“Oh, I see. Welcome back,Amelia,” the Alliance member goads, catching Millie’s attention.
She gasps, spinning, her body instantly reacting as she retreats straight into Will, holding onto him for dear life. “No… God, no! Sin, please don’t let them take me again. Please!”
The Alliance members chuckle to themselves as Sin takes a step away from me, my anxiety reaching a critical level now, seeing the undeniable fear in Millie’s eyes while Will comforts her.
Sin steps up to the scarred man, his eyes glaring into his enemy’s as he snarls. “We have a lot of eyes on us now, Lorenzo. Do youreallywant to start something in the middle of your casino, with everyone watching you? All we want is to take Millie and leave,” he requests.
One of Lorenzo’s men steps forward, almost snarling as he does, pushing past his boss to get right up into Sin’s face. His gaze is so intense as he stares Sin down. There’s something familiar about his eyes, but I don’t have a second to register what it is before he shoves Sin hard in the chest, forcing him to take a step back, bumping into me. “You think you can come ontoourturf andnotexpect to pay a price?”
Sin steadies himself, rolling his shoulders.
My breathing hitches as the rest of the club brothers take a protective step forward to flank their president.
“You’d better keep your button man under control,Capo dei capi, or all these patrons inyourestablishment will soon see what the owners of this casino arereallyabout. And I know you don’t want to lose your customers, especially if a fightwereto break out… people could be injured, killed even, inyourhouse. That’s a bad look for you, Lorenzo.Especiallyif we were to go on record saying we were merely here to collect an underage girl who was let in byyourstaff. She was dragged here by her friends and asked us to bring her home. Then it was your man, Dante, who started the fight when we simply wanted to take her and leave without a problem. You can see how that would look bad for you,right,Lorenzo?” Sin questions, but his tone is clearly mocking.
I try hard to keep the smile from forming on my face as Lorenzo pulls a clearly annoyed Dante away from Sin.
Lorenzo, the Capo of the Hidden Hand Alliance, sneers, but after a tense delay, he nods, letting out a frustrated huff. “Take her. But remember, Sin, this isourturf. Next time, there won’t be any talking.”
Sin’s jaw tightens, but he nods once, turning to Millie. “Let’s go.”
Will slides his arm protectively around Millie while he leads her in front of the group, her face still pale as she rushes to get away from a history I now really need to know more about.
“And Amelia,” Lorenzo calls out, but it only makes Millie walk faster. “I see you here again… I’ll pay a visit to your father. I think you understand what that means, don’t you,amore?”
Millie bursts into tears, only leaving me with even more questions. I follow them out, my heart still racing. As we move in a mad rush, Sin’s hand rests on my lower back, guiding me toward the exit. The touch is brief, but it sends a shiver down my spine. I know he’s doing it to keep me close, to make sure I don’t wander, but it feels oddly protective.
Once outside, Millie clings to Will, her face buried in his shoulder.
Sin turns to me, his eyes narrowing. “Get in the SUV.Now!” His tone demanding and firm.
I open my mouth to argue, but the desperate look in his eyes stops me. He’s clearly on edge, and after witnessing all that, I don’t want to push him. So, I nod, sliding into the vehicle without another word. Swallowing a nervous lump down my throat, I watch as Sin talks to his men, his expression serious. There’s something about the way he carries himself, the way the others look to him for guidance, that strikes me. He’s not just their leader, he’s their protector, the one they all trust to get them out alive.
I came to this club to get information. To build a story on how the club is reckless. How they don’t care about their members. How they left their prospects to fend for themselves.
But that’s not what I’m seeing.
In fact, it is the exact opposite, and it throws everything I thought I was searching for out the window. The respect between the members is more than I could have ever experienced. The way they protect each other astounds me.
I honestly don’t know what to think.
Maybe the mediadoesportray them all wrong?
Or maybe Sin is only showing me what he wants me to see.
Either way, I need to dig deeper because there is so much left to uncover, and if watching all this unfold with Millie is anything to go by, there are so many more stories to discover about Las Vegas Defiance. And I haven’t even started digging into what happened to my brother, Marcus, yet.
Will and Millie slide into the front seats, and Will starts the car. I settle back silently in the rear, my body still humming with leftover adrenaline as Millie’s voice breaks the tense silence.
“I’m so sorry, Will,” she whispers, her voice shaky and small. “I know I shouldn’t have gone in there.I know that. But when the girls said they wanted to go dancing on The Strip, I thought… I thought it would be fine. They’re my friends from school, and I haven’t hung out with them in forever.”
Will’s knuckles are still white on the steering wheel, but his voice is gentle when he responds, “What the fuck happened, Millie? How the hell did you end up atthatcasino? How the fuck did you even get in?”
She sniffles, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. “We were having such a good time at first. Just walking around, looking at all the lights, taking pictures. But then Chloe and Jessica started talking about how boring it was, how they wanted to go somewherefun. When they said the Casino, I… I tried totell them no. I really did. But they kept pushing, saying I was killing the vibes, that I never wanted to do anything exciting.”
My chest tightens as I watch Will’s jaw clench in the rearview mirror.
“They don’t know,” Millie continues, her voice breaking slightly. “They have no idea what happened to me there. How could I explain without sounding completely insane?‘Oh, by the way, I was kidnapped and held prisoner by the casino owners who threatened to rape me and sell me off into slavery?’They’d think I was striving for attention.”
