High Stakes Crime: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel (Shelby Nichols Adventure Book 15)

by Colleen Helme

  “There,” Sonny said. “You can see they are unharmed, and they will be free to go once we are done here.” He looked at Dom. “Did you bring their luggage?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Good.” He turned to Manetto. “Are you satisfied? You will agree to our deal?”

  Uncle Joey stared at him before leaning toward me. “Anything else I need to know?”

  “He basically kidnapped Ella, and they need a car,” I whispered.

  Nodding, he turned back to Sonny. “On one condition.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It seems that you took Ella from her home. I believe it’s only fair that she has the ability to return, so she’ll need one of your cars.”

  Sonny’s nostrils flared before he sent Manetto a curt nod. “That can be arranged.”

  “Good. Then we’re done here.”

  Sonny and Grant stood to leave. Sonny boiled inside, but he wasn’t about to risk his reputation with Uncle Joey. On the way out, he pulled Dom aside and whispered in his ear, telling him to let Creed and Ella take the Escalade. Dom nodded and watched them leave.

  Uncle Joey stood and planted his stern gaze on Ella.

  She flushed. “Uh… thanks Mr. Manetto. I don’t know what you just did, but I’m in your debt.”

  His face lit up with a smile. “You’re welcome. Glad to help a friend of Shelby’s.”

  He turned his gaze to Creed, and the smile evaporated. “You’re lucky you’re with her, or you’d probably be dead.”

  Creed’s brows rose at his bluntness. Before he could respond, Uncle Joey continued. “But you’re a hell of a poker player, even if you tried to cheat.” He sent a nod my way. “Shelby seems to think you’re worth saving, so I’ll leave it at that.”

  Creed swallowed. “Thanks… uh… both of you.”

  Uncle Joey held out his business card to Creed, thinking that it never hurt to cultivate favors. Now that Creed owed him, he intended to collect at some point in the future. “Here’s my card. I’d like to keep in touch.”

  “Of course.” Creed took the card, not mistaking Uncle Joey’s meaning, and I tried not to roll my eyes.

  Before Uncle Joey put his wallet away, I grabbed another business card and wrote my number on the back. Ella stood on the other side of the table, talking to Creed, so I hurried around the table to her side and gave her a quick hug.

  She pulled back with a grateful smile. “Thanks for helping us out. I hope it didn’t cost your uncle too much.”

  I laughed. “No… Uncle Joey’s still pulling the strings. Don’t worry about him.”

  Ramos joined us, sending Ella a quick nod.

  “How’s the arm?” she asked.

  “Good. It doesn’t even hurt anymore. Should I take off the bandage so you can take a look at it?”

  “Uh… no, no, you don’t need to do that. I mean… leaving the bandage on as long as possible really helps with the healing process, and it keeps all the bad bacteria out, so you should leave it for now. Maybe even until tomorrow. Okay?”

  She twisted her hands together, clearly nervous about something. Since I couldn’t hear her thoughts, I figured it was because she was standing so close to Ramos. He had that effect on most women.

  Ramos’s brows rose. He thought Ella was hiding something, so I smacked him. “Stop baiting her. I told you she has healing hands. I’m sure it’s doing a lot better than if someone else had treated it.”

  “You’ve got that right.” He said it sarcastically, and I picked up that his cut was basically healed. Had she really done that? It was something I’d have to ask him later. Right now, Creed and Dom were speaking in hushed tones, and I picked up Dom’s surprise that Sonny was letting Creed go. He’d never expected that, but it relieved him, since he hadn’t wanted to kill his friend.

  “I wonder what they’re saying,” Ella said.

  I cocked my head. “Probably something about letting you take the Escalade? Oh… and Creed wants to get your phones back.”

  “Huh… and you got that from your premonitions?”

  My eyes widened. Oops. “Yeah… mostly.”

  “Well… it would be nice to get my phone back. They took it last night, and John’s probably frantic.”

  “Who’s John?”

  Ella dropped her gaze. “Uh… he’s my… uh… representative with the hospital board. They want me back in New York.” At my raised brows, she continued. “They sent me away after that guy died. You remember him, right?”

