by J. A. Coffey
She glanced over at Jay, who lounged back in his seat, his thick, muscled arms crossed. His intense scrutiny grated on her nerves. Didn't he speak? She was tempted to continue ignoring him, but held his piercing, blue-eyed gaze with a hard glare of her own then turned back to Luke.
Irritated, she waved a hand toward the tattooed brute. "So what do I do with him?"
Chapter Two
David Carrone leaned against the edge of his desk as he ran off a list of names to his assistant for their fall charity dinner. It was after five, and many of the office staff had gone home for the night. Usually, he and Judith had their standing Tuesday status meetings earlier, but it had been a more hectic day than usual. And she had been accommodating enough to stay a little later so they could finalize the invite list.
"Be sure to add our new benefactors from Diamante Enterprises. You can get the contact names from Gabe."
Judith Bell nodded then read back the list of names to him.
The charity event he and his business partner hosted every year was still months away, but David liked to be sure all the right people-those who tended to make sizable donations-were reached out to early. And at fifteen hundred dollars a plate, it was best they started sending invitations now.
Every year, they hosted the charity event at their luxury casino resort, Royal Courts, and almost never had a problem with attendance. When the benefit was in support of disadvantaged and abandoned children around the country, people tended to be the most generous. With their new event space, the Queen's Palace, underway, David expected the charity gala to be bigger than it had been the past three years. And with the larger space, he also planned to extend invites to deserving volunteers and teens from the local youth outreach centers, something he wished they'd thought to do sooner.
"Am I missing anyone, Mr. Carrone?" Judith asked.
After a quick mental assessment, David shook his head. "No, I think that's everyone. For now anyway. I'll run the list by Gabe and will let you know by Friday if there are any additions."
Since his partner traveled frequently, he was a difficult man to pin down. But Gabe was just as supportive of the charity gala, and David wanted to be sure he pulled him in wherever possible.
"Okay," Judith replied with a soft smile. "I'll set up a meeting for us to follow-up on Friday."
David returned her smile. "Sounds good."
He stared down at Judith's bent head as she began to gather her notes. She was an attractive woman, and had she not been working for him, he would have considered taking her out. But workplace romances almost never worked. If the legal shit didn't get him, the emotional drama would-and he was a man very much against drama.
He still didn't understand why Gabe had felt the need to bring his girlfriend on as their new public relations manager. They had even flown her in this week to attend the marketing and branding strategy meetings, yet Gabe had been acting strange since she'd arrived yesterday.
But Judith showed no personal interest in him beyond the office, and David appreciated her professionalism. In the last three months, she'd done more to impress him than his last assistant, who believed seducing him would be the fastest career move. The old adage don't shit where you eat was something David couldn't repeat enough-and the reason Judith was his fourth assistance in three years.
"I'll type these up and send them over to you," she said as she rose from her seat. "Is there anything else you need before I leave tonight?"
David walked around his desk and fell into his seat. "Did you get the invoices over to finance?"
She nodded briskly. "I did." Glancing down at the papers in her hand, she added, "Sorry, again, about this morning."
He regarded her. She had been tense all day today, and he didn't know if it was from the talk he'd had with her that afternoon about her unusual forgetfulness this morning or the stress in her personal life. But she was a good employee, and there was no need to make her feel any worse than she already did.
"Don't worry about it, Judith. Everyone's entitled to have a bad day. If you need some personal time off to take care of your grandmother, just let us know."
She nodded again. "Thank you."
"Now go home," he said, smiling to soften the command. He motioned to the papers in her hands. "You don't need to stay late working on that. I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay. Have a good night, Mr. Carrone."
As Judith made her way to the door, a loud knock came.
"Yeah?" he called out.
Carlos Moreno pushed open the door, glancing at Judith first then quickly turning to him. "Have a second?"
David waved in his new security chief, but Carlos waited by the door.
"Good night, Judith," Carlos said as she walked past.
Her steps faltered and she hesitated for the briefest of seconds before replying, "Good night, Mr. Moreno."
David frowned slightly at the awkward exchange. She hadn't even looked at the man, and normally she was friendlier than that, always with a quick smile. He continued to watch as Carlos kept his gaze trained on her before he shut the office door and took a seat across his desk. Leaning back in his seat, David studied the new security chief.
"What?"
David cocked a brow at the man's curt question. Though Carlos was younger than a typical casino security chief, and didn't dress in the usual suit and tie, he was a reliable asset to Royal Courts. The man was smart, tough, and experienced. The fact that he came highly recommended from a trusted friend was also a plus. The only other thing David demanded from his employees, however, was transparency.
"Is there something going on between you two?"
Carlos frowned. "Why?" His tone took on a hard edge.
If there was something going on between them, Judith was doing a good job keeping it concealed. Not Carlos, however. A man only looked at a woman like that when he wanted her.
And Carlos wanted her.
