The Troubleshooter

35- back at the casino

Nico POV

Watching the casino CCTV is like watching our own nightmare. The evening starts as I remember but as it progresses it gets gradually worse.

First Benji's friend is draped over Matt. There's no audio but you can tell she's whispering in his ear and I'd bet my kidney it's nothing platonic.

When Matt doesn't seem to have any plans to stop her it's Eddy that steps in, and then Tim before I stand up clearly on Matt's side.

Shit.

No punches are thrown but you can tell it's getting heated, only ending when security drags us all outside, and we are no longer in camera range.

For some reason we return, minus Eddy and Tim. Fuck I hope we didn't do anything stupid to them.

The rest of the CCTV is watched from between our fingers. None of us look good, but Matt by far is coming off the worst.

A girl straddling him as he drinks, like it's his own private lap dance slowly removing both of their clothes. Benji occasionally pacing the room watching the scene.

The only sounds in the room are the occasional "oh gods" from Matt. I don't need to look at him to know he'll look nauseous.

I can feel my cell buzzing in my pocket but I ignore it, as much as this is horrible to watch we need to focus, because we need to know what happens, how much damage was done.

Thankfully the girl climbs off Matt before it goes any further and Matt rejoins the game. Where we eventually see the contract come into play.

So that's how Benji got the shares, played for them? But how could we possibly have been that drunk?!

"Were we fucking roofied?!" Arty suddenly demands. His eyes focused on the screen where he's passed out on the table.

"Shit. I think you're right! That would explain why Matt let that girl grind on him" I reason.

"Why we didn't even try to stop him" Arty replies.

"Why we don't remember anything" Matt finishes.

"It must have been in the whisky, Sophie's friends were drinking beer that's why they were ok" Arty reasons.

There's gonna be hell to fucking pay when I see Benji. He knows how I feel about drugs and he pulls a stunt like this?!

Then tries framing Matt by getting him covered in hickies and stealing his shares?! He's always been a bit of an ass but this is like a whole other level of shit.

My cell buzzes again and I pull it out of my pocket. Shit five missed calls from Lili.

I hit dial hoping she's not pissed that I was ignoring her. This hope is short-lived when the call is answered and Lili's voice explodes through the speaker.

It's safe to bet she's heard about the shares.

"What the fuck were you idiots thinking drinking that much?! Do you even know how upset Soph is?! How could Matt do that? How could you let him?!" Lili shouts in one breath.

"Lil, calm down. Matt says not to worry about the shares." I try to soothe her.

"The shares? Who gives a shit about the shares? Sophie took less then five minutes to shut that bullshit down!" Lili continues.

I suddenly have a horrible feeling, like a weight in my gut.

"Then Sophie is upset because…" I trail off, already knowing the answer. Matt's ears perk up at the mention of Sophie, his face dropping when he meets my eye. He immediately pulls out his own cell presumably to call her.

"Because of Matt's little lady friend. Yeah" Lili spits.

"I don't know what they said to you, but I can explain." I promise.

"Ok well before I spoil whatever story you guys agreed on, you should probably know that Sophie got to find out from Benji's little slideshow of pictures right after she had cleaned up Matt's mess."

"Lili, I'm serious. I think our drinks were spiked. You know Matt wouldn't do this to Sophie. After everything why would he be so stupid to risk it for a kiss?" I reason with her, watching Matt pulling at his hair as he hits redial, evidently Sophie doesn't want to talk.

"Just a kiss? If you were spiked how do you know that?"

"We all woke up at mine, Alone" I emphasise, "Matt has so many marks on him" I admit, avoiding Matt's burning gaze. It's not like Sophie won't see them later.

"We have spent all day chasing last night's CCTV to trace ourselves. So we would be able to explain this. Now we're heading to the hospital to check that there's nothing else in our systems. Please, ask Sophie to take Matt's call Lil" My words are met with silence for what was probably only a few seconds but felt like an eternity.

"You realise how stupid you all were not giving us a heads up right? You're playing right into Benji's hands." Lili sighs.

"I know. It seems so obvious now, but I promise this wasn't Matt's fault. Please get her to call him, yeah?" I plead. Seeing Matt stress over his cell is making me stress out, at least my girl called me.

"What hospital are you going to? I'll make Sophie come with me to meet you." Lili offer's.

I let out a huge sigh of relief as we end the call, offering Matt what I hope is a reassuring smile. As we board the boat that will take us back.

Checking my messages I see an update from the guys sweeping my apartment.

'No bugs found. Safe has been tampered with. How do you want to proceed?'

I tap out a quick reply for the security to be updated.

So Benji wanted to get in my safe? I bet he was disappointed to find it only had a little bit of cash and my late Nonna's broach. If he was after my finding out what my percent of shares was, he wasn't going to find the documents there.

I'm not an idiot. All of my important stocks and bond certificates are in safety deposit boxes in banks. Not even banks in Italy. Lili's Pa always said only an idiot keeps their eggs in one basket.

But it has given me a great idea of how to handle the Benji situation.

I'll show him a hostile fucking takeover.