Then, she’d lied to herself and said she didn’t really love him. Convinced herself that marriage was the terrible institution her mother had always ranted against. It had been enough then to propel her fast and far away from the temptation of Nathan Reed.
It took months, but eventually she’d believed it and the pain faded. At least until she lay in her cold, lonely bed and the truth crept in.
But Annie didn’t want to lie anymore. Not to herself and not to Nate. She wanted to be with him. If that meant being married, she would be married. Their relationship was wonderful and special and she didn’t want to throw it away again because of that bastard casino manager or her own irrational fears of commitment.
A knock sounded and she heard Nate call her name. Annie’s heart soared as she raced to the door. This was her chance. She wanted to tell him everything. To confess her every sin and beg him to forgive her.
Flipping the locks as quickly as she could, Annie flung open the door. Nate was nowhere to be found. Instead, Eddie was there with a digital voice recorder in his hand. He hit the stop button with a smile.
She needed to run. To slam the door shut and call security. Her second of hesitation cost her the opportunity. She only had long enough to register the sharp pain to her head and the sudden blackness that followed.
Thirteen
N
ate knocked twice without a response before he used his master key to open the door to Annie’s suite. He shouldn’t abuse his powers this way, but he frankly didn’t care anymore. He needed to talk to her. He’d come back downstairs after she was eliminated, but she was nowhere to be found. She hadn’t checked out of the hotel yet, so he’d come here.
He was discouraged to find the room mostly dark except for a light in the bedroom. There were no signs of life in the suite. “Annie?” he called out before approaching the bedroom door, easing it open with his hand. There was no answer.
The room was empty, the bed made. There was no luggage in the closet, no makeup on the bathroom counter. Annie was already gone.
Frustrated, he turned and headed back through the room, pausing only when he saw the tip of something white sticking out from under the bedspread. Kneeling down, Nate pulled out the pack of papers, recognizing them immediately.
It was the same divorce papers he’d signed and left for her. It had broken a part of him to write his name on the line, but he’d done it because it was what she wanted. Perhaps she’d left the papers for him, knowing he’d come here looking for her. Nice parting gift.
His gaze traveled over the page, his brain not registering a key piece of information for a few moments. When he saw it, his heart leaped into his throat with excitement.
Annie’s signature line was blank.
Despite what she’d said, there was hope. She did love him or she wouldn’t have left the papers she’d fought so hard for behind.
Crumpling the pages in his hand, Nate turned and marched out of the room. He didn’t know where Annie had gone, but this time he wouldn’t let her get away. He’d track her to the ends of the earth if he had to.
He blazed through the casino, noticing no one and nothing but the path to the restricted area. His heart felt lighter with every step, the situation less grim as the elevator ascended to his suite.
When the elevator doors opened, Nate came to a sudden stop on the landing. He was surprised to find Gabe restraining a visibly pissed-off Tessa in his office. He knew she’d been released on bail that morning, but he certainly hadn’t expected her to return so quickly to the scene of the crime.
“Where is my sister?” Her pale skin was bright red with anger. It looked odd against the fiery auburn of her hair.
“I have no idea. Annie apparently left the hotel after she was eliminated from the tournament. She’s probably flying over Mississippi by now.”
“She didn’t leave, and she isn’t answering her phone. That’s not like her.” Her blue eyes, so much like Annie’s it made Nate’s chest ache, widened with newfound fear. She tugged at Gabe’s grip but this time the head of security let her go. “Jerry. He told me he would do something to her if I mentioned his involvement to the police. I didn’t say anything, though. I knew I couldn’t trust him.”
“Jerry who?” Nate knew Tessa couldn’t possibly be talking about the only Jerry he knew. He was in his seventies with a heart condition. There was no way he’d hurt a hair on Annie’s head, and if he tried, the stress would probably kill him. Annie never bent easily to anyone’s will.
“
Casino manager
Jerry. He masterminded this whole thing. The bastard set me up so he could blackmail her into taking my place.”
Nate had to take a moment to wrap his head around the idea of his grandfather’s friend as a crook. “Take your place? Was she involved the whole time?”
“No, of course not. Don’t you know Annie at all? She didn’t get hauled into it until yesterday. It’s all my fault.”
The realization hit low to his gut. Yesterday. Everything had changed yesterday after Tessa was eliminated. If Annie had been forced into taking Tessa’s place...that was why she’d left. Why she’d said it didn’t matter how she felt about him because it didn’t change anything. And he’d turned around and signed the divorce papers. He’d fallen for her bluff and now she was in danger.
