muscle for Michail I could only imagine how she would have disappeared. "He should have told me."
"Cardin is too proud for that," Sky said. "He didn't want to look at that money or his job as a handout."
I sighed. "I take it the rest of you know what's so important about Thursday?" I asked thinking that if I was in for a penny I was in for a lien.
"His mother's birthday," Russel told me. "He's been planning an expensive dinner and shopping spree for the whole family."
I wanted to shoot myself for being such an ass. I had wondered what Cardin was doing with all the money I was paying him and I had assumed that he was losing it the same way he lost it to that loan shark. I was completely off, he was using that money to support the people who were most important to him. With our checkered history I had judged Cardin all wrong.
"Give me a second," I said putting my cards down on the table and standing up. "Finish ordering those pizzas I'll be in the hallway."
I got up and fished my scroll out of my pocket and dialed Cardin's number as I leaned against the wall.
"Boss?" Cardin asked as he picked up.
"Hey Cardin..." I said to him. "Go ahead and take Thursday off," I told him plainly.
There was a long pause on his end. "What changed your mind?" he asked me.
"I was thinking that it would probably be better to get Neopolitan on this job," I lied to preserve his pride. I was sure that I could probably convince her to tag along with us, Roman was going to be there after all. Though Cardin's cut certainly wouldn't be enough for her, I'd take it from my own.
"You sure?" he asked me.
"Yeah don't worry about it, I'll do it with someone else," I told him. "Enjoy your night off."
"Thank you boss," Cardin said to me.
"Forget about it," I told him. "Oh and about your suits."
"Don't worry I'll dress nicer," he assured me.
"Yeah you will," I told him. "Friday I'm taking you suit shopping. Are you familiar with a store called Vinnie's Threads?"
"No I never heard of it," Cardin said to me.
"Well you're going to look like a million lien in one of Marcello's suits, they're so sharp they should be illegal," I bragged to him, remembering when O-Ushi brought me there to get a full wardrobe of his fitted suits.
"That sounds a little too rich for me," Cardin said apprehensively.
"But not too rich for me," I told him. "Don't worry it's my treat Cardin, you're one of my boys so I'm gonna see that you look the part."
"I… thanks boss," he said clearly a little stunned by my sudden generosity.
"Don't mention it," I said, "have a good night."
"Goodnight Jaune," Cardin said to me.
I hung up and returned to the table where they all waited. I was sure that they had overheard me and I was fine with that.
"The pizzas are on their way," Sky reported to me.
"Great," I said, grabbing my beer and taking a big long gulp. "Let's play some fucking cards."
It hardly took me any time at all to lose almost all my chips to Dove. I had to buy more just to stay in the game. "Where did you learn to be so good at poker?" I asked him, throwing down a crappy hand to fold.
"Some friends at school taught me how to count cards," Dove said proudly, stacking his chips smugly. "It was the only time I ever really cared to learn math."
"I got to learn that," I said, taking a bit of pizza.
"You also got a pretty obvious tell," Dove said as Russel shuffled the cards again.
"Really?" I asked him, counting my remaining chips. I wasn't exactly worried about losing my money since I had a fair amount of pocket cash to throw around but I was at least hoping to end this game not looking like a complete fool.
"Whenever you have a strong hand you stare at your cards," Dove explained, he looked at his own hand and folded immediately. "When you have a weak hand I noticed you keep your cards on the table and don't look at them."
"Shit," I said, realizing that he was right.
"Dove knows all of our tells," Sky said, cracking open another can of beer and filling his glass.
"Yeah we usually have to just be lucky," Russel explained, setting a chip into the pot.
"Luck is never on your side," Dove teased with a sinister chuckle.
"Yeah yeah," Russel said, watching as I matched his bid. Sky folded.
"So why do you keep playing Dove if all he does is take your money?" I asked, finding the little tradition amusing as Russel and I put our cards down. I beat him with three of a kind over his two pair.
