Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“Why are you here, and why were you counting cards right in front of the camera when you’ve already been kicked out for doing it before?”
He started to speak, and I shook my head. “Don’t deny it. I know what I saw.”
“It’s a habit. I’m good at it, and it’s hard to turn it off.”
“You came back after you’d been caught. There’s a reason. Who sent you here?”
That got a slight reaction from him. Nothing more than a widening of his eyes for half a second. Still, my pulse sped up.
“Tell me.”
He didn’t say anything. I pulled out my gun, took a step forward. and pressed it against his forehead. “If we’re still going with the idea that you’re not a fool, then you know I won’t hesitate to kill you. You’d disappear off the face of this earth. No one would find even a trace of you.”
He forced out a laugh. “No one would come looking. Not for me.”
“You can’t convince me you think so little of yourself.”
His eyes met mine, and his gaze seemed to penetrate deep into me. I looked away, focusing on his gorgeous hair. I wanted to wrap one of his curls around my finger. I wanted to touch his skin and see if it was as soft and smooth as it looked. I wanted to order him onto his knees. I wanted to see his pink lips wrapped around my cock.
But this was business. Important business. I wasn’t going to fail Remington.
“Who sent you here? Who do you work for?”
“No one but myself. I’m in the business of making money. Aren’t we all?”
I had to admire how relaxed he was with my gun to his head. “You coming into my casino and cheating isn’t helping me make money. So we’re going to need to figure out how to handle that.”
The bastard just smiled at me. “We can do that.”
I wasn’t giving in to his attempts to charm me, not yet anyway. “If all you wanted was to make money, you would’ve figured out how to be more subtle. If you had good sense, you would’ve chosen a different casino. We have a reputation for extracting harsh penalties on anyone who crosses us.”
I drew the gun down the side of his face and brushed it over his lips. “I have a lot of ideas for how to punish you for your crimes, but the first thing you’re going to do is talk.”
The fucker nuzzled his face against the barrel of my gun.
“I had to find a way to get your attention.”
“So you have a death wish?”
“No, I want in on your most exclusive high rollers. The one you don’t tell anyone about.”
He was as much of a psycho as I was, and he’d come here looking for me. This was definitely the sort of thing Remington wanted me to watch out for, but my gut told me he wasn’t the sort of man who’d work for Ivanov.
Does your gut tell you that or your dick?
I ignored that thought. I had good instincts, even when I was horny. There was something odd going on here. He wasn’t just a guy who decided to make some money off my casino. But I didn’t get the sense of revulsion I did around men who committed atrocities like Ivanov. Was he honest? Fuck no. Was he unhinged? I was sure of it, but would he hurt a child? I didn’t think so.
“I don’t tell anyone about private games that go on here, and the men who play don’t tell anyone about it since they know what I would do to them if they did. How did you find out about this supposedly secret game?”
He smiled. “I can’t reveal my sources. Surely you know that.”
I put the gun to his forehead again. “You’re playing with me. You need to understand how dangerous that is.”
“I’m not playing; I told you what I wanted.” He took hold of the gun and pulled it aside. “There’s no need for that. Let’s negotiate.”
I hated myself for not fighting him, but I lowered my gun to my side. I would use it if I needed to, but for now, he was entertaining me. “If such a game exists, why would I put a cheat in a room like that?”
He let his eyes roam over my body before meeting my gaze again. “The house always wins, right? I could help you guarantee even greater winnings. We could make a deal.”
I considered the offer. If he was working for Ivanov, at least he’d be under my watch. Keeping him around would give me a chance to make him reveal his true motive.
But if he wasn’t Ivanov’s man, then who was he? It would be insane to agree to a partnership with this man. I couldn’t bring an unknown man into a game like the one I was running with my least risk-averse patrons. Except… There was also something genius about bringing in a ringer.