“Would he hurt her?”
Tessa bit her lip and nodded. “Both Jerry and Eddie have guns. They never got physical with me, but the threat was always there. If they feel like their plan has fallen apart, they just might do anything.”
The loud beep of Nate’s cell phone chirped at his hip. He pressed the radio button and yelled, “Not now,” into the receiver. It didn’t matter who it was or what was wrong at the casino. Right now, only Annie and her safety mattered.
“Yes, now.” It was Jerry’s demanding voice that echoed in the room. “Turn your radio to channel five.”
Channel five was almost never used, and when it was, it was for private conversations. Nate clicked over. “I’m here.”
“You and your wife have ruined all my plans and owe me a lot of money to make up for what I’ve lost. But I’m giving you a chance to fix it. You’re going to come to my hotel suite with a duffel bag filled with ten million dollars. You’re going to come alone and you’re not going to involve the police or hotel security.”
Nate looked quickly to Gabe, who nodded in encouragement, staying silent. “And why, exactly, would I do that, Jerry?”
The old man chuckled over the static of the walkie-talkie connection. “There’s an envelope on your desk. Open it.”
Nate crossed the room to his desk and found the unmarked envelope setting on his blotter. It hadn’t been there earlier. Inside, he found Annie’s wedding ring. “If you hurt her...” he began, but didn’t get to finish his threat.
“I don’t intend to hurt her as long as you do what I say. I intend to get my money and set her free. You’ve got one hour. And remember, I’m monitoring the in-house communications system. If so much as a whisper about this comes up, Annie’s dead.”
The connection ended. Nate dropped the phone and the ring to the desk, bracing his hands on the wood to help him keep control of his anger.
“He didn’t count on me being here,” Gabe said. “We have the advantage.”
“What do we do?” Tessa asked.
“We’re going to do what he asked. I want you to stay here,” he said to Tessa, then turned to Gabe. “We’ll have one of your guys sit with her up here. I want you to come with me.”
“What do you need me to do?” Gabe was at his side in an instant, his years of strategic military experience finally being put to good use.
“I need you to give me your gun.”
* * *
Annie had one hell of a headache.
She’d woken in a dark room, realizing fairly quickly that she was handcuffed to a hotel headboard. The metal cuffs were digging painfully into her wrists, and the movement made her stomach swim with nausea.
Turning her head, she could see the light coming under the doorway. Muffled voices were outside, but she couldn’t tell who it was. She didn’t need to be a detective to decide she was in Jerry’s suite. The room had the same old smell of cigarettes and industrial cleaner, and she could hear children splashing and playing in the courtyard pool she’d noticed outside his window the day before.
She should’ve taken Jerry’s threats more seriously. Somehow she’d believed that if she was out of the tournament and Tessa was safe in police custody, he’d no longer have control over her life. She’d been painfully mistaken.
Now she would pay. She didn’t know how, but Jerry would punish her for her impudence. The idea was frightening, but a part of Annie had accepted this outcome the moment she’d chosen to throw the tournament. She’d retaken control of her life. If this was the price she paid, she only had one regret: that the last thing she ever said to Nate was a lie spoken in anger. He might never know the truth about how she felt.
The voices outside the door grew louder as they came closer. Annie braced herself for their arrival, struggling to sit up and put her back against the headboard. She might not have the use of her hands, but she could move her legs and by God, she’d make sure none of them would ever breed.
When the door opened, Annie could see the outline of two men in the doorway. One was Jerry, she could tell by the bald dome of his head and the slouch of his aged posture. The second was Eddie. The light illuminated the stupid Cowboys jacket he always wore. She’d expected him to be in Atlantic City by now.
“Sleeping Beauty is awake,” Jerry said, flipping on the light and temporarily blinding Annie.
“Now the fun begins.” Eddie’s mouth twisted into an evil grin as he crossed the room. He reached out to touch Annie’s face but jerked away when the cold slime of her spit landed on his cheek.
“You don’t touch me,” she warned, but her bravado was short-lived. Eddie’s hand flew at her face. The impact exploded across her cheek in a fierce wave of pain.
Eddie leaned in, his breath hot and rancid on her face. “Try that again and you and your sister will both regret it.”
“I thought you’d be long gone by now, Eddie. You’ve always been too chicken to do the dirty work yourself.” Annie prepared herself for another slap, but Jerry pulled Eddie back before his fist could fly again.
