Page 59 of High Roller

The four of us work jobs outside the club as part of blending in and keeping a lower profile, but we’re all high in the chain of command, and we don’t have to worry about a lot of oversight from supervisors. The few supervisor types we do interact with are friendly to us and understand who we are at least tangentially.

We try not to resort to violence… or rather Matteo, Luke, and Owen hold me back from resorting to violence. In my opinion, it’s the only way sometimes. And I admit that when I get to take that route, I enjoy my work.

I’m standing at my post watching dealers and players alike for any shady behavior when the hair on the back of my neck stands. My senses are on high alert, and I immediately scan the room for someone or something out of place. It takes a moment for me to recognize him, but sure enough, Phineas Draven is coming straight for me.

Or it seems like it anyway. He doesn’t stop at the tables, and instead heads for the hospitality desk a few feet away. I act like I’m checking on a dealer and move closer to overhear his conversation.

“My wife checked in here and never came home. I need you to open her room and make sure she’s not dead or injured.”

The hospitality host’s eyes are wide, and I’ve got my cellphone out texting Owen. I’m praying he’s in the building, but he usually works days.

A few minutes later, I get a thumbs up from him and a terse message.

Owen: On it.

But Owen isn’t the one who appears a few minutes later to calm a very irate Phineas Draven. Instead, it’s his second in command who usually works as the night chief of security. I stay back so Phineas doesn’t spot me, and when the two men leave the casino floor, I call another pit boss over to take my place. “There is an emergency at home,” I tell him. “If you need me, I’ll be in my office. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

The man nods, and I walk to my office with my phone to my ear.

“Phineas knows his wife is missing,” I say to Matteo as I shut the door.

“Owen already alerted us. Can you get away or do you need to stay on the clock?”

“I’ve got someone covering my shift for now, but there are three massive conventions happening this week, so traffic in and out of the Strip is insane, I’ll just stay on the phone with you.”

“We’re meeting in thirty minutes at the warehouse.”

The warehouse is where we meet when we don’t want to bring danger to the club. The High Card is our safe haven, and we don’t want to do anything to risk that. Like kidnapping the wife of our enemy and keeping her there. I slam my head against the back of my chair, cursing my stupidity and hot-headed nature.

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Matteo says, as if he can read my mind.

“Too late. I should move her.”

“Don’t do that either. So far, no one knows where she is, and Owen wiped every surveillance camera he could find with footage of you driving her to the club. We’re good for now.”

I breathe out a long, slow breath. “Bless Owen.”

“Bless me indeed,” a British voice says.

“He’s in the car with me,” Matteo clarifies.

“Call me back when everyone is gathered. I’m going to clock out and go to my car, so I don’t have to do this here.”

The call disconnects, and I inform my replacement I’ll be gone another hour. We have floating pit bosses for situations just like this, so it’s not an inconvenience.

In my car, I consider calling Grace to check on her. Matteo won’t be calling for another ten minutes. But she seemed pretty adamant about getting away from me at the museum, so I respect her space and scroll through her social media instead.

She shares too much of her life online. I make a mental note to talk to her about it just as my phone rings. Matteo, Owen, Luke, and Tobias sit around a laptop inside the warehouse.

“I think Grace is really getting close to Lili,” I say as the meeting begins. “I can talk to her and see if she’s willing to convince her to help us, but if she says no, we need to respect that.”

“It’s about time you admitted to being in love with that girl,” Luke says with a smirk.

I flip off the camera, intent on insisting I said no such thing, but he’s not done talking.

“I could ask Zara to check in on her. It seems like Zara can talk to anyone.”

It’s true, Zara has a skill with people that made her a sought-after escort before she met Luke and gave up most of her adult work, though she refused to give up all of it, and the two make it work somehow. I don’t understand it, but that’s not any of my business.

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