“I did it. The kids are at my mom’s. We’re staying with her for a while.”
Kate drew her in for a hug. “Oh, sweetie, I’m proud of you. I know it’s hard.”
Lisa stood still for a moment, her spine as straight as a ballerina’s. But then she sucked in a breath and collapsed into her, weeping into her shoulder. “Donny acted like he didn’t care. He just raided my purse and walked out. He didn’t even look back.”
“It’s better this way, I swear.”
“I know. I just… I didn’t expect it to hurt so much.” She raised her head and wiped her face with the back of her hand. “I’ve spent the last few years wishing he’d fall off the face of the earth, and it pisses me off to be so upset.” She let out a bitter laugh. “After I dropped off the kids, I had a hunch and decided to look for him. He was exactly where I expected him to be—one of Liam Doyle’s poker tables, joking with the dealer as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He didn’t even notice me.”
It seemed she heard the words ‘Liam Doyle’ in every New Horizons meeting lately. Frankly, she was getting sick of it. If she ever met the bastard…
“Kate, what am I going to do? There’s so much to think about. Bank accounts, the mortgage. And the kids keep asking for their dad.” She ran a hand over her pale, wet face. “I can’t do this alone.”
She held Lisa by the shoulders and looked into her friend’s eyes. “You’re not alone. I will be with you every step of the way. And you’ll get through this, I promise.” She sighed, but rather than lightening, her heart felt heavier for it. “Come have a coffee. It won’t fix anything, but it’ll make you feel more human.”
Her friend offered a watery smile. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it if it hadn’t been for your example, Kate. Every time I wanted to cave, I remembered how you cut your father off. How you told him no and stopped giving him money. I kept thinking, ‘I need to be strong like Kate.’ He needs to hit rock bottom.”
She stared at Lisa as an insidious sick feeling wormed its way through her.
Strong like Kate. What a laugh.
Lisa hugged her and wandered to the coffee table where the rest of the group flocked around her, eager to help.
It took Kate a second to realize her hands were shaking, and by that time she knew she was good and angry. It felt better than feeling guilty, and she’d stopped being sad a long time ago. Sadness didn’t help, but anger felt good. Anger helped her focus and forced her to see clearly.
What she saw in her memory was a seven-year-old girl crying as her parents argued outside her bedroom. She heard her mother’s voice, begging her father not to go to his usual haunts.
But her father always went out, and some nights he didn’t even come back. Instead, he’d stumble home the next morning, or days later, usually with his wallet empty. Granted, he’d never frequented luxurious casinos like Liam Doyle’s. Her dad had been more the type to lose himself in a dingy back room card parlor. Not that it mattered. Different location, same vice. Kate had seen it again and again, and now she had to watch her friend experience the same misery.
The most ridiculous part was Lisa regardingheras a fucking role model.
Most days, she vacillated between blaming herself and blaming Vegas. It was so much easier to blame those who made gambling possible. Then she didn’t have to examine her own actions. Her own choices.
As her fury once again took root, she sought an outlet,anyoutlet that turned the spotlight away from her past. As a newly-unemployed jingle singer, she didn’t have the resources to launch a full-scale war on Vegas. God knew the casinos would be there until the end of time.
But she knew how to cause a stink. She’d always had a bit of rebel in her.
As she searched her brain for a target, she found only one. Suddenly, her anger had a face. A pretty one with devil’s horns, much like how she imagined Liam Doyle’s.
Liam stood alone in his office suite at the newly-built Vice, his crowning achievement. In five minutes he would head outside, cut a big ribbon, smile and welcome Las Vegas into what he knew would become its hottest property.
So why wasn’t he pumped? When he opened Sin, he’d been delirious. When he opened Luxe, he’d been happy. But now?
Maybe the novelty had worn off.
Yet for some reason his pulse felt erratic. He took a long look at himself in the full-length mirror in the office bathroom and breathed deep, hoping to steady his off-kilter heartbeat. Dr. Chan said he worked too hard, and it was taking its toll.
No, it was just a strange case of nerves. Preparing for a grand opening forced his body into a state of hyper-awareness, like a runner before a track meet. Hell, he hadn’t had a good sleep in weeks. Between dealing with designers and kitchen staff and suppliers, he was bound to be on edge.
He just couldn’t afford to show it.
He looked himself up and down. The well-dressed, serious man who stared back from the mirror showed no outward signs of nervousness. His suit, ordered from Cad and the Dandy, his favorite Savile Row tailor in London, was pressed to perfection. His shoes gleamed and his silver cufflinks shone under the office lights with what his stylist Xavier called “understated elegance.” Damned if he knew what that meant, but apparently he was supposed to be the embodiment of it.
He adjusted his signature navy silk tie, chosen from his armada of navy silk ties. Xavier was always trying to get him to expand his color range, but Liam liked navy. If he had to wear a suit, it had to include a navy tie. Sure, he would have been more comfortable in jeans and cowboy boots, but Xavier demanded he look the part of a shark today. As the stylist had stated, “You can go back to being scruffy tomorrow.”
Today, as he opened Vice, even he conceded scruffy wasn’t appropriate. Vice would be his greatest achievement yet in the town where he was born. His other casinos did very well, but his marketing team had ensured the hype for this new property would launch him into the stratosphere. Already people demanded to get in, and after today,everyonewould know Liam Doyle.
The build had gone off without a hitch. His designers had delivered on their promises of excellence. Everything was ready. The dealers, poised on the floor, waited for the first customers to flood in. The catering heads stood at the ready, with the finest of Vegas fare on their menus.
