Chapter Eleven
Milo
Something was wrong.
Roe burst out of that casino like her ass was on fire, her eyes bulging, her skin pale. She kept almost breaking into a run before checking herself, making her do a few weird little skips before she seemed to get a little more control as she got further from the casino.
But her gaze kept sliding over her shoulder, looking for someone.
I cut between buildings and broke into a run up the street behind the Boardwalk so no one would see me trying to pursue her.
Then, when I was sure I was ahead of her, I moved into a small alley and waited.
I grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the darkness with me, glad she gasped instead of screamed, giving me a second.
“It’s me,” I said, pressing her back against the brick wall. “You’re alright. What are you running from?”
Her breathing was fast and shallow. And, fuck me, if I didn’t notice how her barely contained breasts were moving in her skintight, wine-red dress.
“Frank,” she said, inhaling slow and deep. “He caught me in his office.”
Fuck.
“Did he catch you doing anything?”
“No. No, I got in the office. And immediately noticed a working camera,” she explained. “So I, uh, pretended to start writing him a note since he wasn’t there. That’s when he came in.”
“I texted you to say he was coming,” I told her. I’d been worried she might have taken the chance I’d given her. But Frank had been too all over the place to distract.
“My phone was in my purse.”
“Baby, you gotta keep that on you.”
“Where?” she asked, waving down at her dress.
I definitely didn’t need an excuse to take in that damn dress again. But did my gaze lower? Yeah, of course it did.
She wasn’t wrong.
The thing was painted on.
It wasn’t the kind of dress that allowed for pockets.
“You could have a tailor sew a hidden pocket,” I suggested. “Phones are thin now; you wouldn’t see it if it was in the right spot.”
“These dresses are really expensive,” she told me. “I don’t want to ruin them.”
“Where are they from? I’ll buy a few new ones and get ‘em altered.”
“No.”
“No?” I asked, brows drawing down.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“You already paid me.”
“Yeah, but this is different. Something necessary for the job.”
“Like this?” she asked, reaching to touch the diamond necklace.
Alright.
She had me there.
There was no reason I had to get the phone to her at work. Let alone hidden under an expensive necklace.
I could have tried my little Eric angle with a bouquet of roses that would have cost a hell of a lot less.
“Yeah. I needed to try something out.”
“You could take it back.”
“I hate returning shit.” That was only partially true. I wanted her to have it.
Her gaze cut away, and I could see her biting the inside of her cheek. Something was bothering her about the necklace, but I had no idea what. Who would be upset about a diamond?
“Talk to me. What’s wrong with the dresses and necklace?”
Her gaze stayed stubbornly averted even as she spoke. “I don’t want you… getting ideas.”
“Ideas? What kind of ideas?”
“About these gifts… buying anything.”
“Buying—” I started to repeat before her meaning slipped in.
Her head turned, chin lifting, gaze steady.
I tucked my chin slightly, leaning ever so slightly closer.
“Baby, you think I need to pay a woman to fuck me?”
Her blue eyes widened at that. And up so close, even in the darkness, I watched the way her pupils blew wide. Like maybe she was thinking about fucking me. And liking it.
“I didn’t… that’s…”
“I’m sure that slimy boss of yours has put all sorts of twisted thoughts in your head. But I don’t give women things with the expectation that they’re going to spread their legs for me. I’ve got plenty of other ways to reach that end goal. I don’t need my money to get there.”
She swallowed hard at that, her gaze slipping from my eyes to my lips, then back up.
“I didn’t mean to offend you. You’re right. Frank said… some things right before I got out of his office.”
“About ‘Eric’ and the necklace?”
“Sort of? But also, I think, more about me and him.”
“You and Frank?”
“Yeah. It all got a little twisted up in my head. I can, um, give you the name of the shop. For the dresses.”
“You have a shift tomorrow night?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Let tomorrow be a normal night. No snooping. No trying to get closer to Frank. I feel like, with using you, we have to have a cool-down period between everything. You seem to know how to work him. But let’s not push it.”
“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. I mean… things have been… shady with Frank in the—”
“Shady how?” I cut her off.
“He once came into the room when I was changing.”
“Did he?” I asked, hearing the snarl in my voice and not particularly caring.
I wasn’t sure what Remo’s end plan was for Frank once he had possession of the casino. But I wouldn’t mind getting my hands dirty with some asshole who thought he could peep on his employees when they were vulnerable.
