Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
It works. Mr. Night gives the Clubs section a final onceover and nods. “Clubs is dismissed.”
“As is Diamonds,” one of the Blackjack dealers calls.
“Spades.” The guttural voice of Dudley—the first words I’ve ever heard him speak.
“Hearts is set as well,” Bianca’s soft voice calls from the stage.
“Excellent.” Mr. Night turns to me and the other Clubs waitstaff. “Off you go, then.”
I get a few looks from the other cards as I line up with them. They don’t recognize me. But I could easily be a new hire. I’ve been here one night before as well, so I have some legitimacy.
A large bus idles in the alleyway outside the staircase of shattered mirror that leads out the red door in the ladies’ restroom. The cards and I pile in. Not a word is spoken. I’m guessing none of them are allowed to speak until they are in their rooms at the Caterpillar. One of Rouge’s Kings, his face shrouded in darkness, sits at the front of the bus.
I wish I had my phone on me. I could keep in contact with Bianca, make sure she’s okay. But she has her spare key, and she’ll be following right behind us. I trust her.
Even if the bus loses her, she knows its destination. We’ve been there before and she can plug the address into her GPS. Everything will be fine.
Unless it isn’t.
I wish she were on the bus with me. Then I could make sure she was protected. I could place my body between hers and the King’s. Do everything in my power—up to my dying breath—to guarantee her safety.
But that’s not the hand we were dealt.
She’ll be fine.
She has to be.
I love her so much.
I glance out the bus’s back window. The car behind us isn’t Bianca’s.
But then again, it wouldn’t be, would it? She had to sneak over to the hotel and get her car from there.
But… fuck! If Rouge is attending to Rose, she might still be there.
She would have gone straight to the hospital if that were the case.
We should have never left our cars there. We had no way of knowing Rose ran the hotel. It’s named after him, but I thought it was just named after the flower.
Damn it all.
It’s out of my hands.
Bianca is smart. She’ll keep herself out of trouble.
At least I hope she will.
25
BIANCA
It took everything in me not to follow Harrison onto that damned bus after I dismissed the Hearts staff.
The highest-ranking employee in each section dismisses the staff each night. That was me, since Rouge never showed up tonight. Technically, the Kings outrank all of us, but they can’t be bothered with something as trivial as dismissing the staff. Most of them took off once the last patrons left, except for the King of Hearts, who’s on bus duty tonight.
The King of Hearts is Rouge’s favorite. It was the position Jack was auditioning for the night he took shrooms with Rouge. I imagine he’s the one who carries out some of her messier tasks. The guy Rouge ended up hiring when Jack failed to impress her is the same one I just saw lead Harrison out the Red Door. I know very little about him, as is the case with the other three Kings. He always wears a fitted wool hat decorated with crowns and hearts and is usually wearing a thick layer of liner under each eye. That’s all I know about him.
That and the fact that he’s trouble. Anyone close to my sister is.
The Gilded Rose is a quick jaunt from Aces, and I’m walking at a brisk pace. I get there in a little under fifteen minutes and am about to round the corner to the garage where my car is when a thought occurs.
I still have the key to our room at the hotel. I placed it in the bathrobe I was wearing when Harrison gave it to me. I’m not going back to our room, of course. But maybe I’ll be able to retrieve our suitcases, along with our phones and wallets.
I walk to the front desk with a smile on my face.
“Hello, ma’am,” a blond clerk says. “How can I help you?”
“My husband and I were moved to a new room, but our bags never made it. I was wondering if they got brought down here by mistake.”
She raises her eyebrows. “Goodness. I’m so sorry about that. Do you have your room key?”
“Of course.” I place it on the table.
“And ID?”
“I’m afraid that was in my bag,” I say. “But the reservation is under Whitney Royale.”
“Of course, Ms. Royale, and my apologies again. Can you describe the bags?”
“Happy to. Mine is white with pink trim, and my husband’s is dark blue. They’re both carry-ons.”
“I’ll go check our storage. And please accept my sincerest apologies again, Ms. Royale.”