Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
They can’t be trusted. They lie to you. They’ll say anything they think you want to hear in order to get their way.
The pain was so much worse than the last time. Far worse. She couldn’t look at her friends. She got up and paced away from them, refusing to cry. She’d already shed far too many tears for Zale Vizzini. She just needed time to come to terms with his betrayal. They were going on a four-day hike, so there would be no chance of seeing him until the actual wedding. She could get through the wedding.
“Wallin invited me to the tournament in order to see if I really was Blom’s daughter,” she mused aloud. “He must have been looking for me.”
“I suspect he wanted both you and Blom dead,” Raine said. “With both of you dead, no one would be the wiser and the shares would revert to him. His son stands to inherit a tremendous amount of money if anything happens to him. They want to open a second casino, at least the other investors do.”
Vienna turned that information over and over in her mind. It fit, but that meant that Zale already had those facts. He was aware that Daniel Wallin had a reason to want her dead and he hadn’t told her. She pulled up the memory of the two men coming into her room, the security detail she absolutely knew were there to kill her, and how terrified she’d been. Zale had soothed her, stayed with her, made her feel grateful to him.
“Why wouldn’t Zale just tell me the truth? I can handle the truth. So Blom doesn’t want to admit he’s my father, big deal. I’m all grown up. He doesn’t have to tell the world. He doesn’t have to be in my life. Zale didn’t have to pretend he wanted to be with me long term.” But she knew why. Her mother had told her long ago, many, many times.
They can’t be trusted. They lie to you. They’ll say anything they think you want to hear in order to get their way.
She’d been so easy. Falling right back into his arms. Making such a fool of herself again. He was able to get close to her and she didn’t question him. She made his job easy.
Her throat closed and she had to stop talking. She kept her back to the others because she knew if she saw sympathy on their faces, she’d break down completely.
“They can’t think he’ll stop coming after you and Blom just because you’re no longer in Vegas,” Stella said.
“I think Blom believes it will be that much more difficult for Wallin to get to you. Blom and his people can keep track of Wallin’s men’s movement,” Raine said. “In Vegas, Wallin had the advantage.”
“I’m the bait,” Vienna said. “Run, little rabbit.” There wasn’t any bitterness in her voice because she wasn’t bitter. Just sad. Brokenhearted. Humiliated perhaps, but mostly sad. Zale could have been honest with her. She was an adult. She didn’t have daddy issues. She would have cooperated, especially knowing that Wallin had killed good men in order to lure her father out into the open, where he could have him killed.
“I’m really sorry,” Raine said again. “I feel like I’m always that one that has to tell my friends the worst possible news.”
Vienna did turn around then at the sheer sadness in Raine’s voice. “Please don’t feel like that. If I didn’t have you, I’d still be being played. I’m grateful to you.”
“We don’t know for certain that Zale’s feelings for you aren’t genuine,” Raine cautioned. “If his boss told him he wasn’t to tell you that he was your father, what could he do? He’s under orders and has to comply.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it, Raine,” Vienna disagreed. “He didn’t want to tell me or he would have. He broke the rules several times. Zale isn’t a rule follower, as much as I’d love to give him that excuse. I want to say I’m going to be like Stella and get a happy ever after, but I don’t think that’s in the cards for me. Suffice to say, I cheat when I win big, so maybe I don’t deserve the big happy ever after.”
Shabina shook her head. “It’s them. The way they think, Vienna. We have all these issues from our childhood traumas or whatever it is that happened to us along the way, so we blame ourselves, but really, it’s them. Look at Blom, your birth father. He decided to sleep with a beautiful woman, carry on with her to the point that she believed he loved her. She gets pregnant and he doesn’t say he wants to dump her. He tells her he isn’t ready to be a father. They can still get together whenever he has time for her, but she should get rid of the baby. Do you see how selfish that is? It’s all about him. His career. What he needs. What he wants. It still is. Blom sent his men to protect you—yes. But he dictated the terms to them. They couldn’t tell you. He didn’t want you to know about him for whatever reason.”