Nico (Ruin & Revenge #1)(2)
Still holding Mia’s arm behind her back, the guard cleared his throat. “I caught this woman in the control room, Mr. T. She was trying to stick something in the main computer.”
With the slightest lift of his finger, Mr. T silenced the guard and Mia’s heart kicked up a notch. She had grown up around powerful men, but that simple gesture carried with it an utter certainty that he would be obeyed.
The guard mumbled an apology and pulled Mia back a step. “He doesn’t like to be disturbed at the tables.”
Mia checked out the man’s cards over his shoulder and quickly calculated the odds. If she’d been the one sitting at the table with a stack of chips worth two hundred thousand dollars and a twenty thousand dollar bet on the table, she would have folded, cashed out and run. Much like she wanted to do now.
Mr. T threw down three cards, and Mia bit back a gasp. He might look conservative in his impeccably tailored suit, but he was gambler. Not many people would take that kind of risk, especially with so many players at the table.
He turned at the sound, and her breath caught. God, was he gorgeous. Movie-star handsome, he was sleek and rugged at the same time. His ice blue eyes were a startling contrast to the dark hair that curled at his temples and the brows that furrowed at her distraction. Power, fierce and unyielding, radiated from him—and not because of his obvious wealth. It was something she sensed beneath the civilized veneer—something dark and dangerous, wild and ruthless; something that stole her breath, and left only a need so strong she couldn’t move.
His lazy gaze slid over her face, to her throat, her breasts barely contained beneath the corset, her waist, her hips and down her legs to her heels. He didn’t make any effort to hide his slow perusal of her body, of looking where he wanted with brazen unapologetic intent. Rather than finding it offensive, she found his scrutiny curiously electrifying, her body turning warm and liquid as she sank into the feeling of being caressed by his gaze.
“Enough.” She was in this mess because she couldn’t stand being objectified. So why was she putting up with it now?
Her words trailed off when his gaze sharpened on her. Christ. What the hell had she just walked into?
“Leave her with me, Louis.”
He turned back to the table, considered his cards. He had a deep, movie-narrator voice, the kind that instantly pulled you into another world—a world of infinite possibilities, a world where devastatingly handsome casino owners let cyber-security specialists go.
Louis immediately released her and backed away with a mumbled, “Yes, sir.”
Mia figured he must have worked here for some time to obey so quickly, or did everyone respond to Mr. T’s commanding presence with instant submission?
Curious, she asked. “How do you know I won’t run away?”
Mr. T looked back over his shoulder, and his lips curved. “I won’t let you.”
I won’t let you. Something niggled at the back of her mind. She’d heard those words before, spoken with the same intonation, the same hint of an accent. And his face … so familiar. As she struggled to place him, he lifted his drink, sipped the rich, amber liquid slowly, his corded throat tightening as he swallowed. Mia’s pulse quickened, her mind filling with thoughts of what he could do to her with that beautiful mouth, how he would taste if she licked the Adam’s apple at the base of his throat.
He lowered the glass and licked his lips, a predator ready to pounce. “Come.” He rested his hand on the leather bumper and she joined him at the table, standing beside his chair.
“Bet.” He flashed his cards so she could see he’d pulled two aces and a ten from the risky draw, giving him a full house.
Taking a chance that she’d been right in her assessment of him, she leaned over and pushed all his chips forward. Her breast brushed against his shoulder, and his body tensed, but it was nothing compared to the current of electricity that surged through her veins at the small touch.
“Two hundred thousand,” the dealer announced.
Mia almost wept. Two hundred thousand dollars could get her a new apartment that didn’t have a giant fungus growing on the ceiling from the leaky pipes upstairs that the slum landlord refused to fix. Two hundred thousand dollars could take her and her little sister, Kat, away from Vegas and set them up with a new, anonymous life where they weren’t constantly being watched by their Mafia crime family. Two hundred thousand dollars could buy her a bigger office and pay for additional employees who could take on the growing amount of work her cyber-security company was generating. Two hundred thousand dollars would set her free.
“She’s a gambler,” he murmured when the man beside him called the bet.
“Maybe, I’m just lucky.”
“Lucky people don’t get caught trying to hack into my computer system.” In one swift movement he stood, yanked the man seated beside him off his chair and smashed his face into the table. “Thieves don’t belong in my casino.” Blood splattered over the green felt and the man staggered back, holding his broken nose. It had taken only seconds. Silence filled the room. Adrenaline surged through Mia’s body, freezing her in place as her mind tried to reconcile such brutal violence in such a sophisticated, elegant place. She had been right that Mr. T’s civilized exterior did not reflect the inner man. He was the most dangerous of predators. Beautiful on the outside. Deadly within.