Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
It was Frank.
And worse than that by far… it was the pit boss.
She was sitting on a metal chair, her face bruised, swollen, and bloody. There was an alarming amount of red in her strawberry-blonde hair. Like she’d been hit hard in the head.
But that blood?
It was starting to dry.
How long had they had her?
How much had been done to her that I couldn’t see?
She was still dressed, at least.
There was that.
Though, given Frank’s borderline obsession with me, I didn’t imagine I would be so lucky.
I was suddenly too aware of the state of me: the too-tight dress, the low-cut bodice, the skirt that could so easily be hiked up, the barely-there thong that was not really a barrier at all.
I was so exposed.
So vulnerable.
So outnumbered.
“Let her go,” the pit boss demanded, jerking her chin up in defiance as the man standing near her took a threatening step forward. “I told you it was me.”
Oh, God.
She’d been trying to take the fall for me?
Why?
Why would she do that? Risk that?
Did she feel it was only right because she’d been the one to let me go?
Or was she trying to protect me from the very specific kind of torture she knew Frank would have in store for me?
She was trying to protect me.
And I didn’t even know her name.
“Monroe, I’m so glad you could join us,” Frank said, his tone slick.
Ice slid down my spine.
I lowered my legs to the floor, but they wobbled.
I still had my purse on my arm.
Somewhere inside, I had the heavy door lock Milo had given me.
But that would only momentarily disable one of the men. The other two would be on me in a second.
I had my phone.
But there was no way I’d get a chance to send out a text or call.
“You can release her mouth,” Frank told the man towering over me. “These walls are reinforced. I’ve heard stories that the mob that used to run this back in the seventies used this room to cut off fingers or hands of cheaters. They never got caught.”
Great.
That was a lovely tidbit I could have done without.
Knowing that he said it to scare me, though, only made me determined not to despair.
I might have been alone in this moment, but it wouldn’t be long until someone noticed I was missing.
Milo would wonder why I hadn’t texted that I was out like I promised. Remo’s guy, who was supposed to be trailing me, would get curious why he hadn’t spotted me yet.
Someone would get worried.
Someone would investigate.
Someone would come for me.
At least, that was what I was putting my faith to rest in.
I just had to stall as best I could.
I wasn’t going to fawn.
Those days were behind me.
But, damn it, I refused to let him see how terrified I was. I wouldn’t give him that pleasure.
“That was all unnecessarily dramatic,” I said, forcing my tone to be calm, cool, maybe a little condescending.
Frank’s head jerked back a little, like he hadn’t been expecting that reaction.
“You could have simply told me to meet you.” And I would have run like hell in the opposite direction.
“This isn’t a meeting,” Frank spat.
“No?” I asked, my tone bored. I sounded seconds away from yawning. “What is it then? Your goon broke my nail,” I said as I inspected the nail that broke off when I’d been scratching the guy who grabbed me.
“That’s going to be the least of your problems,” Frank said.
“So you finally admit it, then?” I asked, sighing out a breath.
“Admit what?”
His face was getting ruddy. He was never as in control with me as he wanted and he hated that.
But that was the upper hand I had here.
He wanted to get a reaction out of me.
The longer he didn’t, the better off I would be.
“That you’re a problem,” I said, my smile saccharine sweet to mask the bitterness beneath.
“I… what?” He was sweating. His hairline and upper lip were damp.
“I mean, come on, Frank,” I said, shaking my head. “This casino could be worth upward of fifty million. But look at it, barely scraping by. Everyone getting shitty pay. Terrible working conditions because you haven’t updated anything. It’s a problem. You are a problem.”
“I…”
“Want me to shut her up?” the man standing near the other woman asked.
I was glad for an excuse to glance in his direction so I could check on her again.
She shot me a pinched look, like she didn’t know what I was doing.
I’m trying to bide us time, I tried to convey to her. We’re not as alone as we look right now.
Each moment I could keep Frank talking rather than beating or raping me or both of us was one more minute for the Grassi men to track us down.
And they would come.
Remo had already saved me once.
I looked from her to the man beside her, feeling my stomach twist. Because I didn’t recognize him.