Page 101 of Gambler's Conceit

Grant bristles and shakes his head. “No, fuck you. You can’t fire me.”

I glare at him. “Why not? This is an at-will state, as you remind the employees over and over.”

Grant glances at Earl, who nods to him. “Because I know all this place’s secrets, Caleb. You can find somebody to run a casino, but one who can be trusted with the other books? Who gets along with Leon? Who is happy to help you deal with negative PR in any fucking way possible?”

If he’s trying to blackmail me, he’s doing a poor job of it. Yes, that’s a valid threat, but he knows as well as I do that if he eversnitches on the casino, he’s got a one-way ticket to hell, courtesy of Leon himself.

Leon would never forgive me for allowing anybody to snitch in the first place, though.

A new email pings, and I glance at the screen. It’s from the mysterious contact who wants to know all about Seven, sent to the anonymous account I’d set up and keep refreshing.

I take a breath to collect my thoughts. “Fine. We’re all very stressed right now.” I open the email and scan it, but there isn’t much new information in there. There is, however, an offer of quite a lot of money for Seven’s safe return.

“Get rid of Havoc,” Earl repeats.

I shake my head. “No, that part’s non-negotiable. But the casino is large enough that Grant and Havoc can avoid each other. Earl, I don’t know why you’re involved at all. This is none of your business.”

“It’s my casino!” Earl protests. “I care about what happens in here.”

It’smycasino, I think bitterly. I’m once again tempted to drop Earl off a cliff somewhere. Or maybe he can get drunk and fall over the lounge balcony. Perhaps his car will run out of gas between here and Texas and it’ll be very tragic that he walked out into the desert, never to return.

Just anything to get him out of my hair.

Grant crosses his arms. “Okay,boss. But I expect compensation for all this trouble.”

“I’ll double your end-of-year bonus,” I promise easily. “And I’ll make sure Havoc isn’t working near you. But I can only do so much. Do your best to steer clear of him and Seven.”

Especially Seven, I don’t say.

I’m really not worried about Havoc.

Grant and Earl negotiate a bit more, but they’re satisfied in the end. Once they’re gone, I can finally give the mysterious email my full attention.

This is the fifth one they’ve sent, and they’re getting increasingly more insistent.

I’m pretty sure I know who I’m dealing with—and I also know I don’t want Seven anywhere near them.

Name your price,the message says.

Like I keep telling Seven, negotiations never work well for you if you give away your cards too easily. These people are desperate to get Seven back.

One million dollars, I type,and I’ll tell you what city I was in when I saw him.

If I tell them he was in south Texas, maybe they’ll assume he hopped the border to Mexico.

I need to increase security around here, though. There are too many unknown people who go in and out of the casino, and as much as I would love to confine Seven to my suites, I know that’ll end very poorly for everyone.

I text Vortex to meet me at the bar. I lock up my computer and my office so I can finally get rid of the stress of this day.

I could take it all out on Seven. I know he’d love it if I did. His back is still recovering, though, and as much as I’d like to permanently mark him as mine, I get too angry when I see the scars on his back.

Careless, sloppy marks, made to hurt him, not to love him.

I can’t believe how sentimental I’ve gotten.

I find Vortex at the bar, sitting with Seven. Vortex already ordered himself a beer, and I motion to the bartender to get me my regular drink.

“Do you hate family as much as I do?” I ask as I slide into the stool next to Seven. I have to remind myself not to clench my jaw.

---