Page 81 of The Scarab's Game
My shoe caught, and I went down hard, pain shooting through my knees. The impact knocked the breath from my lungs, and for a moment, all I could hear was the pounding of my own heart. Before I caught my breath, he yanked me back to my feet, forcing me forward once more.
“I can follow the hallway on my own,” I gasped, desperate to put some distance between us. “I promise I won’t?—”
“Save it for the boss,” he snarled.
Tears blurred my vision, the glittering lights becoming a kaleidoscope of color. Could this trip possibly get any worse? Not only did no one come to my rescue, but no one seemed to care that a man was holding a gun to my back in the middle of a crowded casino.
I swiped at my eyes, trying to regain my composure.You were trespassing, and he’s a security guard, that’s all. You’ll be fine.But didn’t security guards normally just tell you to turn around?
“Stairs. To your right.”
I hadn’t even noticed them, carved so seamlessly into the cavern wall they were nearly invisible. With each step, dread settled deeper in my stomach. Who was the boss? What was waiting for me?
And what would Emmett say when he couldn’t find me?
This was all a colossal misunderstanding. I’d simply taken a wrong turn. Surely someone—hopefully his boss—would listen to reason.
But wait. How strict were the police in Monaco? Would I go to jail for trespassing?
No. Emmett said this place operated outside the law, so they wouldn’t call the police.
Oh shit.
At the top of the stairs, my captor nudged me through a door. The room was elegantly furnished with plush velvet chairs and gleaming mahogany tables that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Prince’s Palace. Crystal sconces cast a warm glow across smooth stone walls. The whole space radiated old-world luxury, a stark contrast to the rough tunnels below. A man and a woman stood at a bank of tall windows overlooking the casino floor below, their backs to me.
“Martine,” the man behind me announced, “this one came through the back entrance.”
The pair turned, and my heart stopped.
The man at the window was Emmett.
His face was a mask, giving nothing away. He leaned toward the woman—short graying hair, with sharp eyes that cut right through me—and whispered something in her ear.
The woman waved a dismissive hand at the man still holding the gun to my back. “Go back to your post. I’ll handle this.”
As the armed man retreated, Emmett’s eyes met mine, and for a moment, I saw a flicker of something—relief? Concern?Irritation? Then, a soft smile. “Martine, I don’t think you’ve met my wife, Krista.”
Chapter 29
Emmett
Martine gave me a knowing smile.“Wife? Now that sounds like a story I would love to hear.”
What was I supposed to do now? Martine not only knew who I genuinely was but also knew my mother. The wife story wouldn’t fly. But if I dropped it, Jenn would get suspicious. She was the one I truly had to hide things from, and having her in Martine’s office was not part of my plan.
Why did I bring out the Krista cover in the first place?
Because you’re so accustomed to lying to people that you can’t control yourself?
I crossed the distance to Jenn. Fortunately, she slipped in next to me so I could wrap an arm around her waist. Whether it was because she was smart or scared didn’t matter. She went along with it.
“The poor thing hates it when I sneak off to do business.”
Martine idly fiddled with one of her gold bracelets. “And yet she was the one sneaking around my casino?”
“Sorry.” Jenn looked up at me, as though begging for help.
No matter how many times I tried to convince myself there could be something between us, my job would always prevent it.Not just my past. Not just my father. “Did you get lost, honey bear?”