David sighed. He didn't care who Carlos got it in with, so long as it didn't interfere with his job or the company. They only just recovered from a bad situation, which had involved their former Chief of Security, Jeff Bates. The last thing they needed was their new security chief falling for a pretty face and compromising his judgment where the staff was concerned.
"I shouldn't have to tell you that as head of security, an office romance could become a conflict of interest," David said frankly.
"No," Carlos said, his dark eyes hard. "You don't."
Despite the facial hair covering the lower half of Carlos' face, David noticed the hard set of his jaw. He sighed and lean forward in his seat. "Look, man, I don't care if you two are involved or not. But I don't like surprises, and I just don't want a relationship to cloud your judgment where the job's concerned."
"That wouldn't happen."
"I'm sure you believe that, but I would appreciate full disclosure if there is."
Carlos brow lifted slightly. "When there's something to disclose, I'll let you know."
That was an indirect way to answer the question, but David let it drop. "So, what's up?"
Carlos leaned forward in his seat. "The Acerras," he said simply. "They're at the tables again and this time, they're betting big and winning every hand."
David wasn't surprised. Most of what he'd learned about gambling and winning at cards, he learned from the Acerras. He didn't even bother asking Carlos if they were cheating because he knew they were. It was just a matter of finding out how, so he and his team could learn the Acerras' strategy and train the Royal Courts' dealers to be on the lookout for it.
"Is it the same two from last night?"
Carlos shook his head. "Tonight, it's the really tall one and the one who walks around looking like someone shitted in his cornflakes."
David nodded. Carlos was referring to the oldest and youngest Acerra. "Don and Gino," he muttered. The Acerras had been proving to be a pain in his ass these past few weeks, and their attitude toward him was turning downright hostile.
G
rowing up, he had been close to the brothers, having befriended Don while catching him in the act of stealing a car. David had been impressed by the deft and speed in which he had gotten the car started. But after Royal Courts' grand opening, David had next to no contact with them. The strain between him and the brothers had only widened after the money-laundering bust-a humiliating situation that had dirtied his resort, had infuriatingly linked him to the Provenzano family, and had landed Roman Acerra in prison along with the bastard, Jeff Bates.
The resort hadn't walked away unscratched, either. They had been slammed with fines, their reputation had taken a dive, and many of his business relationships had become strained-including with Gabe. Though the rapport with his partner had eventually bounced back, and business was slowly picking up again, David was growing tired of the noticeable whispers and curious stares whenever he stepped outside the casino resort.
"They seem to be keeping to their usual schedule," Carlos continued. "They come in a little after five, head straight to the blackjack table, then out by seven. We're looking through the tapes to see what their strategy is. So far, we haven't found anything."
And they wouldn't. Not yet, anyway. If the Acerras got greedy enough, the brothers would eventually slip. It had happened once before, when they had started out hitting up large-scale casinos many years ago.
"Why don't we just end their fun a little early and keep them off all the tables for the rest of the night?" David said.
"Or we could just ban them from the resort so they'll never set foot in here again," Carlos suggested.
David thought about that for a minute then shook his head. "Let's not take it there yet. We'll just keep the cameras on them."
Though he would like nothing more than to block their access to his casino, David first wanted to learn their strategy. Had it been any other patron, they would have long been ousted. But he had learned long ago that a good hustler never showed his cards first. And an even better one used what he had when his opponent least expected it.
He would wait, find out what they were up to then strike. With the help of one of his trusted sources, he would know soon enough why the Acerras insisted on coming to his casino night after night. Money was a strong motivator, but his gut told him it was something else.
If his new security chief wondered at his inaction, he didn't say. Carlos just gave him a curious look then shrugged. "You're the boss."
David switched his focus to another pressing issue they were recently dealing with-last night's break-in of his partner's office. He was annoyed to no end that something like this had happened. Though nothing had gone noticeably missing, a flash drive had been found still connected to Gabe's computer-and filled with partially downloaded information from the company's server.
"Any updates about last night?"
Carlos shook his head. "None yet. We're still looking through what footage we could pull. But I think at this point, we should interview everyone who was in the office late last night and start questioning them."
David nodded, resigned. Though they had wanted to keep the break-in quiet, it was proving to be counterproductive. He'd spoken to Gabe earlier about the possibility of this being someone internal and talking to those who had still been in the office would help to confirm or dispel his suspicions. Until they had concrete proof, David wanted to tread carefully.
"Is your cousin able to pull prints from the flash drive?" David asked.
"Yeah, he's putting a rush on it, but it could still take some time. If we're lucky, we might get results by the end of this week, if not sooner. But that's if the person's prints are in the system," Carlos added.
"If we don't get any hits, we'll need to begin questioning everyone soon." David wasn't going to just let this go. Someone had tried to steal from him, and he wanted to know who-and why.
"I'll start putting a list together," Carlos said, coming to his feet.
