Chapter 1 - The Stranger at the Roulette Table
“Act like you love me, please,” I whispered, clutching the sleeve of the most dangerous-looking stranger at the roulette table.
Across the casino floor, my ex-boyfriend was laughing as he walked toward me with his new diamond-draped girlfriend.
The stranger looked down at my shaking hand, then at the bruise concealer on my wrist, and said, “Little bird, what kind of storm did you fly out of?”
The first thing I noticed about Dominic Costantini was that everyone else noticed him first.
Security straightened when he walked by. Dealers lowered their voices without being told. Cocktail servers, who had learned to look through rich men rather than at them, moved around him with the careful awareness people reserve for fire, glass, and men who never need to ask twice.
He stood beside the roulette table at the center of the Echelon Casino like he had not entered the room so much as allowed the room to continue around him.
Dark hair. Custom black suit. White shirt open at the throat by one button. No flashy watch, no loud jewelry, nothing obvious except the kind of money that did not need decoration. He was tall, still, and built with the calm of a man who had never had to raise his voice to become the most important person in a room.
I knew none of that when I reached for him.
All I knew was that Mason was coming.
Mason Reed, my ex-boyfriend, my mistake of three and a half years, the man who had emptied our joint account two weeks after I moved out, then told mutual friends I had always been “unstable about money.” He was crossing the casino floor in a navy blazer I had once steamed before a job interview he did not get, with one hand at the waist of a woman wearing a silver dress and a diamond necklace bright enough to look insured.
My waitress uniform suddenly felt smaller than it was.
Black vest. White shirt. Bow tie. Name tag. Sensible shoes. A tray balanced against my hip and two hours left on a shift that had already taken every part of me except posture.
Mason saw me.
His smile widened.
That smile had once meant I was about to forgive him before I understood what I was forgiving.
Now it meant he had an audience.
I turned toward the man at the roulette table because panic is not always dramatic. Sometimes it is practical. It chooses the largest shadow in the room and steps into it.
“Act like you love me, please,” I whispered.
My fingers closed around his sleeve.
The cloth felt expensive enough to accuse me.
The stranger did not move at first.
He turned his head slowly, his eyes lowering to my hand on his arm. They were nearly black beneath the chandelier light, not soft, not kind, but attentive in a way that made lying feel useless.
“And why,” he asked, voice low and smooth, “would I do that?”
“Because if you don't, I'm going to humiliate myself in front of the only people in Chicago who already think I'm pathetic.”
One dark eyebrow lifted.
“You've planned this speech?”
“No.”
“Then you're either very brave or very desperate.”
“Both.”
For a second, something shifted in his expression.
Not pity.
Interest.
Then he looked over my shoulder.
His eyes landed on Mason.
Whatever warmth had briefly appeared disappeared.
He placed one hand against the small of my back.
I almost jumped.
The touch was firm, controlled, and strangely protective.
“Smile,” he murmured.
I did.
Mason stopped.
His new girlfriend stopped with him.
The casino seemed to inhale.
Dominic leaned slightly closer.
“Good.”
Then he said loudly enough for Mason to hear, “There you are, sweetheart. I've been looking everywhere.”
My stomach flipped.
Sweetheart?
Mason's face changed.
“Lena?”
I resisted the urge to cover my face.
“Yes.”
He looked at Dominic.
Then at me.
Then back at Dominic.
“Who's this?”
The stranger smiled.
It was not a friendly smile.
“Her boyfriend.”
Mason laughed.
It was an ugly sound.
“You're kidding.”
Dominic's arm tightened around me.
“No.”
Mason stepped closer.
“You move on fast.”
I looked at him.
“You don't get an opinion.”
His girlfriend crossed her arms.
“Mason, don't embarrass yourself.”
The words should have pleased me.
Instead, I hated that she sounded exactly like the kind of woman Mason had told me I could never be.
Elegant.
Expensive.
Untouchable.
The kind of woman who never counted coins before buying groceries.
Mason's gaze returned to me.
“Really, Lena?”
I forced myself to smile.
“Really.”
“Since when?”
“Long enough.”
Dominic looked down at me.
His eyes glinted.
“You forgot to tell me you're shy around old friends.”
I almost laughed.
Old friends.
That was generous.
Mason scoffed.
“What does he do?”
Dominic answered before I could.
“I own a few businesses.”
Mason laughed.
“Of course you do.”
Dominic's expression remained calm.
“And you?”
Mason's smile slipped.
The question was simple.
But everyone nearby seemed to understand it differently.
Mason suddenly looked very small.
He worked for his father's construction company.
