Page 15 of Bad Blood
I play my cards while I'm still staring at the man, oblivious to the excited gasps all around me as I claim another win.
He’s close now. I can see the satisfied twist to his cruelly sensual mouth. He’s younger than I’d first figured—maybe mid-twenties—but he’s the sort to view his age as a disadvantage. Maybe that’s why he’s overpromoting his dangerous vibe.
At the last second, I drop my eyes to the table. I feel the heat of his gaze passing over my lowered head like a blast from a furnace, and then he’s offering up his broad back to me as some kind of “fuck you, I’m not interested”.
He skims past the poker tables, and then he and the other guy disappear into a door marked “private”, adjacent to the long bar.
His shadow continues to linger over the floor.
I glance at my fellow players to see if anyone else is affected by the Tornado of Danger that just blew through the casino, but all eyes are fixed on the dealer.
Without thinking, I chuck a couple of thousand in chips into the betting circle, and then scramble to remember the last cards that were played.Come on, Thalia… keep it together.But it’s like my concentration just disappeared through a door marked ‘private’, too. The urge to run is so strong, my fingers start gripping the edge of the table. My father always swore that instinct was his greatest weapon.
Whoever that man is, I need to stay away from him at all costs.
That’s when I do something I’ve never done at a blackjack table before—I make a stupid, rash decision that sets my destiny on a collision course with the Prince of Darkness himself.
I add every single chip I’ve won tonight to my pile on the betting circle before a single card is dealt.
I need to get the hell out of here, and I need to do it fast.
Chapter Six
Santi
I dreamedof her again last night.
The young girl in the red toboggan with the brown eyes.
Like always, I see her spilling out of the black sedan, the snow crunching beneath her boots as a nickname trails behind her. She pays no attention to it. We’re too locked in our own world—her bright curiosity tainted by my dark purpose.
“Are you waiting for someone?” she asks.
Yes, you…
“Do you want to come sit with us?”
I want her to move so that I can fire two bullets into the car behind her, but I stand frozen, just like the barrier of snow between us.
She shouldn’t be here… It isn’t safe. I’m a falcon—eyes, ears, and wall of protection for the men inside that church. And right now, the only one I want to protect is her.
Last night was different.
Instead of rushing forward and shielding her from the gunfire, the dream I’ve had for nearly ten years extended into something new. Something so hauntingly disturbing, I can’t get it out of my head.
The young girl in the red toboggan was a woman in a white dress. Her head was bowed, her face hidden behind a thick curtain of onyx hair. A flickering light swung above the corner of the damp, dark room where she knelt with her hands bound behind her back. Even in her vulnerable position, she never cried. Her shoulders never shook with fear.
“I trusted you,”she whispered.“You failed us.”
Us.
She whispers the word each time I see her, only she’s always alone—this unknown woman I shouldn’t waste a spare moment thinking about. Yet, her accusation pierces like a dagger to my heart.
The image has haunted me all day, following me about like a phantom. It occupies unwanted space in my mind, bleeding its chaos into my business.
I’m silent as the elevator doors slide open, my gaze settling on the steel door a few feet in front of me. This is where everything makes sense. Four floors below the most exclusive casino in Atlantic City lies the gates to hell.
Down here, nothing matters but what’s behind that door. My focus should be the slow build of adrenaline pumping through my veins, but it’s not. It’s still locked on that damn woman, and it’s pissing me off.