Finally alone, David spent the next hour, addressing some of the low-priority issues he'd pushed off throughout the day. Last night's incident had disrupted his schedule and that of his staff, and now he was playing catch up. Though he couldn't blame anyone for the intrusion, he hated the fact that their company was still vulnerable to this kind of shit.
He considered Royal Courts his second home. He had his permanent suite to prove it. Royal Courts was his pride and joy, and every last person who worked here was also under his responsibility.
A sudden restlessness came over him, and he got up from his desk. Standing near the large window, he stared out at the glowing, colorful lights of the Vegas strip. The sun began to fall, but there was enough light in the sky to clearly illuminate the people bustling about. On his right, the gold crown emblem above the Royal Courts Resort & Casino sign glowed brilliantly from the center lot.
Pride filled him at what he had accomplished these past few years with the help of his business partner. When they had set out to open their own luxury casino resort in the heart of Vegas, he had never imagined the amount of hard work that would be involved-or the immense sense of accomplishment. While Gabe spent most of his time traveling, dealing with their investors, David made it his personal responsibility to ensure their young establishment thrived and didn't fall under another scandal.
No one had expected him-the "troubled" bastard son of Armond Carrone-to succeed on his own, and David was more than a little proud that he had proven everyone wrong. He had hustled his way through college, graduating top of his class. Getting into Stanford's business school had been the start of his success. He and Gabe had become fast friends during his final year there, and it was Gabe's drive and ambition that had fed his own motivation.
After grad school, David had travelled all over, gaining experience and networking until he felt ready to begin building his own empire. Partnering with Gabe had been a smart business move, and he was impressed by what they'd managed to build in just a few short years. In spite of the challenges they'd faced these past several months, business was good.
He just wanted it to be great.
David walked back to his desk and glanced at the time. It was a little after seven, and he decided to call it a night. He thought about calling Lisa to make up for cutting their date short last night but quickly dismissed the idea. Last night's break-in had ended their date early, but instead of understanding, she had gotten huffy. He would have laughed in her face at her audacity, but getting a call that there was trouble had stolen away his good humor. Lisa, on the other hand, had been irritated enough to start a full tantrum and demand that he stay. When he refused, she'd walked out on him.
David sighed and grabbed his computer bag. He needed to break things off with her-and soon. They had only been seeing each other for the last few days, and yet she'd gotten it in her head that this was more serious than it was. He certainly hadn't suggested or hinted at them becoming more.
He was already in a committed relationship and her name was Royal Courts.
Chapter Three
Athena pushed the empty luggage cart down the long, quiet hall, her stride confident and deliberate. She was carrying quite a bit of stuff underneath the loose bellhop uniform and didn't want anything to shift out of place.
She continued down the hall, passing the double-door suite, as a pretty young woman hurried past her. Looking away or avoiding any sort of contact would have probably raised some suspicion, so Athena nodded to the other woman. The last thing she needed was to be remembered. Luckily, there was no one else in the hall.
The resort's gold crown logo gleamed on the wall before her. She passed four more hotel rooms before she was certain the woman was out of sight. Parking the cart at the end of the hall, Athena doubled back, pulling out the keycard she had swiped from a clueless maid.
When the bright green light flashed, she breathed a sigh of relief then turned the brass door handle down. Darkness greeted her as she made her way inside. The heavy curtains were drawn, letting only a sliver of the setting sun into the room.
Athena waited for her eyes to adjust then moved further into the suite, not wanting to attract any attention by widening the drapes. Plush carpeting lined the floors and muffled her quick steps. Barely enough light came from the window into the room, creating shadows along the carpeted floor and walls from the large, masculine furniture. A half wall separated the sitting area and the bedroom and she glanced over at the wide, four-poster bed.
She wasn't ready to consider that plan just yet.
Moving quickly, Athena familiarized herself with the layout and searched every possible hiding place for a potential second laptop. From her consulting work, she knew that some top executives kept a clone stashed away as back-up in the event of theft, damage, or whatever. She, however, would never recommend doing so since that left their company open to a lot more risks when unsuspecting people such as herself went looking for it.
Athena searched the room using the small penlight she carried as her guide. She had to be meticulous in her search. And careful.
The thought barely left her before she bumped her knee hard against the edge of something sharp. She smothered a curse.
Damn it!
Rubbing her shins, she looked inside the closet and vaguely made out Davie's neatly organized dark suits and shoes, then she moved to the dressers and rifled through the drawers and compartments. Nothing. On top of the small desk near the bed was a short, narrow safe that looked big enough to hold a jewelry box, maybe, but nothing else. Certainly nothing as wide as a laptop.
The suite was large, and she wondered if he used it as his second home. Or maybe his second home was the condo he kept in Summerlin, the place he had used to avoid the media vultures when the money-laundering story had broke.
Davie never trusted the police and who could blame him? They had been vicious, going after him specifically because he was a Carrone. But there was no way he'd involve himself in such a mess. Anyone who knew him knew he had no desire for that life anymore, and if the police had been smart, they would have known that only an idiot would put themselves and their business at such a risk.
