Page 16 of The Gambler

CHAPTER 9

TESS

They had stuffed her into the pantry. With a corpse! The nerve. She was going to rain hell on their asses. That is, on Luciano Detta’s ass. Not even she was stupid enough to trifle with the crazy twins.

Then, finally, after what had seemed like a lifetime, the door opened.

“About time!” She scurried out of the pantry and planted her feet firmly back on the kitchen floor.

“Sorry, doll,” Angel said. “We had a little rodent problem. Couldn’t let them catch us with a corpse, now could we?”

Ah, of course. She’d almost forgotten about the anonymous tip she made before she came over.

Damon gave her a knowing look.

Luca had a scowl on his face and cursed. “How in the hell did the IRS come to—”

Tess tried not to gulp when his gaze turned to her.

Big eyes, girl. Give him your big hazel eyes. You have pink hair. No one can suspect anything nefarious from someone sporting cotton candy hair.

Except… Luca apparently kind of did. He rounded on her, pushing her against the wall, and grabbed a loose curl.

“Is this what you meant when you said you came bearing gifts?”

“Um… I…”

He put a finger on her lip, effectively shushing her. “Radical honesty, remember? That way of life you live by. That’s what you told me.”

Crap on a stick. Of all the things to remember, he did that teensy, tiny detail. She was coming face to face with yet another episode of “Why Tess should keep her trap shut.”

“You forced my hand,” she admitted.

Angel came up near them, a hard look on his face. “They took my Vulcan.”

The IRS took hisStar Trekdoll? “I don’t follow.”

“My Aston Martin Vulcan,” he clarified. “My love. My life.”

Ah, that made more sense. She hadn’t taken him for a Spock lover anyway.

Damon rolled his eyes. “You stole that car this morning from the Koreans.”

“Borrowed,” Angel said in a clipped voice. “Borrowed it until they pay us what we’re owed.”

“I told you it was a bad idea. Han’s too cheap to actually pay for such a car. Of course the papers wouldn’t be up to date.”

Tess gave the Angelic one the stink eye. “You’re giving me grief about a car you stole just hours ago?”

“I get attached to things easily.”

She was just about to give him a piece of her mind when Damon tapped on Luca’s shoulder.

“Let her go. We need to have a talk.”

“I couldn’t agree more. You should let me go, like, right now.” She came here to hold Luca to his promise to free her dad from an Irish mobster. Now, she needed to extract herself from this mess, not to get sucked into a murder mystery.

Luca sighed, but didn’t let her go. “He wants me to let you go so he can take you with him.”

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