Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
I shifted a bit to settle in. Then I pulled up the sleeve of my absurd, soft, and very comfortable pajamas and took a look at the watch around my forearm. I instantly felt a pang of guilt, but I shoved that aside and tried to concentrate on the watch itself. It was classy and elegant, and the kind of thing I could never hope to own in this lifetime.
I slid it off and examined it closely. There were three initials engraved into the back in a diamond shape: a large D surrounded by a smaller P and A. It was common to put the initial for the last name in the center, so two of those letters fit. I didn’t know what the P stood for, though.
I turned it over and ran a fingertip along the edge of its face. Okay, so maybe I’d hang onto it for a week or two. There was no reason I couldn’t enjoy it a little before I sold it. As gorgeous and expensive as the Rolex was though, I still couldn’t quite believe Reno had pulled a gun on me over it.
After returning the watch to my arm, I reached for my jacket. One of the sleeves had gotten torn, probably from the bushes in front of the townhouse. That was a shame, since it was my best suit.
I dug through the pockets and located Reno’s business card. I found myself with a lot of questions about him, but it didn’t tell me anything. The only two words on the card were Adriano Dombruso, above a phone number with a Las Vegas area code.
Who did that? Who made super expensive cards for themselves with almost no information on them? Players, maybe, to impress people in bars. That fit with what little I knew about him. Aside from that though, who else?
Well, a gangster might have a card like that. What else would they do, have stationery printed up announcing themselves as a crime boss? Hell no.
Actually, that fit with what I knew about him, too. It could explain not only the huge handgun, but how perfectly at ease he’d seemed when he was wielding it. Then there was his noncommittal reaction when I asked if he left Vegas because he’d pissed off the mob.
Maybe it would also explain why he’d leave a box of valuables sitting out like that, because who’d be stupid enough to…
Fucking hell, had I just robbed a mafioso?
If so, I was seriously screwed. They weren’t exactly the type to forgive and forget, and they had a lot of resources at their disposal when it came to tracking people down.
Okay, so maybe I was being paranoid. I was obviously going to avoid the bar where we’d met, so how could he possibly find me? He didn’t even know my real name, and I’d only been here for a few weeks, so it wasn’t like anyone knew me and could point him in my direction.
Then again, it also wouldn’t be the worst idea to get the hell out of Dodge. It wasn’t like I had any ties to this place, so once my ankle healed maybe I’d pack my suitcase and pick a new destination—another big city to get lost in, the latest in a very long line. I’d spent my entire adult life totally adrift, moving every three or four months to stay ahead of the law and the men I’d robbed. San Francisco wouldn’t be any different.
Even so, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Adriano Dombruso and I were destined to cross paths again someday.
3
Adriano
That little asshole! I couldn’t believe he’d stolen from me. And of all the things to take, of course he’d chosen my most prized possession. Well, why not? It was the most expensive thing in that chest by far, though I really didn’t get why he’d left the rest of my watches and cufflinks behind. It made no sense.
Also, he’d chained me up—and I’d fucking let him!—just a few hours earlier. Why hadn’t he robbed me while I was incapacitated? He could have slapped some duct tape over my mouth and taken his time completely wiping me out. But instead, he’d set me free, slept by my side for a while, and then he robbed me.
Okay, so maybe it had been a spontaneous thing. Maybe curiosity got the better of him on the way to the shower, so he’d looked in the chest, seen the watch, and made a snap decision to take it.
I was almost as mad at myself as I was at Jack, because leaving the mahogany box sitting out like that was totally on me. Usually, it was kept in a safe. But I’d brought it out earlier this evening, so I could select a watch and a pair of cufflinks. It was my first night at a singles bar in almost five years, and I’d wanted to look good.