"Because while Dove might be a hell of a poker player we can certainly try to break even playing each other," Russel explained as I claimed the pot stacking the meager winning of poker chips.
"And it's always satisfying when we actually manage to beat him," Sky added.
"It's happened," Russel said, "every dog has its day afterall."
I shuffled the deck and divided out the hands to see that I had a straight flush. My scroll buzzed with a text and I set my cards face down to pick it up. It was from Neo.
Meet up with me tomorrow. Roman talked to Jacky Fontane about getting you set up in a club. We'll be looking at places tomorrow.
"What's that?" Sky asked me.
"It's Neo," I answered them, picking up my scroll. "She wants me to meet one of Roman's old friends to find a location for that club."
They all stared at me. "So you're really going to start up a club?" Sky asked me.
"I'm certainly thinking about it," I told him as I texted Neo back, a little amused that the little fib had brought me here of all places.
I'm looking forward to it. Would you mind if I asked the twins to tag along? They certainly know their nightclubs.
"Damn that'll be fine," Russel said, shaking out and lighting a cigarette. I bet more on my hand choosing to keep it lying on the table as if I had a bad hand like Dove said I did.
Dove grinned as he upped the bet making Russel and Sky fold. "We could certainly have a nice place to hang out. Make sure your club has plenty of girls there for us to meet."
I chuckled at them. "What makes you think I'm going to be able to attract girls? I'll just be happy if the club gets anyone going to it."
"I don't know how you do it boss but you've always surrounded yourself with hot girls. From your own team back at Beacon to hanging out all the time with team RWBY." Russel explained with an envious chuckle.
"And now you're awfully familiar with Neo and those twins," Dove added in.
"There was nothing going on at Beacon, and Neo's my superior," I said, trying to dismiss the idea that I had some kind of secret to attractive girls flocking around me.
"What about the Malachite twins?" Sky asked me, pressing the point.
"That's different," I mumbled bashfully.
"For real!?" Russel said. "You guys owe me a hundred lien."
"You bet on this?" I asked them incredulously.
"We all had our suspicions," Dove explained, pulling out his wallet to hand Russel the money.
"So are you guys dating or…?" Sky asked me tentatively.
"We're just friends with some benefits," I admitted to them. It wasn't like it was any secret, I just didn't see any point in flaunting it.
"So do they like... take turns with you or is it-?" Russel asked with a lustful grin on his face.
I shot him a glare and raised a finger, he stopped talking. "A Gentleman doesn't kiss and tell!" I told them dangerously. I wasn't about to share with them any of the scandalous details, that was my business.
"Sorry," Russel apologized.
My scroll buzzed again on the table as Neo texted me back, pulling my attention away from them.
Go ahead, just remember that we have a meeting with Roman that night. No time for fun time Gent ; ).
My face got a little warm reading the message.
"What'd she say?" Russel asked me.
"You're blushing," Dove added in.
"None of your business," I said, picking up my scroll.
I know, business before pleasure. I texted back to her unable to hide my smirk.
"Alright are we ready to read the cards?" Dove asked me.
"Yup," I said, laying down to reveal my straight flush that beat Dove's full house.
"Yes!" I said gathering my chips with pride.
We kept playing for most of the night and I was at least able to mostly break even during the game. I broke out some cigars that Roman had given me and we smoked them before setting up our game and spending the rest of the evening watching a few Spruce Willis movies that Russel had gotten from my bootlegging business. I ended up crashing on their couch since it was so late and I had gotten pretty drunk.
The next day after saying goodbye to all of them hungover and ready to start the day I got back to my apartment saying hello to Hana before I had my shower and shave before calling the twins and asking for them to offer their expertise on nightclubs. Thankfully they agreed easily enough when I promised them exclusive VIP access once the club was started and a decent meal. I gave them the details about where the meeting was supposed to be and I started my day by meeting Junior who was more than happy to offer his expertise on managing nightclubs.
