Page 36 of High Roller

“Tell me about when he almost hurt you. You don’t have to relive the gory details. Just the basics.”

She drops onto the sofa and buries her face in her hands. “I was out at a charity function. Someone pulled me into a bathroom stall and tried to… rape me. Or they were trying to kill me. I honestly have no idea. But he got interrupted and bolted and I never saw him again.”

“How long ago was this?”

“A little less than a year? Finn and I had the biggest fight we’ve ever had, and I was really shaken up and not paying attention or he never would have gotten me alone like that.”

“Did you tell Phineas about the attack?”

Lili shakes her head. “No.”

“Why not? He’s your husband.”

Lili sighs. “Because he would have made it out to be my fault somehow, and I would have paid for it.”

Bile churns in my gut and I am flooded with images of all the ways I’m going to torture Phineas Draven before I kill him. “I’m deeply sorry, Liliana. Are you OK here alone for a bit? There are some things I need to take care of before we close.”

She uses her arm to wipe her eyes and smiles up at me. “Please go. I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll send Gracie back here to check on you.”

She waves at the door with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes and tells me again to go. I’m hesitant to leave her, but the others need to hear about this, so I open the door and head back into the heart of the club.

In Matteo’s dungeon, I find Skylar kneeling with a ball gag in her mouth. Like Liliana earlier, she’s wearing a masquerade mask that hides much of her face, but I still recognize her. Celebrity status makes it more important to hide her identity, especially since the world isn’t aware she’s with Matteo.

I drop to one knee and get close to her ear so nearby members can’t hear me. “Looks like that mouth got you in trouble again, Kitten. I need Matteo. Can you point him out for me since you can’t talk?”

Drool drips down her chin into her lap, and she closes her eyes in frustration. I pull the pocket square out of my suit jacket and hand it to her. Her expression—what I can see of it—is grateful, and she turns sideways and points behind her, indicating that Matteo is in his office.

“Thank you.” I kiss her cheek. “I’ll put in a good word for you with the boss.”

She wrinkles her nose and I’m confident if she weren’t gagged, she would have something snotty to say.

“Or not,” I tease standing up. She shakes her head back and forth and clasps her hands together like she’s praying, and I chuckle. “Relax. I’m messing with you. You get in enough trouble with him without me helping you.”

She relaxes dramatically and I head toward Matteo’s office.

It’s unlocked, so I poke my head in after I knock. He’s leaning against his desk, jacket off and shirt sleeves rolled up.

“Skylar OK?” he asks.

I step fully into the room and shut the door behind me. “She’s good. A little slobbery but fine. Pointed me to you.”

Matteo smirks. “I was just about to go and get her. Is everything OK? You seem tense.”

I tell him about Lili being spooked by Jacob and the story she relayed to me.

“He is a contract killer. It’s possible he was hired to take her out. Sounds like sloppy work for him, though. Let’s get him in here and ask some questions, but we can wait until morning. Amarjit has the King suite reserved tonight, so I know they’re staying. We’ll quietly ask her to keep him on site until we arrive.”

It’s as solid of a plan as we can come up with right now, so I say goodnight.

“Tell Skylar she can come see me if she’s ready to stop being a brat.”

“I think that’s a lost cause, my friend.”

Matteo grins as I slip out of his office and back into the dungeon. When I reach Skylar again, I help her up and send her to Matteo’s office.

She tries to hand me the pocket square back, but I shake my head. “Keep it. We both know you’ll end up in this position again.”

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