Page 56 of Rake

I break into peals of laughter. “I don’t have a lot of data for comparison, but yes. Definitely big. Definitely uses it well.”

“Damn,” she says. “Okay. I’ll check in with you later. Get home safe.”

It’s been one hell of a week.

16

Finn

Idon’t knock on my father’s door this time. Why maintain the ruse at this point, anyway? I expect him to scream at me, but instead he gives me a smile that lets me know immediately that he’s done something terrible.

Terrible for me, or for Sasha? I find myself hoping it’s not the latter.

“I did in one day what you couldn’t do in over a week,” my father says. “I fired the lead organizer on the staff side. It was that bartender you’re always flirting with.”

I flirt with nearly all the bartenders, but not pertinent information to share. I assume he means Jamilah since she’s the one I flirt with the most. Also, it took my father six months to get this information, not one day.

“I cornered one of the janitors—found him stealing some trash bags. Told him I’d let it go if he informed. Naturally he did.”

“Trash bags?” I say. “You were going to fire someone for stealing trash bags?” Seems kind of absurd.

“And this is why you’ll never be any good to me, Finn. No head for business. First it’s trash bags, and next thing you know they’re walking out with the slot machines.”

“Seems like quite the leap,” I say. Who steals trash bags? A voice at the back of my head tells me it’s people who can’t afford them. People who aren’t being paid a living wage and feel entitled to take them.

Good thing he doesn’t know about the money I’ve taken from him for various home improvement reasons. The deed to the building is in my name, too. It was one of the properties he signed over to hide assets during that particularly challenging audit he had to undergo to apply for the casino license. It was what gave me the idea to make a play for the other, more valuable deeds. And I knew Callan would be game, too.

“The customers really like Jamilah,” I say. “Staff, too. Are you sure firing her was the right move?”

He fixes me with his cold blue eyes. “Am I sure?” he spits. “Who do you think you are, Finn? Tell me that. Who the fuck do you think you are? You’ve been worse than useless to me your whole life, and you think you can tell me how to run my casino?”

I unfold my hands and turn them palms up. “I’m just saying that firing a popular employee at this point in time may not be in your best interests.”

“Making an example of people always works, Finn. Always.”

“Sometimes it gives unhappy people something to rally around instead.”

“Did you read that in one of your books?” He folds his arms across his chest. “You’re a waste of space.”

“Should I leave, then?” I ask. “I don’t want to take up more of your time.”

“No. I have a job for you. Do it successfully and I’ll reconsider excising your useless ass from this family. Everyone else besides you brings something to the table. Even your whore sister Catriona has been helping to build our brand.”

“Good for her,” I say.

“Do you ever take anything seriously?” he snarls.

“I’m taking this very seriously.”

“I want you to finish the job on that bitch Saunders. No one gets away with humiliating me like that.” His face is tomato red. I haven’t seen him quite this worked up in a while. “I don’t care how you do it, but I want her gone.”

“No.”

My father’s red turns slowly to purple.

“It’s a bad idea.” My personal feelings aside, the timing on this is atrocious. “If the union representative disappears right around the election, it will look terrible for you. Even with all of your connections.”

He smashes his fist into his desk. I don’t flinch.

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