by JA Huss
“I know, kid. I know. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I end the call just as Carl walks up. He’s got a tight smile on his face and I can’t tell if that’s a good or bad sign.
“You’ve been accepted into the game, Mr. Asher, but I cannot guarantee that you will be able to get to the girl. She’s… quite wrapped up with our special guest at the moment.”
Fuck. “What the hell does that mean? If he’s got his hands on her, I will—”
Carl puts both hands up in a stop motion and looks around nervously. “Mr. Asher, please,” he whispers. “This entire area is wired up to off-site regulators. They will not allow you to distract from the game. You are in there to bet, and if you can get your girl while you’re at it, that’s fortunate for you. But fighting over a woman in this suite is absolutely out of the question. There are armed guards inside, Mr. Asher. I have to take your cell phone and you need to put up three hundred thousand dollars to enter the suite.” He thrusts a clipboard at me. “Sign here and we’ll withdraw the funds from your account.”
I hand over my phone and sign for the bank transfer. I look nervously over Carl’s shoulder at the door he came out of. “She’s in there?”
“Yes, sir. They are playing craps at the moment. The suite patron has stipulated a minimum playing time of one hour.” I nod as we approach the double doors and he stops and waves me forward as someone on the other side releases the lock. “Good luck,” Carl says as I walk through and enter the suite.
A loud cheer goes up from a considerable crowd of about twenty people surrounding the craps table. I take them all in. Men in expensive tuxedos—at least I’m dressed for the part—each with a woman on their arm. Most are in long expensive gowns flashing diamonds.
Except one.
I have to chuckle at her. My Grace is wearing a knee-length dark blue dress that is probably part of her everyday work attire. She has no diamonds, her hair is out of place, and her cheeks are ruddy with excitement as another cheer goes up.
A tall middle-aged Asian man with striking green eyes leans down into her neck to whisper and she throws her head back and laughs again.
Clearly she is not torn up about my bad news today.
Green-eyes notices me and gives me a nod to signify this is his room and I’m here as his guest. I nod back and he calls out. “Mr. Asher, I’m honored.”
Grace practically gives herself whiplash trying to find me, and I admit, that gives me a little thrill. “What’s he doing here?” she whispers. But she’s looking right at me, so it’s not hard to read her lips.
“Come, Mr. Asher. My good-luck charm is still hot.” He nods to Grace, ignoring her question about me.
I walk over to the table and begin greeting other people. They nod and shake my hand as I put on my polite public persona. I take up shooter residence, opposite of the Asian man. But my eyes are only on Grace as I try to assess her state of mind.
Stunning. Check.
Even though her dress is not a designer gown and her neck is bare of flashing jewels, she is the star of this room. Her hair is piled up on top of her head in a way I’ve never seen before and it allows me to stare at the sweeping line of her neck. The strap of her black bra is showing and even though I’d love to see more of that, I don’t like the fact that every man in the room is probably thinking the same thing.
Drunk. Check.
Her cheeks are flushed, and not just from the winning. Her eyes are a bit glassy, enough to have me worried. And once I look closer, they are puffy and red. She’s been crying. She’s leaning into the Asian man, who is way too old for her, steadying herself so she doesn’t teeter.
Angry. Check.
Her forehead is a field of furrows as she purses her lips and squints her eyes. Just seconds before, her face was relaxed and excited. But now the hurt I’ve caused her today is coming through loud and clear.
“Grace,” I say in a soft, gentle voice to let her know I’m not here to start trouble. “You look beautiful.”
She smiles up at her date and ignores me.
“I’m Damian Li,” the Asian man says, his green eyes brilliant and his smile genuine. “Welcome to my suite. Do you know my date tonight?” He looks down on Grace and she continues to beam a smile at him.
“Intimately, actually,” I tell him back with a straight face. Might as well get this out in the open. “I’m here to win. Shall we?”
Li doesn’t even flinch.
“Place your bets!” the dealer cries.