“We don’t have time for that. Go in the other room,” he demanded and watched Eddie slink out. “You are a hellcat, Annie. I never quite know what to expect from you. Makes me wish I was thirty years younger. You’d be a fun one to break.” He sighed, returning to the doorway. “Instead, I’ll just have to break Nate and let you watch. He should be here soon with the money he owes me.”
“Money?”
“Ten million dollars in exchange for you. That’s more than I would’ve made in the tournament, so I think it’s a fair trade. Enough to get me out of this godforsaken town and afford me the lifestyle I deserve after nearly killing myself for this casino.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure he’ll show up with the money,” Annie said. A part of her prayed he would save her while another hoped her words were true. She didn’t want to be the bait they used to trap him. Even if Nate brought the money, she didn’t believe Jerry would just hand her over and stroll out of the hotel. “I did a pretty good job of pushing him away, thanks to you. We’re getting a divorce. He may not care what you do with me.”
“Oh, he cares, Annie.” Jerry flipped off the light and pulled the door closed behind him. “I’d bet ten million on it.”
* * *
The thirty minutes it had taken to get things in place had felt like hours. By the time Nate started down the hallway to Jerry’s office, the adrenaline was pumping so furiously through his veins he was tempted to break down the door instead of using his master key.
But he was determined to stick to his plan. He shifted the duffel bag in his hands, checked on the gun in his suit coat pocket then slipped the key into the lock. The door swung open wide, his gaze sweeping the room until it locked in on his target. His hand slipped into his pocket, his fingers tightening around the grip of the gun.
Jerry was sitting at his desk, alone. As always, he was surrounded by paperwork, the space reminding Nate so much of how it looked when he was a kid visiting his grandfather. The betrayal of a family friend was still a bitter pill for him to swallow.
His target barely moved; his gaze focused intently on Nate without a hint of surprise. Jerry stood slowly, his hands held up to show Nate he was unarmed. “I’m glad you finally made it, Nate. We’ve been waiting for you.”
“Where is she?”
Jerry gave a condescending smile and came out from behind his desk. “Close by and feisty as ever, I assure you.”
Nate swallowed hard. He hoped it was true, but he wouldn’t take Jerry’s word for it. “I want to see her.”
“Or what? Are you going to use that gun in your pocket to shoot your grandfather’s oldest and dearest friend? The man who’s worked with you and helped you make this hotel a success? Come now, we both know that isn’t going to happen, so why don’t you just relax and have a seat.” Jerry took a step toward Nate, his hand held out to gesture toward the seating area.
Nate didn’t move from his spot. “What is this all about, Jerry? Money?”
“What’s wrong with it being about money? It makes the world go round. You of all people should know that.”
“Are you in some kind of trouble? Do you owe someone money?” Nate struggled to find a reason why Jerry would do something like this.
“That’s how it started, yes. I do have a fondness for the ponies but not much of an eye for picking a winner. I ran through all my retirement savings pretty quickly, which is why I came back to work. I got in with an interesting crowd when I couldn’t pay the bookies what I owed. Fixing poker tournaments started as a way to get them off my back, but I soon realized there were bigger payoffs and bigger thrills in this game.”
“Of all the people you could’ve chosen, why Tessa? Why my Annie? Were you trying to get back at me for something I did?”
“Not really. We chose Tessa because she was young, stupid and could lead us to Annie. She was our real target in the end. If she met with great success, no one would ever suspect. It was a perfect plan. I didn’t realize at the time that she was your wife. It was quite the pleasant surprise when I found out the two of you were coming together to catch the cheaters. I knew every move you made because you told Gabe and me everything.”
“Did you really think Annie would be so pliable?”
Jerry laughed. “No, but everyone has a button you can push. Apply the right kind of pressure and you can make a woman madly in love betray her husband and sabotage her own career.”
She did love him. It made Nate sick to think of how Annie had come to him at Jerry’s demand. “How’d that work out for you?”
Jerry shrugged. “It worked great until Annie started crumbling under the pressure. She couldn’t have won a game of Go Fish with the way she was mooning at you over her cards. She completely lost her focus. There wasn’t a damn thing we could do to salvage her game. The two of you ruined all my plans. The polite thing to do—” he gestured toward the duffel bag with a smile “—is to make it up to me.”
“Well, here it is,” Nate said through angrily gritted teeth. He wanted to drop the bag and pistol-whip the old man, but he couldn’t until he knew Annie was safe. “Where’s Annie? I want to see her first.”
Jerry sighed and shook his head. “You seem to be working under the impression that you’re calling the shots. You’re just like your grandfather, thinking you’re in control of everything when it’s people like me that make you successful. Give me the damn bag. And the gun.”