“I don’t think you do.”
The elevator ride seemed to last forever as it went to the top with no interruptions, and she figured he must have put in a code for it to do that. Please open. Thankfully, the doors finally opened right as she began to feel claustrophobic from the coming repercussions of her actions. “I hope he is in a good mood today, for your sake.”
She took another deep breath—me, too—as he led her down a long hallway.
As they were about to come to the door at the end, it flew open and a woman in a sexy outfit was dragged out.
“Please, I’m sorry! Please! Please, I’m sorry!” the woman wailed with her makeup smearing down her cheeks.
Lake’s feet stopped moving, her mouth now running dry. “Oh, my God,” she whispered, on the verge of tears.
The guard jerked her past the screaming woman. “You act like that, and he will show no mercy.” He kept his voice low.
She regained her footing and drove her thoughts to her father, not the screams down the hall.
Be strong.
The guard opened the door and pulled her inside.
Be strong.
He continued to lead her through a dark room filled with TVs of surveillance footage.
Be strong.
The next door he came to, instead of walking through, he knocked.
Be strong.
“Come in,” she heard from a deep voice on the other side of the door.
Be strong, be strong, be strong.
“Good luck,” he whispered as he dropped his hand. For the last time, he opened the door wide for her to enter.
Lake entered the dark, smoke-filled room, her eyes rolling over the three men inside. The boss was behind a huge desk, smoking a cigar, his ice-blue gaze freezing her in place. Another suit stood behind him, one she really wished wasn’t there to witness this. Lastly, her eyes came to the back of her father.
“Today must be my lucky day.” Dante smiled as he leaned back in his chair.
Her father quickly turned around in his seat. “Lake, what the hell are you doing here?” Standing, he went for his daughter.
“Sit down, Paul,” Dante warned.
Paul slowly sat back down in his seat, his eyes starting to glaze over.
I’m sorry, Dad.
The boss took a hit of his cigar. “Why did you come?”
Lake thought about the guard’s advice as she took a step forward. “You know why.”
Dante stared at her a moment, clearly not expecting her answer. His interest became piqued. “Do you know what he did?”
“I assume he owes you a lot of money,” she said, grabbing her bag as if it was a cane to keep her from falling over.
“Yes, he does, and he has for many years. Last night, he managed a winning streak in poker—enough to pay his debt to me—but what do you think he did?”
Lake had to avert her eyes from his icy cold stare. “He went all in, didn’t he?”
“All fucking in and lost every fucking dime. Now, please tell me what you hope to accomplish here today, because I am done with him. He has promised to pay me back every time he takes from my casino, and every fucking time I believe him. I understand he has a gambling addiction, but I like to keep my men happy. Your father is loyal to me, so that is why he has gotten away with it for so long, but last night, he proved to be loyal no longer. Not once have I taken away from his cut on a job, and we will both pay for that now,” he finished solemnly, showing what he meant by his words.
No, please, God. Lake could only hope he couldn’t see she was no different than the screaming woman who had just left. The only thing keeping her together was that Dante had just proved she had no other option.
She dug down to any bit of courage she had left. “Hopefully, I can change your mind.”
“How the hell do you think you can do that?” Dante became amused for once, confusing Lake by showing his not-so-dark side. If there even is one.
Lake slowly took the bag off her shoulder. There is no other way. Walking over to his desk, she dumped its contents out along with any of her hopes and dreams.
“Lake, no! What are you thinking?” her father screamed.
Dante held up his hand to silence him. “Where did you get this?”
“It’s my … Well, it was my college fund,” she confessed.
She watched the blonde man who stood behind Dante come over and stack up the money.
“Twenty,” he said after every bundle was stacked to perfection.
Dante picked up one stack of bills from the top and flipped through it with his thumb, revealing each one was a hundred dollar bill. “Your father owes me fifty, sorry.”