My dealer places my three hundred thousand dollars’ worth of high-value plaques on the apron in front of me. Li places the equivalent of fifty thousand dollars on the Pass Line and I match him by pushing my chips into the Don’t Pass Line with a smile. The other players make their bets, but I don’t pay any attention to them or the amount of money flowing in here. Li’s hand is on Grace’s hip.
I see red, but I take a deep breath. Wrong time, wrong place.
The dealers flips the puck to white and the game is on. Li picks up his dice, jiggles them in his hand, and then with a flat palm offers them to Grace. She leans in and kisses them. I zero in on her lips, fuming when they touch Li’s skin. When I look back up to his face, he’s smug. “Good luck from the lady,” he says loudly.
Everyone cheers.
“You bet against her, Mr. Asher,” he says, nodding down to my Don’t Pass Line bet.
“I always bet the House first time out, Mr. Li.”
He throws the dice and rolls a seven. The whole room erupts in cheers. Except for me. Because I lost.
“Ha,” Grace says in a voice pitched too high, “loser! That’s what you get for betting against me.”
I smile at her as I push another fifty thousand dollars into the Don’t Pass Line. Li doubles his money and holds out his palm for Grace to kiss. This time she looks me right in the eye, takes his hand in hers, stroking her thumb up and down the length of his fingers, and then leans in and touches her lips to his skin once again.
I fume. Anger manifests as heat and pulsates through my entire body. “Grace,” I growl, but at the same time Li throws the dice and rolls snake eyes. Everyone but me lets out a collective groan. My chips double and I’ve made my money back.
“Shall we raise the stakes a little, Mr. Asher?” Li asks me, his grin a little too wide. “And move over to baccarat? Minimum bet of fifty thousand?”
“I’m in,” I say as his hand rubs against Grace’s hip once again. She leans into him and I have a brief second of panic that maybe they really know each other. Maybe she’s dating this guy. I’ve left her alone for two weeks, Ray can’t know everything about her. It’s possible she had plans to meet him here.
“With a private non-monetary wager as well. My date for tonight.”
“What?” Grace squeals. “You can’t bet me!”
“She’s not a piece of property, Mr. Li.”
“No, Mr. Asher,” he says back evenly. “She’s not. So stop treating her like a gold watch.”
“I didn’t buy my way into this game to retrieve a gold watch, Mr. Li. I told you, I’m here to win.”
“Win back the girl?” he asks with a lightness in his voice that really pisses me off. “Too late for that.” He pulls Grace in close, his large hand across her hip. “She’s mine and I’m not ready to give her up just yet.”
“Oh, I assure you, Mr. Li. Grace Kinsella is not yours.” I smile and a small laugh even comes forth. “She’s mine in every way imaginable.”
“Holy shit, you’re both a couple of asshole cavemen!” Grace says too loudly, sipping on a glass of champagne that has materialized in her hand while Li and I have this pissing contest. “I don’t belong to anybody but me!” And then she storms off, handing her champagne to a waiter as she makes for the door.
A few of the women in the room cheer her on, but their partners quickly divert them to another game and a few seconds later Li and I are staring each other down from opposite ends of the table.
“You have a one-hour minimum in here, M
r. Asher.”
My attention is fixed on Grace, who walks out the goddamned door.
“So let’s make that wager. And if you win, you can have her. If I win, she spends the night with me and you are escorted off the premises.” I recoil and he grins a little wider. “Don’t worry, someone will be scooping her up momentarily and taking her to the bar to await the outcome.”
The doors close after Grace exits.
“One hand of baccarat. If I win, I get to leave immediately and you back off.”
“One?” He tsks his tongue. “Where’s the fun in that? That has no risk, Mr. Asher. You’re wealthy. Whatever you lose or net in here will not affect your bottom line. No, I’m afraid we’ll need to raise the stakes higher. At the very least the best of ten hands. You see, your risk is leaving her alone out there. She’s been drinking, she’s angry, and she’s in Vegas. Ten hands of baccarat, played swiftly, might take ten minutes. But she can make a lot of decisions in ten minutes.”
