phone, making it harder to track. “Call your boyfriend.”
“My…what?”
“Milner!” Tony barks at me, shaking the gun in irritation. I cringe instinctively.
“I don’t…” I’m getting ready to tell him I don’t have David’s number. Which is true. After my attempts to thank him for presumably hooking me up with the job at Casino Diamond went unanswered, I deleted him from my phone’s contacts. I never bothered to memorize the digits so this kept me from sending more messages—and making even more of a fool of myself. How am I going to explain this neurotic attempt to preserve my pride to these gun-wielding gangsters? But then I remember something.
“Do it!” Tony barks again. Meanwhile, Bobby is picking up speed on the highway. I don’t know where we’re headed, but it’s not Vegas.
“Okay, okay.” I take the phone he’s thrust at me. Then I dig into my handbag, looking for something—David’s card. Deanna slipped it to me, discretely with a wink, so that our parents couldn’t see as we were saying our goodbyes. Just in case, she had whispered. You never know when you’ll need the help of Mr. Millionaire. If only she knew how right she’d turn out to be.
With my hands trembling, I take the card and punch the numbers into the phone. Tony’s mean eyes, narrowed with hate, watch me the entire time. I wait, listening to the phone ring, holding my breath. Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up. And then, he does.
“Hello?” I hear his voice, gravelly and low, familiar even through the phone, on the other end of the line.
“David.” My voice is hoarse, barely above a whisper. My throat is completely dry thanks to my nerves. “I need your help.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
David
“We have a problem.” Terry speaks before I’ve even had a chance to greet him. In fact, he barely waited for me to acknowledge his knock on the door. He more or less barged right in.
“What?” I’m already on my feet. His brow is furrowed in consternation and his mouth is set in a grim line.
“Miss Madison’s driver just called me. She didn’t show up at the airport.”
“The plane should have touched down well over an hour ago.” I’d made a note of Lilly’s arrival, which I’d secretly been counting down to for weeks.
“Something’s wrong, David, I feel it. It landed on time. And she was on it. I already talked to the airline.” Terry is pacing the floor in front of me.
“Then what the hell is—” I’m cut off by the buzzing of my phone. I pick it up without even looking at it.
“David?” I recognize her voice immediately and my pulse quickens.
“Lilly.” I make eye contact with Terry, who lets out an audible sigh of relief.
“I need your help.” There’s a quiver in her voice. Now I recognize something else, beyond the familiar tone—fear.
“What do you mean? What’s wrong? What’s going on?” The smile that came onto Terry’s face when he heard me say Lilly’s name vanishes quickly.
“There’s these two guys here. The ones from the night of the poker game.”
“Give him our names.” I hear a muffled male voice from the background. My ears perk up immediately. I recognize that voice.
“Tony and Bobby,” Lilly says. “They say you owe them money.” Her voice is shaky and I can hear it getting thick with impending tears. She clears her throat before going on in a whisper. “They say they’re going to kill me if you don’t pay them.”
I’m going to kill these fucks. I feel a surge of adrenaline pump through me. I motion to Terry to stand by. I’m already punching in the code that opens the safe below the desk.
“Lilly, I want you to stay calm.” But she doesn’t respond. Instead I hear a slight scuffling sound. Then a man’s voice comes on the line.
“We got your attention now Milner? Now that we got ya girl?” Tony’s voice hisses at me through the phone.
“What do you want, Tony?” I keep my voice calm and steady. Meanwhile, I’m shoving aside papers in the safe until my hand closes on the item I’m looking for. The Smith & Wesson.
“We just want the money we’re due.” Tony sounds smug. “Plus damages. Mickey lost out on some big income when you banned us from the strip.”
“Damages?” My hand tightens on the cool metal of the gun.
“Sure. We were on a good streak when you had us kicked outta town. We coulda made millions playing the tables on the Strip these last couple months. That’s