15. Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Victor
“She needs a new car, but if I just buy her one, she’ll be pissed. She worked hard for this car and had a party the day she bought it, and I don’t want to diminish that.”
Luke and I are standing in one of the garages for his limo company where we had Gracie’s car towed.
“Don’t worry, man. I’ll have one of my mechanics check it out and make sure everything is in good working order. Not just the tires. In the meantime, she can borrow one of the town cars.”
“Thank you, Luke. I appreciate it. Today has made me realize I’m not taking good enough care of her. We’ve always been just friends, but I brought her here, I should have been paying better attention. No wonder she jumped at the chance to live with Sabrina.”
Luke claps me on the shoulder. “We’ll take good care of her. Find out who did this to her car and then go ask her why she doesn’t seem to believe in car washes.”
With a laugh, I head for my own car so I can meet with Owen before I have to go to work. We both work out of the same casino, The Pink Sapphire, and we agreed to meet there before my shift starts. I know he’ll have already pulled every piece of footage he can find near the coffee shop to see if we can pinpoint who slashed Grace’s tires.
When I enter the command center where he runs a vast security network for Hunter Novak’s casinos, his jacket is off, and his sleeves are rolled up as he stares intently at a bank of monitors while typing feverishly.
“Anything useful?” I say to announce my presence.
His only acknowledgment is a grunt as he kicks a chair out from under the second desk along the wall of monitors. I sit and watch him work, knowing it’s best not to interrupt him.
“The coffee shop’s cameras are in shit spots, so we can’t use them to catch the bastard. Instead, I’m just running every vehicle that comes in and out of the parking lot in that ten-minute window. It’s going to take some time.”
I figured it would be a long shot, but if anyone can do it, it’s Owen.
“Have we heard anything from our network about why Phineas isn’t looking for Liliana?” I ask.
Owen shakes his head. “Nothing. It’s a little disturbing. Are we sure she isn’t a plant?”
It’s crossed my mind to think that a couple of times, but it doesn’t make sense no matter which way I look at it. The shift I was working the night she came into the casino was a scheduled shift, but that information is kept private. I would be more suspicious if I were covering for someone at the last minute.
“It’s worth looking into, but I don’t think so.”
Owen shakes his head. “I don’t either. But we have to look at every possibility. It’s been almost seventy-two hours since he last saw her. It just seems odd that he isn’t even checking the location on her phone.”
I don’t disagree, but right now my focus is on who slashed Grace’s tires, so I nod to the screen. “Have any interesting names popped up on your list so far?”
Owen shakes his head. “Nothing I can connect to us or to Gracie. But there has to be something.”
“What about someone who works for the mechanic who changed her oil the other day? I’m still not convinced that was an accident.”
Owen opens a new window and begins typing. I watch, only pretending to understand what I’m looking at.
“Not directly. But this guy has the same last name as someone from the coffee shop. It’s a place to start anyway. Simmons is a common enough last name it could be nothing, but I’ll check it out.”
“I gotta get to work. But we’ll talk again after my shift.”
Owen gives me another grunt, and I leave him to mutter at his screens.
As I go through the process of a shift change, my mind is not focused on the task. But it’s repetitive enough that no one notices. I’m back at the High Card with Grace and Lili. The women are night a day in everything from appearance to personality, and yet they both occupy my mind as questions of what if swirl.
Gracie
My day with Bellamy and Lili is better than I expected it to be. I’m not sure what I expected, but the conversation is easy as we talk about life in Las Vegas, dream jobs, and the careers we thought we would have growing up. It’s as if we are three friends in a hotel suite instead of one of us being a hostage.
I feel bad for Lili, but in a twisted way I’m glad I’ve met her.
Tobias calls Bellamy home in the late afternoon, and she leaves me alone with Lili. Our conversation flows just as easily as it did with Bellamy in the room, which is surprising.
When Luke arrives a couple of hours later with the keys to a town car, I fear the worst for Cam Cam, but he quickly soothes my fears.
“Victor is concerned about the last mechanic you took it to, so I’m using one of my guys, and he’s short on the tires you need. Just drive this for a couple of days and your car will be as good as new.”
My shoulders sag with relief.
“Do you need to get out of here? Victor said you could go home if you need to.”
I glance back at Lili’s door. “After I finish visiting with Lili. I do have work in the morning, so I should get home.”
Luke squeezes my shoulder. “Don’t worry about your car. She’s in excellent hands, I promise.”
I smile at the bearded Irishman. “Thanks. I appreciate you and the club handling the expense. Four tires would be a lot for my budget right now.”
Luke nods. “You do a lot for us. We’re happy to help you with anything we can. I hope you know that.”
When he’s gone, I return to Lili’s room, jingling my keys.
“Looks like I’m free to leave. Victor is working until midnight.”
“Understood. I don’t suppose there’s a chance of you letting me go home with you is there?”
Her expression makes me laugh. “I like you, Lili, but not more than I’m scared of Victor.”
Lili chuckles. “It was worth a shot. When will I see you again?”
“I have to be back to work at ten in the morning. But if you’ll tell me more of your story, I’ll bring breakfast and come in early. I usually stop at Bagels and Brew on my way in.”
Lili licks her lips. “I love their candied black pepper bacon breakfast bagel, but Finn wouldn’t be caught dead there.”
The longing in her voice over a simple bagel makes me laugh. “I’ll bring you one then. I’ll be back around nine. Hope you get a good night’s sleep.”
Lili stands and offers me a surprising hug. “You too, pretty girl. And I hope Victor wasn’t too hard on you last night. I’m sorry if I got you into trouble.”
My shoulders tense at her words. Victor and I have entered uncharted territory, and I’m unsure of how much I want to share with a woman he’s slept with.
I slip out of the room before she can say anything else, offering her a little wave before I head for my car—or rather Luke’s borrowed town car—and head for home.
When I unlock the door to my apartment, Sabrina is adding water to a fresh bouquet of purple roses, and I groan. “Another one?”
She nods with a mischievous smile. “You’ve got quite the secret admirer. And what is with these cards?”
I pick up the small card and flip it over. This time, the letter is L.
None of it makes any sense. I pocket the card and take it to my room, not in the mood for my chatty roommate’s questions tonight. With a sigh, I snap a photo of the card and text it to Victor. But if he’s working, I know he won’t see it until he goes on break.
At first, I wasn’t convinced of his paranoia about me having a stalker, but with the tires this morning convinced me.
In my bed, I let myself relive the feeling of being sandwiched between Victor and Lili. It was different from the last time I slept between two people. It’s been more than five years since that relationship ended, but now I’ve thought of Kara and Sampson twice in the last few days.
The memories aren’t always fond, and I would rather keep fantasizing about Victor and for some reason Lili is included in that, so I shove the memories to the edges of my brain and focus on the warmth of Victor’s body next to mine, and the sweet smell of Liliana’s hair as I open my night stand, and pull out a slim vibrator.