  I nodded. Ella had refused to assist the doctors in saving a killer, but after he’d killed the young woman Ella felt responsible for, I didn’t blame her. “Yeah… Tony Bilotti. I remember how upset you were.”

  “Right… anyway, it’s a long story, but now they want me to come back. Creed had planned to go with me.”

  Ramos narrowed his eyes. “You sure you can you trust him?”

  Ella’s expression fell, and she hesitated. Wanting to help her, I spoke up. “I think you can. At least he cares deeply about you… uh… seems to care, I mean.”

  Her eyes widened. “You think so? I wouldn’t mind having some company, you know?”

  “Sure. I totally get that.”

  Uncle Joey cleared his throat, thinking it was time to go, and I smiled at Ella. “Sorry, but we need to go now. Let’s keep in touch.” I handed her the business card with my name and number on the back. “That’s my number. Call me after you get to New York. Okay?”

  “Yeah. I will. And… I don’t know how to thank you—but if there’s ever anything you need, please let me know.”

  “You bet… just be sure to call me so I’ll have your number.”

  “I will.”

  Uncle Joey and Ramos had already stepped toward the exit, so I hurried to join them. I slipped my arm through Uncle Joey’s and smiled up at him. “Thanks for doing that… for helping them.”

  He patted my hand. “You’re welcome.” He was thinking that doing something nice once in a while wasn’t so bad, even though it meant letting Sonny off the hook. But that didn’t bother him so much, now that he had more information about the Debt Collector. Sonny was on the guy’s bad side, and Uncle Joey was happy to stay out of it.

  His brief encounter with the man had been enough to set him on edge, and he trusted his gut telling him to leave well enough alone. He’d been a shadowy figure at the tournament, but he’d approached Uncle Joey during a break and introduced himself as Gage Rathmore.

  He was tall and imposing, with cold blue eyes and gray at the temples of his black hair. Uncle Joey had met a few people like him before, and he knew instantly that Rathmore was a predator of the darkest kind. Uncle Joey didn’t hold out much hope for Sonny, and he was more than willing to leave Sonny alive.

  Hopefully, he’d tempered Rathmore’s keen interest in me through his stern warning that I was his niece and under his protection. That had worked this time, but Rathmore’s reluctance to back off had raised a red flag, and Uncle Joey realized he could be a problem in the future.

  With that in mind, he didn’t plan on visiting Las Vegas again for a very long time.

  CHAPTER 10

  I slid inside the limo, and a cold chill settled over me. I couldn’t imagine Uncle Joey being unsettled by anyone, so this Rathmore person must be in a league of his own, and I was more than grateful that Uncle Joey was watching out for me.

  Ramos glanced my way, wondering what was wrong. Just a moment earlier, I’d been happy that everything had worked out so well. Now I looked scared and upset.

  I sent him a smile and tried to muster some of my previous enthusiasm, but sudden weariness had overtaken me. “I’m exhausted. I guess it’s all caught up to me.”

  Uncle Joey’s brows drew together. “I was hoping to fly back home tonight, but if you’re—”

  “No… no. I think that’s a great idea. The sooner we leave this town, the better. And let’s not come back for a very long time.”

  His eyes widened. He’d just been thinking tha
t. Had I been listening to his mind? He shook his head. Was nothing sacred? Did I have to listen to everything?

  I grimaced. “Uh… sorry.”

  “Sorry about what?” Ramos asked.

  Uncle Joey sighed. “She knows about Gage Rathmore.”

  Ramos’s lips turned down, and he thought of some pretty bad words to describe the guy. Knowing I’d heard every single one of them, he just shrugged. A spade was a spade, and he wasn’t about to apologize.

  Uncle Joey shook his head. “I don’t know exactly what you picked up, but it’s not as bad as you think. I may not know much about him right now, but I will soon enough. In the meantime, I don’t want you to give him a second thought. All right?”

  I nodded, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. How could it, when everyone else was thinking about what a terrible person he was? Even Ricky had thought his reputation was bad, but actually meeting the guy had made his skin crawl. Sheesh.

