Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“Thank you,” Isabel says.
Trish nods to her. “You’re welcome. I don’t blame you for your boss’s fuck-ups, so feel free to charge whatever you want to the room. We’ll forward him the bill.”
I put my hand on my heart. “I knew you loved me.”
“I feel nothing but disdain for you.”
“Oh, Trish, you know the most direct route to my heart is through utter contempt. I’m a masochist at heart.”
Trish rolls her eyes and Will interrupts. “Enough of this shit, let’s get inside,” he grumbles. “Adler’s waiting in his office.”
I follow the pair through the main doors. Isabel hurries to keep up. She’s never been here before—all our business is out on the West Coast, and I didn’t bring her the one time I came out here since she started working for me—and I enjoy the look on her face as she stares around.
The Sunrise is gorgeous. As over-the-top and absurd the place may be, Adler did a good job maintaining and upgrading it. The front section opens into a garden of flowers—real flowers planted in these ingenious boxes that look like actual grass—and beyond is the gaming floor, a forest of flashing animated slot machines and live dealer tables. It’s not particularly busy at the moment, but there’s still a steady flow of people, some coming and some going, moving around the place like a human river.
We bypass the commotion and go straight to a set of private elevators behind the front desk. Trish waves a curt goodbye as Will takes me and Isabel to the third floor where the main security rooms watch over the multitude of cameras all trained to track and spot any problems. My brother’s office is at the far side of the building near this obscene fake balcony thing that overlooks the central gambling facility. He likes to stand there, hidden from view, watching his little empire of idiots.
I hate being back here.
There are too many memories. I grew up in the Sunrise—my father built this place and ran the organization before my brother took over nine years ago—and those were hard days. I left the second I could, but this place has always been with me, drilled down deep into my marrow, stuck in my bones and my blood.
“Go right in,” Will says when we reach the doors.
“Is my nephew around?” I ask before heading inside. “Just realized I haven’t seen the kid in a while.”
“I’m sure you’ll see him.” Will’s expression softens. “Little monster’s a menace. Running wild already.”
“With a father like Adler, can you really blame him?”
Will snorts. “Fair point, but at least his mother’s okay.”
“Casey. I like her. How’s she holding up?”
“Pregnant again. Which you’d know if you ever bothered to come home.” Will’s smile disappears. “Go inside and talk to your brother.” He nods to Isabel and walks off.
I hesitate before opening the door.
“How come you don’t ever come back?” she asks.
It’s the first time she’s spoken to me since we got on the plane hours ago. I glance at her, not sure if I really heard, but she’s staring at me.
It’s almost the look. Half desire, half loathing. God, I love that look, and I love those lips, and that tight button-down she’s wearing, except I hate the way she thinks about me.
Not that I can blame her.
“Home and I don’t really get along.”
“What about you and your brother? I mean, what are we walking into here?”
I press my lips together, considering. “Adler and I have always been on good terms.”
“He sounded mad.”
“Anything that threatens the family is bad.”
“He sounded really mad.”
“Well—” I stare into her face. “My family is particularly vulnerable to politics. Not just our business interests, but our other interests are well.”
She pales slightly. “Other interests?”
“Right, I almost forgot, we pretend like that stuff doesn’t exist.” I turn away. “I’ll do the talking. Don’t worry, he’s not going to take anything out on you.”
“I wasn’t worried,” she says but I don’t believe her.
We step into my brother’s office like we’re walking into our own funeral.
Chapter 5
Isabel
I’m overwhelmed by the Sunrise.
I’ve been to casinos before—a few in Vegas, mostly some of the older and less expensive places since I’m not really into gambling—but never to one like this before. It’s lavish, every inch of it renovated and gleaming. I’m exhausted from the flight and fried from ignoring Con, and I’m frankly not thinking straight when he all but admits to the darker side of his business.
The side I don’t ever think about.
The side he carefully kept from me for three years.
I’ve heard the rumors about the Costa family. About how they’re involved in certain illicit activities. But I never put much stock in that—the hotel and casino trade has to be lucrative enough to make breaking the law a losing proposition.
And yet he all but admitted it straight to my face.