Chapter One
Kellie Greyson peered from beneath lowered lashes at the three solemn men making no secret of the fact they were watching her every move. Tony Palazzi, that slimy piece of horse manure, and two of his thugs leaned their backs against the bar to her left, holding drinks they’d yet to sample. Second day in a row.
Good. Maybe the low-cut tops and miniskirts I bought aren’t a waste of money after all.The sky-high heels were killing her feet, though. Combat boots had been far more comfortable.
She placed a hundred dollars’ worth of chips in the betting circle of the Blackjack table, and the dealer dispensed cards to each of four players, turning up a five for himself. The first two gamblers went bust. The third stayed at eighteen. To make Tony think she appreciated his perusal, Kellie smiled before tapping her finger on the table beside the seven of spades and two of hearts she’d been dealt. The dealer hit her with an ace, and a murmur of approval rippled through the players to her right.
Kellie watched in amusement as the dealer appeared to swat absently, as though at a pesky fly buzzing around his ear—the obvious signal about as subtle as a freight train. His hole card was a nine, and when he dealt himself another nine, he did a lousy job of hiding his frustration.
She reached for the chips he pushed toward her, leaving a small bet on the table for the next deal. When he shoved those chips toward her too, she glanced at him. The dealer nodded to someone behind her, and, immediately, a heavy hand dropped on her shoulder.
One of the muscled suits, who’d been standing with Tony a moment ago, leaned to speak in her ear. “Miss, please come with us.” His tone left no room for discussion.
Kellie glanced over his shoulder to see who “us” was and met the stern glare of Tony’s other gorilla.Well, it’s about friggin’ time.Three days she’d been here, choking on the foul air, counting cards and beating the house—waiting for this exact moment. She grabbed her chips, which the helpful dealer had placed in a box, and stood to accompany her escorts to the cashier’s window. After she cashed out, she’d demand to speak with the owner of the Dominion Hotel and Casino, whose orders were, apparently, getting her tossed out. At long last, she’d have her chance to find out what Tony knew about her sister.
Except…they weren’t taking her to the cashier’s window. Sandwiching her between them, the two beefy men veered toward the elevators.
“Where are you taking me?” There was really only one place they could be going, and Kellie’s restrained excitement warred with nervousness.
One of the men pushed the top button beside the closed elevator, and an arrow flashed on, pointing up. “Mr. Palazzi wants to talk to you.” The doors opened, and the man gripped her elbow, guiding her ahead of him into the car. His hand moved over the panel of buttons and the number forty lit up—the top floor. The second man fingered a card on a lanyard around his neck and slid it into a slot above the numbers. The elevator started upward.
Kellie’s heart rate lurched into overdrive. Her palms started to sweat, in spite of her plan having finally become reality. All she had to do was continue her charade a while longer. She fished a tube of lipstick from her purse and swiped on a fresh coat of Parisian Red. Tony’s vice was women—andhisweakness would be her means to the information she needed. Saliva pooled at the back of her throat as revulsion threatened her determination.
Stick to the plan.
She’d been over this a hundred times. Tony had been the last person to see Anna before she disappeared. Her sister’s missing person’s case was now officially cold. But Tony, Las Vegas businessman and crime boss, knew something. She felt it in every fiber of her being. All she had to do was get close enough to make him trust her—long enough to find a thread of evidence—something or someone who knew what happened and was willing to tell the story.
To find her sister, Kellie would use the assets the good Lord gave her without conscience. As much as she despised playing the slut card, that description epitomized the type of woman Tony was attracted to. She’d seen the pictures, read the stories in the rag magazines and seen the women hanging on his arm. Dumb, beautiful and the sleazier the better. That was what it would take to catch the eye of the rich and powerful Tony Palazzi.
Kellie wasn’t gorgeous, by any stretch of the imagination, and she certainly wasn’t dumb, but she cleaned up good enough, and her strong, toned legs, thanks to four years in the Marine Corps, had garnered her fair share of admiration. She could play the vamp if incentivized—and finding Anna, possibly alive, was incentive enough. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to bring her home.Nothing.
The elevator doors slid open directly into Tony’s office. Tall and slim, with glistening black hair and pretty-boy features that belied his evil heart, he leaned against the edge of his desk and stared.
The man on her right gave her a shove and stepped into the room behind her. The doors slid shut and the elevator whirred to life again, taking the other man back the way they’d come.
Tony pushed away from the desk and advanced toward her, his face a mask of annoyance. “Who are you, and why are you here?”
Despite having prepared herself, mentally and emotionally, to meet the casino’s owner on his turf, his nearness and obvious anger almost made her back up a step. She stopped herself just in time.I can do this.Just play the role. Locking away any emotions that might trip her up was second nature, also courtesy of the Marine Corps. She allowed a faint smile to curve her lips. “My name is Kellie Greyson. As to why I’m here…I’m afraid you’ll have to enlighten me.”
Tony stopped in front of her, snatched the box of chips from her hand and set it on a nearby table. He slid the strap of her small handbag off her shoulder and rummaged through it until he found her driver’s license. Sidestepping her, he handed the ID to his thug and whispered something. The man disappeared through a doorway to the right of the desk.
Kellie seethed at Tony’s arrogance and the high-handed examination of her personal property, but the object of this exercise was to convince him he could trust her, so she’d let it go.
She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t believe me?”
Tony turned his back, setting her purse on the edge of his desk. “You were counting cards in my casino.”
Kellie shrugged. “That’s not against the law.”
He faced her again, a cold smile stopping far short of his eyes. “It’s frowned upon. Surely you’re aware of that. I’m curious why you were so obvious. Winning eighty percent of the hands you’re dealt is sure to get you caught and kicked out.”
Kellie glided forward until she reached a chair positioned in front of his desk, sat and crossed her legs. “If that’s the case, why did it take you so long to catch me?”
His lecherous appraisal flicked over her legs and back to her face. “Because I enjoyed watching you.”
She caught herself before disgust mushroomed and seeped through her facade. With effort, her smile widened. “I could say the same to you. Perhaps that’s why I kept coming back.”
The door swung open and Tony’s man returned, striding across the room until he reached his boss. Their whispered exchange continued for far too long, unnerving her, and suddenly the wisdom of her scheme came into question.