  Still… it comforted me to know Uncle Joey was handling it, so I tried not to freak out. He was a powerful man who had lots of experience with this sort of thing. We’d be fine.

  If only I could get rid of that deep foreboding feeling that turned my stomach into knots, I might believe it.

  “I’ll call the pilots and tell them we’re leaving,” Uncle Joey said. “Maybe we can get some sleep on the plane.”

  It was still dark when we landed.

  Before we’d left the hotel, I’d changed back into my comfy clothes, and I managed to sleep for most of the plane ride.

  With his pack strapped to the back seat of his motorcycle, Ramos slipped on his helmet and left after a quick wave.

  A car waited for us, and Ricky joined Uncle Joey and me for the ride home. They dropped me off first, and I staggered into the house. Chris had left a light on for me, and I tiptoed up the stairs, finding him sound asleep. He stirred as I got into bed, cracking his eyes open and pulling me into his arms.

  I breathed out a sigh to be home, safe and sound, and promptly fell asleep.

  I woke late the next day, grateful I’d been able to sleep in. Since it was Sunday, Chris had made breakfast, and the smell of bacon woke me up. I threw on some sweats and opened my door to find Coco sitting in the hall, waiting for me.

  He jumped to his feet and woofed softly, you home, before bumping me with his head. I knelt beside him and stroked his head, telling him I missed him, and was glad to be back. His snuffles sounded like a reprimand that I’d left without him, but that may have just been my imagination.

  He woofed come, and I followed him down the stairs and into the kitchen. After a round of hugs and greetings from my kids, I was happy to relay the news that I’d won the tournament.

  “Cool,” Savannah said. “So what did you win?”

  Of course I hadn’t told my kids about the enormous jackpot, but what about the trophy? Where was it? “I got a really beautiful trophy, but I forgot all about it until just now.” I frowned. “I must have left it there. Dang.”

  Josh scrunched his brow. “A trophy? That’s it?” He didn’t believe for a moment that there wasn’t some type of monetary reward involved. “I thought you were playing for money.”

  “Well… yeah… of course.” I tried to make it sound like I wasn’t stupid like he’d insinuated.

  “So how much?” he asked, pushing for a response.

  This was one of those times I wondered if I should lie; but since I was trying to turn over a new leaf, I decided to tell the truth and hope I didn’t live to regret it. “Ten—” I broke off, picking up Chris’s warning not to tell them, since it might jade them forever.

  Frowning, I continued. “Ten-million-dollars. But you know it’s not mine, right? Since I was playing for Uncle Joey?”

  “Ten million dollars?” Josh sputtered. “Are you frickin’ kidding me? And you won?”

  I shrugged. “Yeah.”

  “But you get to keep some of it, right?”

  “Well… yeah… I got a cut… but I might have already spent it.”

  “What?” Josh couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. I’d already spent the money? What would cost that much. At the least, I must have gotten half. That would make it close to five million dollars.

  Chris shook his head, wishing I wouldn’t have told them. They didn’t need to know some things, and this was one of them. Money didn’t grow on trees, but, after one night in Las Vegas, I was making it sound like it did.

  “Not really. It was hard and I nearly got…” I didn’t finish the sentence, since everyone was staring at me.

  Chris’s eyes widened with alarm. I had just answered his thoughts, but worse, what was I saying? Nearly got what? Killed? What the hell happened?

  “What I meant to say is that, sure… ten million is a lot of money, but none of it was meant for me. Uncle Joey’s keeping all of it, and the little I might have received I invested into something else.”

  “What?” Josh asked.

  “Uh… well… that’s a whole other story. Do you mind if I eat some breakfast first?” I sat at the table and grabbed a couple of pancakes and two strips of bacon. “How did Coco’s training go yesterday? Did you have fun?”

  With my abrupt change of subject, it took them a minute to switch gears. “Yeah,” Savannah said. “It was great. Coco is amazing.” They all chimed in about their day, and I took a few bites, happy to hear things had gone so well.

  “Lance said we were ready for our first search and rescue,” Josh announced.

  “Oh wow, that’s wonderful.”