I arrived at Georgetti's for lunch with Neo and saw that the twins were already there enjoying a bottle of wine and a basket of bread. As I was led to the table I watched as Melanie leaned over and whispered something in Neo's ear while giving me a sly little smirk as she did so.
"What are you whispering about?" I asked them as I took a seat and reached for my menu.
"Just some girl talk," Melanie answered me with false innocence in her voice.
"Ignore her," Milita said, picking up the bottle of wine and filling my glass. "She's just sharing her pervy thoughts with Neo."
I chuckled dismissively as I considered my order. "Hedonist," I said to Melanie who only beamed taking the title as more a badge of honor than an insult. I was sure whatever confidentiality I held for whatever happened with Melanie and Miltia in the bedroom was not reciprocated. Those two loved to gossip about all the dirty details. I was honestly surprised that they hadn't been bragging to my crew about what we did behind closed doors.
Neo silently giggled as well, giving me a warm smile.
I raised my hands and tried to sign to her. "Hey, how are you doing?" I spoke the words aloud as my hands tried communicating what I had been practicing in my free time with an app for my scroll.
A look of pleasant surprise crossed her face and she signed back at me. I was able to make out that she was well but past that I had little idea.
"Slow down please," I told her, "I'm just starting to learn and I only got some of the basics down."
Melanie giggled, "You're learning sign language?" she asked me with an amused look upon her face.
"Why is that funny?" I asked her. "We work together and I thought this would be better than just having her text me all the time."
"No it's great," Miltia assured me. "It's just... a pleasant surprise."
"I don't know if I'd call it a surprise," Melanie said, earning an elbow to the ribs from her sister. That only made her laugh harder. I felt like I was the butt of a joke that was going right over my head.
I looked at Neo. "What are they talking about?"
She reached for her scroll that laid on the table and tapped out a response. As much as I would have enjoyed having her sign the answer to me I wasn't that good yet.
Ignore them. She told me.
I shrugged and let it pass so we could get into the reason why we were all here. "So what can you tell me about this Mr. Fontane?" I asked looking over at the one chair that was still empty. Neo's hand began typing away on her scroll.
He's an old friend of the Family. He owns and runs a few legal businesses for us. She explained to me.
"So he's not actually in the Family itself?" I asked her for clarification.
She shook her head no.
"What kind of businesses does he run?" I asked her.
"He owns Glenn Records," Miltia said speaking up. "We've met him a few time to help book some shows for Junior's club, and he used to own a long string of clubs back in the day. He even helped Junior set his club up."
Neo nodded to confirm Miltia's explanation. He's also trying to retire so some of those old clubs he wants to sell off but keep them in the Family.
"I'm not really in the Family though," I reminded her.
Not yet. Neo texted, flashing me an encouraging smile.
I smiled back at that. That kind of encouragement from her meant a lot to me.
"Neo!" A weathered voice greeted and we turned to see an older man with grey hair wearing rose tinted glasses. Neo happily rose to greet him. He took both her hands in his and kissed them earning a grin. "Look how you've grown! Though not upwards I see," he teased her. Neo shook a finger at him teasingly. He really was a friend of the Family.
"Girls!" he said, turning his attention to Melanie and Miltia. "You're both looking as fashionable as ever. How's Junior doing?"
"He's doing well, thanks for telling us about that DJ's manager. Junior was able to have a wonderful birthday." Milita said to him, offering him a glass of wine which he graciously accepted.
"Anything for my friends," he said with a grin at them before looking right to me and removing his rose tinted glasses.
"Hello," I greeted him standing and offering my hand to him. "Jaune Arc," I said introducing myself to him.
"Good to meet you!" He said taking my hand eagerly and shaking. "So this is Roman's new guy? The Gentleman?" He asked Neo to receive a silent nod from her.
"It's an honor to meet such an old and esteemed friend of the Family," I said sitting down with him.
