Nico (Ruin & Revenge #1)(46)
Mia had to admit that the casino renovation was a smart move. The Downtown revival was picking up steam. Only a few blocks away, two of the city’s oldest hotels were being redeveloped, and the Freemont Street Experience was beginning to draw the younger, wealthier crowd away from the ostentatious grandeur that was the Strip.
She led Jules past the massive central bar where bikini-clad bartenders gyrated to fast-tempo intrusive music, and over to the high-stakes room. Louis stood guard at the door in his blue security uniform, his head shaved since the last time she’d seen him.
“I’m from HGH Enterprises.” Mia handed over her card, hoping Louis wouldn’t recognize her now that she was dressed in normal clothes. “I’m looking for Nico Toscani. It’s a business matter. Is he here tonight?”
Louis smirked. “You planning to break into the control room again? Or are you here to dance?”
“It was business,” she snapped. “And we sorted it out. Is Nico in the high stakes room or not?”
“No, ma’am.” He pulled out his pager. “I’ll see if I can track him down.”
One moment became five minutes, and with Jules chomping at the bit to explore, Mia had almost lost her patience by the time Louis pointed to a man pushing his way through the crowd, his coiffed silver hair a perfect match for his shiny silver suit. “That’s the casino manager, Mr. Vito.”
Although Mia had talked to Vito on the phone and communicated with him by email, she had never met Nico’s casino manager in person, and she held out her hand to greet him.
“Ms. Cordano. A pleasure to meet you at last.” Vito shook her hand. “Mr. Toscani is occupied tonight and asked me to extend his apologies.” He handed Mia an envelope. “He asked me to give you these comps, and he hopes you enjoy your visit.”
“Thank you.” Mia’s cheeks flamed although there was no reason why Vito would think her visit was anything other than business. Her hand tightened on the envelope as disappointment speared through her chest. She hadn’t realized how much she was looking forward to seeing Nico. And Jules was right. It wasn’t about the security system. It was about him, and the way she felt when she was with him—beautiful and brave, wanton and wanted, instead of bruised, broken, and alone.
“I guess I’ll just email the cybersecurity report, and you can pass it on. Call me if you have any questions.” She moved to return the envelope, but Jules snatched it from her hand.
“That’s lovely. Please thank him for us.”
“Why did you take it?” Mia followed Jules to the cashier. “He doesn’t want to see me. I shouldn’t have come here. Why don’t we just go back to your place with a bottle of wine?”
“He does want to see you.” Jules joined the line-up with the chip comp in her hand. “If he didn’t, the guard would have just told you he wasn’t around. But Vito-Magneto from the X-Men just came to see us instead. He gave us comps encouraging us to stay. Read the signs. He’s here. He knows you’re here. Give it some time. Sometimes guys are more scared of their feelings than we are.”
“He doesn’t have feelings. He’s a mobster.”
“If you really believed that, you wouldn’t be here.” Jules handed the chip comp to the cashier. “You’re always looking out for people. You pulled me off the streets. You gave Chris a chance to make a new life for herself and her daughter. You’re giving back to the community by teaching coding to underprivileged girls. You look after your sister, and even your mom when your dad hurts her. Now I’m looking after you. I know it was hard for you to come here. But this is the first guy you’ve liked since I met you. The first guy you’ve actually put yourself out on the line for. Are you going to let him go so easy? He took a big risk to see you the other night. So why don’t you take a risk, too? I mean, look where we are. If there’s place to take a risk, it’s in a casino. And given what he did to protect you, I think the odds of you winning are pretty good.”
“Jules…”
Jules handed Mia a stack of chips. “It’s Vegas, baby. Time to live a little.”
*
“I’m very disappointed in you, Sammy.” Nico drove his fist into the hustler’s gut. “I thought we had an understanding. I did you a favor, and you were supposed to return that favor by keeping your business out of my territory.”
“Testa di cazzo.” Frankie stepped to the side as Sammy fell.
Sammy’s hand hit a discarded soda can, and it clattered down the alley toward Luca who was keeping watch with Mikey Muscles. No one ever came down the narrow alley at the back of Nico’s casino, but with so many drunken tourists around, they couldn’t be too careful.
“It was an honest mistake.” Sammy wiped the blood off his mouth. “I thought I’d swapped out the ring by mistake, so I swapped it back.”
Nico hit Sammy with a left hook, and Sammy’s head snapped to the side. “Honest is not a word I’d use for a man who sold a $50,000 three-karat diamond ring almost two hundred times.”
Sammy had a good thing going until Frankie caught him hustling on Toscani territory. He would hang around pawn shops and offer the ring to innocent civilians at a bargain-basement price. At his insistence, the sucker would take the ring to the pawnshop, or even a jeweler to have it appraised. Sammy would make a big show of being shocked by the appraisal, and would pretend to reconsider the price. During the negotiation, he would switch out the real ring for a fake, pocket the cash and disappear into the crowd. Unfortunately, he’d just made the mistake of selling the ring to one of Nico’s casino dealers. And since everyone in the casino was under Nico’s protection, Sammy had a price to pay.