  “Yeah. He said he’d let me know when the next call comes in.” His gaze caught mine. “I can probably handle it if you’re too busy, especially once I get my driver’s license.”

  “No… I want to come.”

  He shrugged, thinking that, with my schedule, a call out of the blue probably wouldn’t work for me. But, in just a few short months, he’d have enough hours to get his driver’s license, and he wouldn’t need me, which meant that he’d need a car.

  He sighed, knowing the money he’d made from his summer job was hardly enough for a down payment, but I might chip in, especially now that I had all that money. “So what are you doing with that extra money? You never finished.”

  I swallowed my food but hardly tasted it. How could he think that he didn’t need me? He wasn’t even sixteen yet, and he was suddenly ready to head out on his own? That couldn’t be right.

  “Mom?”

  “Huh? Oh… sorry. Yeah… the money. Right. Uh… remember the stories I used to tell you about my grandpa and the Lost Taft Mine?” They didn’t know what I was talking about, so I quickly told them how I’d gone prospecting with my grandpa a few times.

  “He always wanted to find the mine and all that gold. Now it looks like finding the mine could actually happen. A professor found a map to the mine that an old prospector had hidden away, and there’s an expedition leaving in the morning. They needed a backer, so Uncle Joey and I are using some of the money we won in the tournament for supplies and stuff.”

  “Oh… so it’s a gold mine?” Josh asked.

  “Yeah. And get this… I’m going prospecting with them.”

  “In the morning?” Savannah asked. “But you just got home.”

  “Yeah, but I was only gone overnight, and this is just for a couple of days. I’ve already got everything arranged for you guys, so you don’t have to worry about that.” Before I could continue, my phone rang. It wasn’t a number I knew, but I decided to answer it anyway. “We can go over it later. Okay? I’d better take this.”

  I stepped out of the kitchen. “Hello?”

  “Hi Shelby. This is Ella.”

  “Ella. How are you? Is everything okay?”

  “That’s why I’m calling. After we left last night, Dom got a call from Sonny ordering him to kill Creed.” I gasped, and she quickly continued. “Don’t worry. We got away, but now I’m afraid he might try again. I thought if your Uncle knew what had happened, he might talk t
o Sonny and straighten this out.”

  “Holy hell! Sonny is a stupid idiot. Uncle Joey’s not going to be happy to hear that. You did the right thing to call me. I’ll let Uncle Joey know. I’m sure he’ll want to have a word with Sonny.”

  She let out a sigh. “Thanks so much.”

  “Of course. I’ll call him right now. Let me know if Sonny tries anything. If he knows what’s good for him, he won’t. I’ll be in touch.” We disconnected, and I put a call through to Uncle Joey, quickly explaining the situation.

  “That bastard,” he replied. “I can’t believe he went back on his word.”

  “I know. So what are we going to do?”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. I have a contingency plan, and Sonny’s going to regret crossing me. We’ll talk later.” He hung up, and I put my phone away, once again grateful that Uncle Joey was on my side. He may be a bad guy, but he still had a good heart.

  I spent the rest of the day with my family, trying to make up for the time I’d been gone, and knowing I’d be gone for a few more days this week as well. By the end of the day, my conscience didn’t bother me quite so much to be leaving them again.

  I had to make all the travel arrangements with Billie and Ramos, as well as pack the personal items I needed for the trip. At least Ian Smith had sent a list of what I needed to take, so that helped. Uncle Joey had insisted we meet in the parking garage of Thrasher Development at seven-thirty the next morning.

  Once the kids were in bed, with Coco in Josh’s room, I slipped into the garage with my daypack and loaded it into the trunk. I didn’t want to re-live Coco’s disappointment that I was leaving him behind again. Not that I hadn’t tried. I’d done all I could to convince Uncle Joey that Coco should come, but he’d nixed that idea pretty fast.

  I was a little disappointed, but, since it was a strange place with strange people, he might be better off at home. Plus, the kids would miss him, and I wanted them to have Coco for company while I was away. That was probably silly, but it still made me feel better about leaving.

  I slipped into bed that night and snuggled against Chris. It was a relief to tell him the whole story of the tournament.