“Yeah, uh, the door doesn’t have a lock.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. I try to put off changing until the last minute to make sure Frank isn’t going to do a drop-in. One of the many reasons I’ve been thinking about finding a new job.”
Yeah, that shit was beyond fucked.
I had to add one more stop to my list of errands the next day, it seemed.
“Alright. So, normal day tomorrow. Do your sets. Get the hell out of there. Then the next afternoon, before your shift, I will text you about a meeting. Give you the new dresses, so you can have your phone on you in case anything goes sideways.”
“Sounds good.”
“Got preferences on colors?”
“Black and dark reds tend to be the colors for my job. Oh, there is an emerald-green one they have that is gorgeous, though. And a deep navy. Just… dark. And, obviously, tight. Without being too revealing. The lady there knows me; if you mention me.”
“Perfect. Anything you can tell me about Frank’s office?”
“Aside from it being… packed?”
“Packed? With what?”
“Boxes. He just has stacks of boxes everywhere. New ones, old ones that haven’t been opened so long they have half an inch of dust on them.”
“Did they seem heavy?”
“Maybe the lower ones, but a few fell right off the top when Frank threw the door open.”
I needed to know what was in those boxes.
But not until it was safe to do so.
“Anything else?”
“Everything is really… old. Like… really old. Not just a little out of vogue. The desk was from like the seventies. The printer was ancient. I don’t know if Frank just has no interior design sense or what.”
Frank was a showy guy. Nice suits. Decent jewelry. A guy like that would have a nice office if he could afford it.
Which made me think Remo was right in suspecting something was going on with Frank and the casino. Or Frank and debts.
“Did you notice if the drawers were locked? Or if there was a safe anywhere?”
“I really tried not to look like I was looking around once I noticed the camera. But I don’t think that kind of desk would lock. And I didn’t notice a safe. But with how much junk was around, one could have been hiding anywhere.”
“Alright. Good to know. You okay? Did shit get sketchy?”
“He just… made a comment that didn’t sit right with me. I mean, I guess he always does, though.” She was trying to brush it off. But it clearly was different if she was almost running out of the casino.
“What’d he say?”
“Just… something about how if men get teased long enough, they expect you to make good on it. That kind of thing.”
That kind of thing. Like it was not a big deal that some dick was talking about coercing or forcing a woman into something just because she was flirting.
“He’s a fucking asshole,” I said, getting a surprised chirp of a laugh out of her.
“Yeah, he is that,” she agreed, her smile blooming across her distractingly gorgeous face. “But you’re right; I know how to handle him. I think I was just extra freaked out tonight because I was in his office and worried about him being suspicious. It’ll be fine.”
Some part of me wanted to tell her to forget it. The snooping. The schmoozing.
I wanted to tell her to keep the money and just move on from the place and her asshole boss.
If this was my job, maybe that’s exactly what I would do. But this wasn’t my operation. This was Remo’s call.
I couldn’t call it off now that he knew I’d gotten her to agree to work for us.
But I could make sure she was safe and had everything she needed to not get caught.
So I had a lot of shit to track down the next day.
“I can’t technically walk you home. But I’m gonna be following.”
“I’ll be fine.”
It wasn’t the worst area I’d been in at night. But there was a pretty heavy drug presence, and desperate people might see a girl in a nice dress with a diamond on her neck and decide she was worth robbing.
“Probably. But I’m going to make sure. So you just head out and start walking. I’ll be a couple dozen yards behind.”
To that, she gave me a sweet smile. I could see the relief in her shoulders as she moved away from the wall and stepped out of the alley.
I hung back in the shadows, watching her, then watching the street, trying to see if there was anyone who was watching her too closely. People seeing her as a mark, sure. But maybe even more than that, anyone who might be working for her boss.
Seeing nothing too off, I made my way out and leisurely followed behind her until I saw her climb the steps up to a place that had to have been a hotel at some point, but the sign now claimed it was an apartment building.
I didn’t turn up the next street until I saw her disappear into her apartment and flip on the light.
And I was only maybe a few buildings down before a familiar voice spoke from the shadows of a closed-down parking garage.
“Everything alright?” Remo asked.
“Are you always just skulking about in abandoned buildings?” I asked, shaking my head as I moved the blockade out of my way so I could step inside with him.
“You’d be amazed how much you see from inside these places. Helped me get to know the area, its players, and its problems real quick.”