Page 6 of Ruin Me With Lies
He wasorderedto come get me, and he’s not happy about it.
He’ll likely be a bit of a challenge for me, but I’ll wing it, flow with his moods.
After a thirty-minute drive, the vehicle comes to a final stop in a back alley behind a towering building.
Black Gold Casino.Renowned as one of the best and most luxurious casino hotels on the Strip—although its hotel facilities remain closed to the public.
A frisson of thrill races up my spine as I’m ushered out of the car and toward a welded metal door.
One of the men bangs on it in a distinct pattern.Seconds later, it swings open, revealing a mountain of a man.Handgun at his hip, semi-auto strapped across his chest.
I’m ushered inside, up a flight of stairs, then into an elevator.
Several floors up, the doors slide open and I’m led to a long, narrow room, thick with smoke.A wall of glass overlooks the casino floor that’s pulsing with activity.
Three suited men sit inside.One of them Lorenzo Costello.Second in command, twin brother of the head honcho.He’s manspreading in a club chair, a cigar between his fingers, a half-empty whiskey glass within reach.
Luca prods me forward, but I shake my head.I’ve endured weeks of secondhand smoke at Vivienne’s, but this room is a death trap.“I can’t—I can’t be in here.”
“Come again?”Luca grips my arm, whipping me around.“Little late to change your mind now, smart girl.”
“No, it’s not that.I’m just—” My chest tightens.“My—”
“What?Spit it out.”
“I’m asthmatic.”I get out my inhaler from my jacket pocket and take a quick pump.“This room...There’s too much smoke.”
Luca stares at me in disbelief, then lets out a humorless chuckle.“You serious?Youbeggedus to take you, knowing damn well you’ve got faulty lungs?”He gestures toward the casino floor below.“How the hell did you think you were gonna survive down there?Or in any of our clubs?”
“I can handle open spaces,” I say.“But in confined rooms with no windows, nowhere for the smoke to go…it’s different.”
“Why didn’t you say anything when I lit up in the car?”
“I rolled down my window and turned away.”I shrug.“Also, you’re an impatient,unaccommodating person, so I doubted you would care.”
This time, when he chuckles, there’s actual humor in it.“You know what I think?”
It sounds rhetorical so I remain quiet.
“I think you’re…” He studies me, then shakes his head, abandoning whatever he was about to say.Instead, he motions to Lorenzo.“Whether or not you leave this room depends on the boss.”
Lorenzo puffs a plume of smoke from his cigar, regarding me.He’s menace incarnate.Everything about him, his aura, his demeanor, the very air around him, radiates quiet threat.
There’s no doubt he’s met the devil face to face.An obvious agent of Satan himself.Yet somehow, heaven saw fit to bless him with faultless, ruinous beauty.His handsomeness is rough, unadorned.Strong jaw, straight nose, full lips.Dark hair, streaked with burnished bronze, curling behind his ears and brushing his shoulders.
He snuffs out his cigar in a crystal ashtray, then straightens and strides toward a black door off to the side.“Come with me.You too, Luca.”
Luca nudges me forward, and we cross the smoky room, following Lorenzo through the door.It leads into a spacious office, designed in black and gold.
Lorenzo sits back against the edge of the desk.“Better?”
I nod.
“Use your words,” he orders.
“Better,” I say.
He gestures to the oversized black sofa against the wall.“Sit.”
