Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 88580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
“This is New Jersey. You know how much dark money’s flowing around here. I wouldn’t be shocked if whoever is behind Tony’s sudden rise is also behind the sudden flood of offers to buy this place.”
“You might be right.” Will’s lips press together. “You have any clue what you’ll do about it? Maybe you can uncover some of the big, fat skeletons he’s got hanging in his closet.”
“He’s been making those skeletons disappear the last few weeks.” I give him a pointed look. We’ve both heard about the murder of a man that used to do business with Tony years ago, the disappearance of a few dealers from Oceanview, the high-ranked fixer that fled the country. “He’s clearing house.”
Which makes him very dangerous.
Down below, Casey stands as her break starts. Her clients shout their goodbyes, and I watch her shuffle away with a smile on her face.
I turn to leave. Will watches me, and I can tell he wants to say more, but he keeps his mouth shut. He knows me better than most, and he knows the subject of Tony Vetch does nothing but fucking ruin my day.
Time to turn things around.
I head down the back stairs and onto the main floor. I greet my employees, saying hello to an old blackjack dealer, shaking hands with a couple high rollers that recognize me, snatching a comped drink from a waitress. She laughs and waves me off, and I raise it in salute.
I find Casey sitting alone at the far end of the bar sipping on a ginger ale and looking exhausted.
I slide into the stool beside her. She glances over, does a double-take, and sighs audibly.
“Here to put a ring on my finger?” she asks.
“Happily.” I sip my drink. It’s a gin and tonic, heavy on the gin. Typical Sunrise move—get the big spenders drunk, make them spend even more. Alcohol is cheap, but a whale with deep pockets and an extremely high risk tolerance is priceless.
“I still don’t have an answer for you.”
“It’s been two days.”
“I know that.”
“How much longer do you need?”
“I don’t know. A week? Three years might get it done.”
“How about until Monday, end of the day.” I tap my fingers on the top of the bar. “That’s the rest of tonight and all day tomorrow. That should be enough to figure out if you love your brother enough to save his life.”
“Don’t do that,” she says, her tone turning hard. “You don’t know anything about my relationship with Shane.”
That’s where she’s extremely wrong. I know a lot about her relationship with her scumbag brother.
But I don’t tell her that.
“What I do know for sure is my people are going to find him sooner or later. Unless you hurry, it’ll be sooner. How good can he swim?”
“Please don’t threaten my brother right now.” She rubs her forehead. “It’s been a long night and I’m only half done.”
“My other offer stands as well.”
“Which was?”
“My bedroom. Lots of rope. I’ll keep on calling you pet.”
“No thanks.” Her cheeks turn red. “You know, we didn’t go into detail about how exactly you’d get me pregnant.”
“Well, you see, when a daddy loves a beautiful girl like you—”
“I am not calling you daddy.”
“That’s a shame. But you do know how women get pregnant, don’t you?”
“Of course I do, I’m just saying, does marrying you involve, you know—”
“Fucking me?” My eyebrow quirks. God, I love how embarrassed she gets. It drives me fucking wild. “Yes, I do believe it would.”
“That’s a deal breaker.”
“How else am I supposed to put my child inside of you?”
She groans. “Please don’t ever say that again.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I don’t know, artificial insemination? We can always use a turkey baster. You can jerk off into a dish—”
“Absolutely not. I am not jerking off into a dish.”
She leans forward on her elbows. “I can’t believe we’re talking about this right now.”
I move closer to her, pitching my voice lower. “You do know that half the people in the Sunrise are watching us right now, correct? Imagine what the gossip will be once you’re back on the floor.”
She sits up straighter, looking around as if she might catch one of the waitresses whispering into a bartender’s ear while staring at her like something from a teen movie.
“You’re right. I should get the hell out of here.” She pushes up to her feet. I hate watching the discomfort on her face, but she’s gotten good at masking it. I want to help, though I’m also very aware that my touch might not be what’s best for her in this moment.
“You have until Monday to decide,” I say, turning back to my drink with some reluctance.
I love staring at this girl. At her beautiful, full lips, her green eyes, her dirty-blonde hair in thick ringlets, her pear-shaped body with that fantastic fucking ass. She’s tiny, though her legs are still long, with smaller breasts that still drive me wild. I want to hold one in my hand while I suck the other nipple, making her groan in my ear. Maybe then she’ll call me daddy.