I could stand here and argue with him, but why bother. If I play and win, I could have her back under my control in a matter of minutes. If I play and lose, well, at least she won’t be picked up by a stranger. If I do nothing she’s got a sixty-minute head start on me. I can’t even call Ray and have her followed because I don’t have a phone. She could disappear. Someone might get her and who can tell what might happen. I have no choice. “I accept.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven - Vaughn
#SheDeservesBetter
WHEN Li waves his hand, his people close the doors to the baccarat room and we approach the table. I set my rack of chips down and wait to see how he wants to play this.
“Place your bets,” the dealer says.
“How interesting should we make this game, Asher?” Li asks.
“It’s your game, Li. You said best of ten. You bet first and I’ll match. That will be our ante.”
He allows a small grin as he walks over to the bar and asks for a snifter of brandy.
I watch him. He’s very confident. But everything about him—the way he dresses, walks, talks—everything says he’s got a reason to be confident. And it’s more than money. Hell, I’ve got money. Lots of money. But I don’t think I’ve ever walked around like that.
Why is he taking such an interest in Grace? She’s beautiful and she’s sweet. But why her?
“One hundred thousand,” Li says, bringing my attention back to the game. He pushes ten neatly stacked chips to bet the player.
I grab ten chips from my rack and place them on the banker.
“Do you like to bet against me?”
“Banker always has a higher advantage, Li. I’m sure you know that.”
“Ah, it’s making sense now. You hate risk, Asher? And yet”—he cocks his head at me, like he’s thinking through some elaborate theorem—“you find yourself in a world of risk right this very moment.” I make to answer him but he puts up a hand. “Not this, Asher. Miss Kinsella. Do you know where I found her?”
I just stare at him.
“In a hallway, sobbing her eyes out.” He narrows his eyes at me. “Over you.”
Who the fuck does this guy think he is? “Not that it’s any of your business, but that was a misunderstanding. I haven’t had a chance to explain what’s happening yet. But once I do, she’ll see past it.”
“Past it?” He sneers at me. “She’s just a thing to you, isn’t she? She really is a gold watch. You think you own her.”
My jaw clenches and I want to fuck this man’s world up in so many ways. But I’ve spent my whole life dealing with assholes like him. I’m a professional. “I only own what she’s willing to give, Mr. Li. Regardless of what you read or watch on the tabloids, the decision to stay always belongs to them.”
“Hmmm. She was a fountain of information in the twenty minutes we sat and had drinks before this suite was ready.”
I clench my jaw again. What the fuck did she say?
“She told me,” Li says, “that you threw her away.”
“I didn’t throw her away. I made a decision to keep her safe. I’ve got… a situation brewing. I don’t want her caught up in it. She’s misunderstanding, that’s all.”
“Hmmm. Then you are a poor communicator, Mr. Asher.”
“Probably, yes.”
“I think she deserves better.”
I laugh loudly. Too loudly. “Is that right?” He nods and smiles, but says nothing. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. I am determined to have my say tonight. And once I do, she will understand and be right back in my arms.”
“But maybe you don’t deserve that chance.”
“Who the fuck are you, Li? The fucking guardian angel of second chances? Fuck off and let’s play.”
That smile again. That motherfucking overconfident smile. “Let’s liven the game up, Mr. Asher. Let’s see how badly you want that second chance. How much you’re willing to risk for it. Every time you lose I’ll have my associate make Miss Kinsella an offer and if she accepts my offer before our game is over, then she’s mine to keep.”
“She’s never going to be yours.”
“You’re probably right. I have a daughter her age, so I’m not really interested. My point is that if I win this game, she will not be yours because my offer will take her to places beyond your reach. I’ll introduce her to a whole new life. Give her a chance to find a nice man who will treat her well and not make her break down in a hotel casino hallway because her lover threw her out like trash.”
“And how do you plan on getting her to accept your offer?” I growl.