He had spent three and a half years telling me that someday he would own half the city.
He had spent three and a half years spending my money to look successful while calling me irresponsible for wanting a second job.
He had proposed to me once.
Then asked me to loan him twenty thousand dollars.
Then thirty.
Then another ten.
When I refused, he told me I didn't believe in him.
When I finally found evidence that he had been seeing another woman, he told everyone I was jealous.
Then he emptied our savings.
Then disappeared.
And tonight, he was standing in front of me with another woman on his arm.
“Congratulations,” he said.
My stomach tightened.
“For what?”
“For finally finding someone desperate enough to rescue you.”
Dominic moved.
It happened so quickly that Mason barely noticed.
One second, Dominic's hand was resting against my back.
The next, he stood between us.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
Mason froze.
Something in Dominic's voice erased every trace of humor from the room.
Mason swallowed.
His girlfriend tugged his arm.
“Let's go.”
Mason didn't move.
He looked at Dominic.
Then at me.
Then at Dominic again.
“She's nothing.”
The words struck harder than I expected.
Dominic's jaw tightened.
But he didn't answer.
I did.
“You're right about one thing.”
Mason looked surprised.
“I was nothing when I was with you.”
Silence.
“Because you spent years making sure I believed it.”
His girlfriend looked at him.
“You told me she was unstable.”
Mason's face paled.
Dominic looked down at me.
“Do you want to leave?”
I nodded.
He took my hand.
We walked.
Not toward the exit.
Toward the private elevator.
I didn't understand.
“Where are we going?”
“My office.”
“I don't work here.”
“I know.”
“Then why—”
The elevator doors closed.
The second they did, I pulled my hand free.
“Thank you.”
Dominic watched me.
“You're welcome.”
“I'll leave now.”
“You don't have to.”
“I've already caused you enough trouble.”
“You haven't caused me trouble.”
“Your entire casino watched me grab a stranger.”
“They've seen worse.”
I stared at him.
He glanced at my wrist.
“You're hurt.”
I instinctively pulled my sleeve down.
“It was nothing.”
“Who did it?”
“No one.”
His voice softened.
“Little bird.”
I looked up.
“Don't lie to me.”
My throat tightened.
“Mason.”
His expression went completely still.
“What did he do?”
“He used to grab me.”
Dominic didn't speak.
“Not always.”
“That doesn't make it better.”
“I know.”
“Does he still?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I left.”
He nodded.
But I saw something dark settle behind his eyes.
The elevator opened.
We entered his office.
It was bigger than my apartment.
The city stretched outside the glass walls.
“You can sit.”
I did.
He poured water.
I held the glass with both hands.
“My name is Lena Bennett.”
“I know.”
I looked at him.
He took off his jacket.
“Your name is on your badge.”
Right.
I felt stupid.
“You're Dominic.”
“Dominic Costantini.”
The surname made me freeze.
Costantini.
I knew it.
Everyone knew it.
My cousin had once worked at a restaurant where three men from the Costantini organization had eaten every Friday.
People whispered about them.
Never loudly.
Never where the walls could hear.
“You're…”
He looked at me.
“A bad man?”
I swallowed.
“I was going to say famous.”
He smiled faintly.
“That's more polite.”
I stood.
“I should go.”
“You have nowhere to go.”
I froze.
“How do you know?”
“It's two in the morning.”
“You don't know my life.”
“No.”
He looked at my shoes.
“Those soles are worn unevenly.”
I stared.
“What?”
“You've been walking farther than you should.”
He looked at my uniform.
“You're working a double shift.”
Then my purse.
“There's no car key.”
I stared at him.
“You're a detective?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know everything?”
“I pay attention.”
He stepped closer.
“You came into my casino terrified of one man.”
He paused.
“Then you chose the most dangerous man in the room to hide behind.”
I stared up at him.
“I didn't know you were dangerous.”
“Now you do.”
The silence stretched.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
“Talk.”
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
“Lock down the south entrance.”
I stood.
“What's happening?”
He ended the call.
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
I laughed.
“That is what everyone says right before something terrible happens.”
He stared at me.
Then the building alarm sounded.
Dominic's eyes hardened.
He moved toward the door.
“Stay here.”
“Why?”
“Because someone just entered my casino with a gun.”
I froze.
He looked back.
“And they asked security for the waitress named Lena Bennett.”
My blood turned cold.
Mason.
No.
This was bigger.
Dominic's hand went to the gun beneath his jacket.
“Now,” he said quietly, “tell me everything you know.”
May you like
The doors locked behind him.
And somewhere below us, the first gunshot echoed through the casino.
