Page 44 of High Roller

“So why does that matter?”

“Because she had a god damn panic attack at the very sight of him last night, which means he took his job way too far. Phineas apparently hired him to scare her a little. He didn’t just frighten her, he traumatized her. We need to ban Jacob from the club. I don’t want any members here who have any connections to Phineas Draven.”

“Make sure you tell his wife that,” Matteo says dryly.

“Well, hopefully she won’t be his wife for much longer.”

“And then what? She’ll be your wife? Last night, it looked like you were starting something with Gracie.”

“It’s complicated and new, but we’re figuring it out. Lili is part of that complexity. Please don’t make a big deal out of this. Just back me up on keeping Jacob out of our club.”

Matteo runs a hand through his hair and leans over the bar for the coffee pot. “It’s not that simple and you know it. We sign membership contracts, and so far, he’s done nothing to break his. And if we boot him, how do you think that is going to impact our relationship with Amarjit? We need her, Victor.”

He’s right. I know he is. But I don’t know how I’m going to be in the same room with that bastard when I know he touched Lili.

“The question I have is why did her husband hire someone to scare her? You need to go in there and find out. Don’t let your feelings get in the way. This is serious, Victor. If I need to question her because you can’t be objective, I will.”

I put a hand on his shoulder. “Matteo, I’ve got it. Trust me. I’ve got a soft spot for Lili because of the abuse, but I’m capable of doing what needs to be done.”

“Good. Call me as soon as you have answers. I’m going to do a couple of things in my office and then head back to the Strip so I can be there when Skylar gets done with rehearsal and training.”

When Matteo is gone, I go back to the suite and find Gracie and Lili sitting in the middle of the bed laughing about something.

They both look at me and smile.

“Everything OK?” Gracie asks, slipping off the bed to hug me.

“Fine, butterfly. I need to chat with Lili for a few minutes. Would you want to run up the street and bring breakfast back?”

“Absolutely. I’ll go borrow something from Bellamy’s office. My dress is still wet.”

I kiss cheek and tuck her phone into the shirt pocket of her silk pajamas. When she’s gone, I invite Lili to join me on the sofa.

“What’s wrong?”

“It seems you were right about who you saw. I have some questions for you, and I need you to answer as honestly as possible.”

Lili’s face is pale. This is going to be hard for her, but hopefully I can ease some of the discomfort.

“I’ll do my best.”

“When you were attacked, had something happened with you and your husband? Was he especially angry at you about anything specific?”

Lili closes her eyes. “I threatened to leave him. It was the first time I suspected cheating.”

“And after you were attacked, what was his demeanor?”

“He was the epitome of a perfect husband for about a month. It was very strange. But he convinced me I was overreacting about my cheating suspicions, and after what happened, I wanted to believe him. And I guess he started being more careful after that because I didn’t find anything else that made me suspicious until I found irrefutable proof a few weeks ago.”

“I can’t give you details because I don’t have them. What I can say is Phineas hired someone to scare you and that’s all they were supposed to do.”

“They succeeded. I was terrified to be alone in public for a very long time, and even had a security detail.”

“There’s never anything wrong with having security, Spitfire.”

She leans forward and puts her face in her hands. “How did I get here? None of this was supposed to happen.”

“It wasn’t, but it did, and now we have to face it.”

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