"Well it's a pleasure, I'm always happy to meet the new blood in the family. But I'm sure you're ready to talk business so let's get to it. What kind of Club are you hoping to open?" He asked me to fold his hands on the table. He didn't even bother with his menu.
I shrugged and picked up my wine glass. "It was honestly just a small little thought I haven't really given much thought too. I don't really know enough about clubs to give you an answer." I had expected that to put this guy off but he only grinned in delight.
"That's no problem young man I've been in this business a long time," he assured me. "Trust me I've dealt with this kind of problem before. But tell me if you wanted to go night after night to a club where would you go? Where would you like to relax or do business? Do you see yourself in a club like Junior's? Or something else?"
"Something else," I told him honestly, trying to imagine the type of club I could enjoy visiting night after night. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy Junior's place but it was a little much for me at times. "I want a place where the music isn't so loud and I can have a real conversation without having to strain my vocal cords. A bit more easygoing and relaxing than Junior's clubs."
"Sounds boring," Melanie said before taking a sip of her wine.
"Not at all!" Mr. Fontane said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You sound like you might want a nice lounge with some soft music, some good drinks and easy listening with a band instead of these disk jockeys. And some classy dancing unlike all this bumping and grinding I see kids doing this day."
"Hey!" Miltia objected.
Mr. Fontane waved his hand apologetically. "Sorry I meant you ladies no offence, but I might have an idea what you might be looking for Mr. Arc. I have some locations to show you after we eat."
I nodded to him, "sounds good."
We ate our lunch together while Mr. Fontane regaled us with his many stories as a nightclub owner, restaurant owner, record salesman and even a short career as an executive film producer. I was completely entranced with his stories. I had never thought that the Torchwick Family was so involved in show business but he had over fifty years of experience helping the Family invest their ill-begotten gains into whatever they fancied.
After lunch we took his car and he started showing me some of the locations he owned. A lot of these were old clubs that Fontane had either bought up or had seen better days and he was hoping to refurbish. Others were still functioning and under his ownership and he was hoping to pass them off. But after spending most of the afternoon nothing was seeming to really fit as we kept talking about what I wanted for my club.
Our last stop took us by the piers and I looked at an old brick building with blacked out windows. "This should be a treat," Fontane told me as he opened it up and we stepped inside. I noticed the art deco designs on the door and entrance as we stepped into the musky old building.
"I've been using this place for storage for the last couple of years but I'm planning on selling most of this junk anyways." He explained as he turned the lights on illuminating a dark and dusty interior filled with all kinds of stacked furniture and tables that he stored here. I looked out at the small club with a little stage and quaint little dance floor.
"Woah!" Milita exclaimed looking around at all the old decor. "This place is like… totally retro."
"Why is this place a treat?" I asked him as the girls and I walked around observing the old club in all it's faded glory.
"This was the Moonstone Club," Fontane told me with a proud grin. "It opened up over forty years ago, I bought it after Mountain Glenn fell to the grimm. Back in the day this was the hottest club in town." Fontane explained to me, showing us to the stage. "Right here is where Fank Martin started his career?"
I turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Frank Martin?" I asked, recognizing the name. Growing up with mom always playing his old records I was more than familiar with his music. I had even come to appreciate his music over the years.
"Back then I needed anyone who could sing to stand on that stage," he explained with a proud look on his face. "Franky came to Vale wanting to make a name for himself, once everyone heard that silky voice of his the place was packed to the rafters. It was honestly a shame that this club was so small so I bought a bigger venue."
"Damn," I said appreciatively. "Why did it close down?" I asked him.
"There were a few racketeering investigations back in the day that made the paper and gave the place a bad name and a couple of scandals." Fontane explained to me. "Plus the times changed and people weren't as interested in that kind of music. I tried even turning the place into a disco for a little while when that was popular but it was never the same."
