Playing Her Hand (Owning Vegas 2nd Gen #1)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Blood pools around me. My legs, arms, and hands are covered in it. The metallic scent fills the air. What have I done?

My heart hammers against my chest as I reach out and search for a pulse. It’s useless. There wasn’t one the last three times I’ve checked. There’s not going to be one now.

I didn’t mean to do this. I just reacted. I wanted him to stop. My hands shake as I stare down at them, my boyfriend’s blood darkening my nails.

Think, Jazzy, think!

Crawling around the kitchen, I find my phone. It landed on the tiles by the stove when Freddie knocked it out of my grip.

The phone slips again, his blood now covering the screen. I grab it and flip it over, scrubbing my palms down my jeans in an attempt to clean them. I repeat the process with my phone.

I open my contacts, my finger hovering over my dad’s name. I know without a doubt I can call him. He’d be here and he’d clean up this mess for me. But I can’t tell him what I’ve done. I don’t want him to look at me like I’m a… killer.

Fuck! I didn’t mean to kill him.

My gaze darts back to the lifeless body on the floor only a few feet away from me. And I scroll through my contacts until I get to the name of the one person I know will come and help me—and keep it between us. The phone rings three times before he answers.

“Princesa, how are you?” My uncle’s voice is comforting. He’s always had this effect on me. Ever since I was six, and he calmed me down after one of my nightmares.

“Tío E… I… I did something bad,” I say, unable to explain further.

“Jazzy, where are you?” my uncle asks.

“In my apartment. I didn’t mean to do it, Tío E. I just wanted him to stop,” I try to explain.

“What did you do, princesa? Are you alone?”

“Yes, I’m alone. I… I killed him.” I look to Freddie. I’m assuming a dead body doesn’t count as company. My voice is quiet. “I didn’t mean to. There’s blood everywhere. I didn’t mean to. I just wanted him to stop.”

“Did you call your father?”

“No, please, Tío E, you can’t tell him. Please! I don’t want him to know.”

“I’m getting on the jet now. I’ll be there in a few hours. But, Jasmine, do not answer your door for anyone.”

“Okay.”

“I want you to go and shower, Jazzy. Put the clothes you’re wearing into a trash bag. And wait for me to get there. Don’t call anyone else,” he says.

“Okay.” I nod even though my uncle can’t see me. The call cuts out, and I’m left sitting in the silence with Freddie’s body.

Go and shower. I can do that.

I push myself up from the floor and stand on shaky legs. Walking the long way around the kitchen island so I don’t have to step over Freddie, I then head into the bathroom, where I strip out of my clothes. I avoid looking in the mirror.

I never wanted to become this person. A killer.

My parents did everything they could to shield me from the realities of the lives they lead.

Not an easy feat when your father is one of the Vegas underworld bosses and your stepmother is a mafia princess.

Antonia’s father was a Don before he tried to kill both her and my dad.

I never met the man, not that I would have wanted to.

Adjusting the water until it’s as hot as it will go, I step under the spray and watch as it turns red around my feet.

I sit down and lean my back against the wall.

Closing my eyes, only to have a replay of the past thirty minutes show up.

I feel the first tear fall. Then another.

And before I know it, I’m sobbing in the shower stall.

The door to my apartment opens four hours later. I look up and see my uncle walk in with my cousin, his son, Elias. My eyes widen. I thought he was coming alone.

“Jazzy, it’s okay.” Tío E approaches me. I don’t stand. I stay curled up on the sofa.

I can see Freddie’s head from here. His face is turned away, but there is blood all around him. Tío E kneels in front of me. He cups my jaw and turns my head from side to side. His eyes turn darker than I’ve ever seen them.

“It’s going to be okay,” he tells me. His jaw is clenched tight.

“Fucking hell.” Elias glances at me and then at the body. “He did that?” he asks, pointing to my face.

I nod. But the words get stuck in my throat.

Elias says something in Spanish, far too fast for me to be able to translate it in my head. “You did real good, Jazzy,” he adds in English.

I give him a small smile.

Elias is the youngest of us cousins. Although we aren’t really blood-related. All of my uncles are my dad’s friends. But I’ve grown up with them since I was six years old and my mother dropped me on my dad’s doorstep, so to speak. It was actually a casino lobby.

My mother wasn’t a bad person. She didn’t have a choice. We’d talked about what she had to do. She was dying, and while I’d never met my dad before that day, I had been told so many good stories about him that I wasn’t nervous.

“Princesa, we need to get you out of here. Elias is going to take care of cleaning up. I need to bring you home,” Tío E says.

I shake my head. “I can’t go back like this.” I point to my face. It’s covered in bruises from where Freddie had hit me. And my bottom lip is swollen and split. I haven’t looked, but I don’t need to see it. I can feel it.

“I’m not leaving you here. It’s either Vegas or Mexico, Jasmine. Your choice.” He shrugs.

Neither is a good option. I trust my Tío E to keep my secret, but if I go to his home in Mexico, my Aunt Evie will be there, and I don’t think she’d be able to keep this from my parents. It’s also not fair to put my aunt and uncle in this position.

“I don’t want them to know what I did,” I whisper.

“No one has to know. Whatever happened won’t leave this room. I promise,” Tío E assures me.

“Dad is going to want to kill someone if he sees me like this,” I say. “How do I explain that he can’t because I already did?”

“I’ll say I did it.” This comes from Elias.

“I don’t want you to lie for me,” I tell my cousin. “I shouldn’t have called. I didn’t know what to do.”

“You certainly should have, princesa. This is what uncles are for.” Tío E winks at me. “And I will always come when you call. You know that.”

“You could have called me. I’ll try not to let it bruise my ego, though, Jazzy.” Elias smirks.

I smile back at him. “Your ego is big enough to take the hit.”

“Okay, we’re going to get you on the jet and back to Vegas. Elias will take care of this place. Get some movers ASAP.”

“Movers? Why?”

“You’re not coming back to this shithole of a city, Jasmine. Besides, I didn’t want to tell you this, but Carlo could use your help.”

I frown. “Why would my dad need my help?”

“He’s too proud to admit when he’s bitten off more than he can chew. But between the casinos and, well, everything else, he needs someone he can trust to step up and help out,” Tío E explains.

“Why wouldn’t he ask me?”

“Because you keep telling everyone how much you love your life here.”

He’s right. I honestly thought if I said it enough times, I would start to believe it. Truth is, I came to New York as soon as I finished college. I have a good job here. I’m a business analyst. I’ve worked hard to move up the corporate ladder. I can’t just throw that away to move back to Vegas.

But if it’s true, and my dad really does need help, I can’t stay here either. “Okay, I’ll go home.”

“Good. You’ve been running long enough, princesa.” Tío E nods.

My eyes widen. How does he know I was running? Does he know why?

“There isn’t anything that happens that I don’t find out about.” He chuckles.