My expression darkened along with my mood. The dealers were the lifeblood of the casino, and they kept making sure that the odds stayed in the house’s favor. Outside the slots, they were the single biggest revenue generator. A rotten dealer was usually easy to spot.
I hardened my jaw. “Not here. Upstairs.”
Andrei nodded and fell silent, and we remained that way until the driver pulled the car into the private garage of the Shining Star, our family’s pride and joy. It sat in the center of Vegas like a golden spire, a singular monument to the success, excellence, and ruthlessness of the Sokolov family.
A private elevator launched us to the top floor and soon we were inside my penthouse. I walked across the floor to the minibar, the lights of the stars overhead barely pushing through the light of the Strip below.
I cleared my throat and poured us vodka. “When was the last bug sweep?”
Andrei took his coat off and began to roll his sleeves up. “A few days ago. Tuesday.”
I nodded and motioned for Andrei to follow me. I walked to the sliding balcony door and slipped into the cool desert breeze. Once Andrei was close, I handed him one of the glasses of vodka. “Better to speak out here,” I said. “Just in case.”
“Agreed,” Andrei replied and held his glass toward me. “Na Zdorovie, cousin.”
“Na Zdorovie,” I replied and clinked my glass against his before knocking the drink back. I took a moment to enjoy the burn traveling down my throat, then I set the glass down and approached the balcony railing. “Tell me which dealer it is, what they’ve been up to.”
Andrei sighed before telling me. “It’s Talia.”
I hardened my jaw. I tried to take a deep breath in, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hold my temper down. I spun and lashed out hard with a kick, shattering my glass and scattering the debris all over the balcony floor. “Our head fucking dealer?!”
Andrei nodded. “Our head fucking dealer.”
I was furious. Talia Burke, young, beautiful, and by all accounts a rising star at the casino. I had been talking with one of our pit bosses about bumping her up to floor manager, since she seemed to have an incredible eye for cheaters and hustlers and all the types of scum that tried to disrespect our casino floor.
As I stewed over the disrespect, Andrei approached and stood next to me. Thankfully, he knew better than to touch me right now. If he had, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from breaking his arm.
“We haven’t let her know that we’re on to her yet,” Andrei said. “I thought you might want the luxury.”
Andrei knew how to handle me. Any problem he came to me with, he was guaranteed to bring a pleasing solution along for the ride. It was why I had trusted him since childhood.
And he was right. I wanted the satisfaction of handling the problem myself.
“Give me the details,” I demanded. “Tell me what the fuck she’s been up to down there.”
Andrei pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and swiped around through messages and videos. Finally, he landed on one and handed me the phone. “See for yourself. “
I took it and hit play. It was a camera angle from one of the cheater cams we had littered all over the place. To Talia’s credit, she was good. I watched her handle the chips like an expert, dancing them along her fingers and making a bit of a show for the players. It was an indulgence, one that I wasn’t the biggest fan of, but it drew a lot of players, and more players meant more money, so I had allowed it.
But no one was good enough to keep the ruse up forever. I caught it the moment she did it. Her hand motions were good, but I wasn’t watching her hands. That was what someone like Talia wanted: pay attention to the magic, and you’d miss the trick itself.
And the trick became obvious when she set the chip stacks down. All of them were uniform, ten to a stack, purple high-roller chips valued at a grand each. With the small problem that at least four of those chips were a slightly different shade of purple.
“We went back over the old tapes,” Andrei said. “She’s been doing this for months, but she was pacing herself, making it incredibly difficult to spot. We found out that there’s a casino off the strip that uses these as hundreds. She’s been buying those chips from them, then turning the chips in to us. That little scam nets her $900 a chip.“
I slammed my fists onto the balcony rail and shouted, “If anyone who mattered found out my head dealer screwed them out of money at all, the pit would never recover! Our reputation would be shit!”
Andrei didn’t answer, and it was just as well. I took a moment to savor the pain in my hands and get my head straight.
“I’ll want your help,” I finally said. “I don’t want her to suspect until the moment it’s too late for her to run.”
Andrei nodded. “Of course. How do you want to play this?”
I thought about it for a moment, trying to force myself to breathe so I could think with a clear head. “Maybe,” I began, removing my suit coat, “she’d be interested in a private drink. Up here.”
Andrei’s tone was wary. “Remember when I said that murder is messy?”
I growled loudly. “She’s thehead dealer, Andrei. She would have done serious damage if no one had caught her.”