He motioned us over to what was once the VIP section of the club and pointed to a booth that was covered with a plastic tarp to keep the dust off. "This used to be Luca's personal booth," he explained to us.
"Wow like… really?" Melanie asked. Even she was impressed with that little tidbit. I looked at it with a bit of awe myself.
"Really," Fontane assured her. "He used to sit in it every saturday night, he spent his last night before going to prison sitting there and listening to Franky sing. It was a hell of a party. I have some pictures I could show you."
The more I looked around at this club the more I liked the look of it. It was smaller than a lot of the other clubs and it felt kind of homely because of it. I walked all around checking the other three floors of the club with Melanie and Miltia looking at the kitchens, the bars and even the old cigar lounge that overlooked the stage.
"What do you guys think?" I asked them looking out from the cigar lounge over the rest of the dimly lit club.
"It would need a coat of polish," Melanie said.
"Naturally," Milita agreed with her. "But I mean… I think if you could get some good talent to play here then I could see some people maybe coming here. Things have certainly changed since that time but I'm sure there's plenty of people now that would like that retro music."
I looked down to see Fontane talking to some other clients on his scroll watching him appreciating the prestige the club used to enjoy.
"What do you think?" I asked aloud as I moved my hands to practice sign language to her.
My scroll buzzed as she texted me. I'm not exactly an expert on running clubs or businesses. But this place has a lot of history for the Family.
"It does," I agreed with her. "The way Mr. Fontane talks about it I can almost imagine what it was like back in the day."
Stepping down into the basement I looked at the various lights, amps and other supplies that Mr. Fontane had stored down here. "Well it won't be hard to find everything I'm going to need to get this club up and running," I said looking at some instruments that had been stored down here as well. I looked at a guitar case that was leaned up against a wall and opened it to find an old steel string inside. I pulled it out and gave the strings a little strum, seeing that it was out of tune.
My scroll buzzed and I looked at Neo's who was observing me.
You play? She had simply asked me.
"A little," I told her, feeling a little nostalgic for all those lessons mom had made me take. I remember hating it at first, until I was actually able to make sense of the sheet music and get my fingers adjusted to the cords.
"Sorry about that," Mr. Fontane said, joining us in the basement. "This stuff down here all used to belong to the club and I assure you a deal on anything you might need."
"That's good," I told him, mulling over the look of the place.
"Want to see something cool?" He asked me with a sly little grin.
"Sure," I told him.
"Come on, you're going to love this," he said, guiding us through the packed basement to the far wall. He touched the concrete surface and flipped some kind of switch. I watched as the wall swung inward revealing an entirely different room much larger than I had expected.
"Woah!" Melanie said looking around the spacious empty room. "This palace has a secret room?"
"Luca used to store his guns and other hot items here," Fontane explained to me. "We bought the basement space for the building next door and knocked the walls down for the extra space. See that trapdoor up top, it goes into the building next door."
"That's a lot of space for guns and stolen loot," I remarked seeing all kinds of opportunities for this bit of space. Toshi could open up that underground casino he was working on. I could get him and the Clan investing in this place then it would hardly matter if I could pack the place with clubbers, I could bring clients in to gamble in the basement.
"I think this is the place Mr. Fontane," I told him. It was impulsive but I needed something to invest a good amount of my money into. Even if it failed it wasn't like I was going to be here forever and I doubted that Ozpin would let me keep all that illicit money. I couldn't think of anything better to sink my money into.
"Really!?" Melanie and Miltia asked in unison.
I looked at Neo and smirked. "Yeah… I'll take the Moonstone Club."
"Well alright let's go get some champagne and celebrate." Mr. Fontane said, "we can talk about what changes we're going to be making and renaming it."
"I'm not going to rename it," I told him with a grin. "I'm going to reopen the Moonstone Club like it used to be in the old days."
Seeing that little smile curl Neo's lips made me feel like a million lien.
Mr. Fontnae grinned excitedly at the proposition. "Mr. Arc… leave everything to me."