He grinned at me, leaning back in his chair, setting his hands behind his head. “I always do.”
Unless the unexpected happened. It wouldn’t be beneath Gio to run behind Lou with a bat through his casino.
His casino.It wasn’thisyet.
“What’s going on with Old Gio? He set you up with a bride yet?”
Old Gio was pushing Gio to marry. Thought it would help settle him down a bit.
Gio waved a hand. “He has no control over my relationship status.”
I grinned.
Gio shot me the bird. “I got this.”
My phone pinged and I held up a finger. Gio made ago-aheadmotion. I stuck the phone to my ear and answered as I took position behind him and looked out over the city, straight to my casino down the street.
Behind me, Gio burned our correspondence.
“Bigatti.”
“We have a situation at the casino, Mr. Bigatti. A woman cheated the table.”
“How much?” It didn’t matter how big or how little. She’d be paying me interest until she took her last breath, even if she worked at my hotel for free.
Thousands. She cheated me for thousands.
“Keep her there.”
“Of course. But…she’s asking for you. Demanding to speak with you.”
This wouldn’t be a one-sided conversation then—fucking good.
I hung up and left.
CHAPTER5
Mr. Big
I fixedmy suit as I strode into my casino. A few of my employees glanced at me as I walked in. Even though it wasn’t their fault, they knew my mood was going to be dark.
No one fucking stole from me.
Ifshewould have beenhe… my casino would have been his last sight before he left this world. And he would have left it one-handed. Because I would have chopped it off. Marked him as a thief before he departed.
Gio fell in step with me. He gave me a shit-eating grin. “I would have hitched a ride with Kitty, but I didn’t want to miss this.”
Just what I fucking needed. An audience. I was going to send Gio back with Kitty whenever she arrived. He sometimes hitched a ride with her. He’d stand on the back of her motorized scooter and let her cart him around—going less than five miles per hour because of his weight.
Umberto Rizzo, who was the head of my security, came to stand next to us. “She’s in the holding room.”
“Name?”
“Leonora Kallistos.”
My head went blank before it took me to Greece to meet the goddess I’d spotted earlier in Gio’s casino. I hated to admit it, because it happened in Paradiso, but it was like spotting a goddess in heaven. Aphrodite herself.
Too bad we were about to take the fall.
