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)
“Stand up, sir,” the security guard repeated patiently. “Ma’am, you need to press formal charges against him. We have everything on tape.”
“He’s drunk,” Vienna said.
“That doesn’t excuse his behavior,” Zale said. “How often do you think he does this to other women when no one is around?”
“No, it doesn’t,” Vienna agreed. “And I’ll press charges, but I just need to sit down for a few minutes and rest, if that’s okay with everyone.” If she didn’t get to her suite, she would be sitting right there on the floor. She put her palm on the wall to steady herself. On top of everything else, using her “gift” in cards always drained her.
“Whatever you need, ma’am,” the taller of the two security guards, who seemed to be in charge, agreed hastily. “No worries.”
Vienna turned her attention to Rainier. “Thank you, Mr. Forsyne, for saving me. I was very afraid. You came charging to the rescue, and I really appreciate it.”
Rainier took her hand and bent over her fingers as if he were kissing them in an old-school, gentlemanly manner. “Call me Wayne, Vienna. I was happy to help.” He walked her to her door and watched as she inserted her key and went inside.
Vienna rushed across the huge expanse of a living room to the master bedroom and flung herself facedown on the bed. If she was the type of woman who could cry, she would be weeping. Her arms felt like lead. So did her legs. Her head pounded from where she’d struck it on the wall. The pain spread until it felt like it roared through her entire body. She was completely drained. She didn’t want to think anymore.
Intellectually, she knew it came from using her “gift” for so long. She wasn’t really the biggest baby in town, but once she was down, she couldn’t get back up. She wished she’d at least kicked off her shoes. Thankfully, the duvet had that soft, heavenly feel to it, and it seemed to enfold her entire body. That’s what she needed, to be swept away.
She’d been warned she’d made an enemy of Benny just by playing her cards, and now Charles. She had no choice but to press charges against him. She couldn’t let him get away with assaulting her. He had her on the floor and there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he was going to punch her repeatedly. After that, who knew? He probably didn’t know what he would have done, he was that drunk and out of control. If he thought he had reason to be her enemy before, once she pressed charges, he really would hate her.
“Snowflake? Don’t move. I’m taking your shoes off and changing your clothes. I don’t have much time. I want to stay with you, but I have to work. I’ve called your mother. She’ll be here with Ellen as soon as possible. Hotel security will let them in. Wayne arranged everything as if he had complete authority.”
“You called my mother?” She would have glared at him for interfering, but she couldn’t muster up the strength to open her eyes. Her head hurt too much. She didn’t even care that he was pulling off her trousers. “She’s coming here? To the casino? She despises casinos. In fact, that was one of the few things we fought over. She didn’t like me gambling.” Her voice was muffled by the pillow.
Zale dropped his hand onto her head. “I’m turning you over, Vienna, just to take off this top so I can get you into something comfortable. The room is dark so it shouldn’t hurt your eyes. Why didn’t she like you gambling? You paid the bills, right?”
His hands were gentle, but it still hurt to be touched as he rolled her over and pushed the hair away from her face. He swore softly and then his fingers were deftly unbuttoning her blouse. “That bastard. He’s going to pay for this.”
“I hit my head on the wall, Zale. Don’t do anything that could get you in trouble. He isn’t worth it.” She tried to open her eyes to see his face, but he stroked his fingers over her eyelids to discourage her.
“Sorry, Snowflake. I didn’t mean to upset you.” His voice was soothing, but he didn’t sound as if he had changed his mind about hunting down Charles and making him pay.
Vienna would have tried to reason with him, but she was too tired and her head hurt worse than usual.
“Tell me about your mom and her aversion to gambling. She lives in Vegas. That seems contradictory.”
“Once we needed the money, and she was too sick to make it for us, she stopped being upset over the way I paid the bills. She never said why she had such an aversion to gambling, but she didn’t so much as buy a lottery ticket or come near the casinos. Not ever. I was very drawn to playing cards.”