Maybe it was more obvious because Annie knew her sister and her tics, but Tessa and the other player were working together. She hadn’t spent much time with Tessa over the years, but childhood habits died hard. Every move she made felt deliberate or forced. Most people didn’t worry about partners working together at a tournament because the table assignments were random. You’d have to have someone on the inside to ensure you were placed together, and that was nearly impossible to do.
Annie’s throat started to close on her as surely as if she’d been stung by a bee. The flop went down and Tessa bet conservatively. The way you would if you were trying to lure other players into putting more money into the pot. At the moment, Paul was contemplating his bet. Every eye in the room was on him, even those of the security guard who was supposed to be watching Tessa play.
All except for Annie’s. Her gaze stayed glued on her sister as Tessa watched the other players and once again started curling a red strand of hair around her finger. It played out just as before, with her partner betting high. Tessa casually looked up and caught Annie watching her with a sad, disappointed expression.
Tessa froze for a moment in panic before smiling uneasily. She knew Annie had caught her but was confident her protective older sister was no threat to her scheme. She silently pleaded for Annie’s silence, mouthing the word please before turning back to her hand.
Suddenly the last gap in her throat closed and Annie couldn’t breathe.
From the moment she’d seen Tessa and Eddie together, this had been her secret fear. She’d been telling Nate the truth when she said she didn’t know anything. Worrying about her sister’s judgment and knowing for certain of her guilt were two very different things. Everything had just changed. She needed to get out of there. Now.
Without staying to see how the hand ended, Annie turned on her heel and began pushing her way through the crowd. She had no idea who was around her or who she knocked into on her way. All she knew was the panic and struggle for air. Her chest felt heavy, as though bricks were threatening to crush her rib cage.
She glanced at the entrance to the casino, but that wasn’t enough. She needed clean air. Air without taxicab smog, tourists and the deafening bustle of the Vegas Strip.
Annie wanted to go to the roof.
Nate’s private elevator didn’t go all the way to the hotel roof, but she knew which one did. Her access card would take her almost to the top, and then she could scale the last few stairs.
“Annie?”
Someone called her name, but she couldn’t stop to find out who it was. She darted down the hallway and into the secured area. The elevator was waiting when she arrived, and she slipped in her card to take her all the way to the top.
“Annie? Wait!”
It was Nate, she could tell now with the casino noises muffled by the doors. The voice was more urgent, his pounding footsteps echoing on the tile floor as he chased after her, but she ignored him. She needed to get away from everything, including Nate.
The doors closed and the car shot up from the ground floor at a dizzying speed. Annie closed her eyes. She was relieved to find the higher she climbed, the easier she could breathe. By the time she opened the door that led out to the roof, she felt infinitely better.
Annie took a deep breath and walked out onto the open expanse of the hotel roof. Her trembling hands gripped the railing as she stood, overlooking the twinkling lights of the Strip. The sun had already set, and the casino signs were growing more intense as the golden light faded from the sky.
She stood quietly listening to her surroundings, waiting for her heart to grow steadier in her chest. She strained to hear the deep boom of what could only be the Treasure Island cannons as the pirates battled out front.
She’d failed Tessa. If she’d been the sister she should’ve been, Tessa wouldn’t have fallen into this sort of situation, letting herself be manipulated by a man. And after all the grief her sister had given Annie over her marriage! Marrying Nate wouldn’t land her in jail.
What could she do now? Nate desperately wanted to secure the tournament contract. She had no doubt he would have Tessa arrested once he had enough evidence, and she’d told him she would turn the information over if she found it. The key was that she wouldn’t look for her sister’s guilt, but she’d just been slapped in the face with it.
How could she choose between her sister and the man that she loved?
She never should’ve come back to the Desert Sapphire. The tournament wasn’t worth it. Not even the divorce was worth it. Nothing justified the pain and drama that coming back had brought. In the end, everyone would get hurt, including Nate. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t hurt him again.