“A job offer. In Hong Kong where I do a lot of business. She has a useful profession. Everyone needs someone to coordinate events, right? Even you, maybe.”
“She’ll say no,” I reply with confidence. “She likes her job, she has friends, she’s rooted in Denver.”
“Perhaps. But each time you lose, the offer will increase by thirty thousand dollars. How long will she hold out when the salary offered is in excess of a hundred grand?”
My jaw clenches along with my fists. “Why are you doing this?”
“I thought you liked to play games with your women, Asher?”
I just stare at him.
“When I took her into the bar, we watched the Buzz Hollywood interview with, what’s her name? The soon-to-be mother of your child? Jackie, Jacey, Jennifer—”
“Jasinda.”
“Right, right. My Grace was very upset. And she was a little bit drunk at the time. She mentioned an NDA—”
Fuck.
Li laughs. “And then she mentioned so much more.” He shoots me a smile. “So, since you are an avid game player, let’s play.” His jovial nature disappears and a ruthless businessman takes over. His smile drops into a straight line, his face becomes passive, and he builds superiority with a squaring of his shoulders and a raising of his chin. “You do not deserve any woman, let alone her. So if you lose, I steal her away with an offer that will change her life, I call up Buzz Hollywood and repeat everything she told me, and I take your money.”
My heart rate increases as I realize what he’s doing. “And if I win?”
“If you win you keep my money, you keep your girl, you keep your secrets, and I will make sure she is safe and accounted for until you arrive to beg her forgiveness for being an asshole.” He glares at me through squinting eyes. “Women are not chips, Asher. Love is not a game. You think money buys everything but you’re wrong. Your money can’t buy love and that girl deserves love.”
“Do you know who she is?”
“I know everyone in this room.”
I can’t tell if that means he knows her hidden past or if he’s completed the cursory background check that I did before I asked Felicity to dig deeper.
“Is it a bet?”
I clench my jaw as the words come out. “It’s a bet.”
Li looks over at the dealer and nods.
“No more bets,” the dark-haired woman says as she waves her arm across the table
to signal the start of the game.
She deals out the cards, one for the player, which is Li, and one for the bank, where my bet is placed. Li has a ten of clubs, which is zero points in baccarat. The bank gets a nine and a ten, which is a nine, since tens and above are worth zero. Nine is the highest score you can get.
“Bank wins,” the dealer says. “Congratulations, Mr. Asher.” She smiles at me as she stacks my winnings next to my bet.
I wonder if these employees sign an NDA for the casino. I make a mental note to ask Carl.
“Place your bets,” the dealer calls again. “Hand number two, Mr. Asher.”
Jesus, she’s keeping track. When I look over at Li, he’s smiling so big all I can think about is putting my fist through his teeth. I let my chips stand, almost three hundred thousand dollars now, and Li replaces his ten chips. This time he bets on the bank, like me.
“No more bets,” the dealer says. She waves her hand again and then lays out the cards. This time the player wins. I just lost three hundred thousand dollars.
I look over at him and smile. “You’re bad luck. And we both lost, so is that a tie as far as the job offer goes?”
“You wish,” he laughs back. “You lost, that is the only requirement. You should pay better attention to the rules.” He pulls out a pad and paper and writes a quick note, then beckons the doorman over. “Pass this to my attendant, thank you.” He looks over at me. “Don’t worry, I offered her less than her current salary. This time.”
“Place your bets,” the dealer calls out. “Mr. Asher, this is hand number three.”
I put a hundred grand back on the bank. I’m not a big gambler, but I do know betting the bank is the safest option. Better odds than betting the player and much better odds than betting on a tie.
“I will bet against you and see if your luck theory holds, Asher.”
“Whatever.”
The hand is dealt and I sigh.
“Player has six, bank has four. Player wins!”
The dealer takes my money again, and now I’m out four hundred thousand dollars. I’m starting to sweat, so I loosen my tie and unbutton my shirt.
