The corners of my mouth twitch. “It’ll look shiny at first,” I tell him. “Big money, big opportunity. But the Ten of Swords says betrayal, backstabbing, or collapse. You’re setting yourself up to be gutted.”
He frowns, like I’ve told him his puppy will die. “But… it’s a sure thing.”
“Sure things don’t come with knives in your back,” I counter. “You asked. The cards answered. Your call if you want to bleed for it.”
He leaves looking like I ruined his day.
Mid-afternoon, I get a college girl with a glitter phone case and nervous laughter. She wants to know if she’ll pass her nursing exams.
Shuffle, cut, pull.Seven of Pentacles.Nine of Cups. Knight of Swords.
Finally, a good one. “Yes,” I grin. “You’ve got this. But the Knight of Swords says you need to focus, no distractions. So maybe tell your boyfriend to chill while you study.”
Her jaw drops. “How did you know I have a boyfriend?!”
I don’t point out that she has his name doodled on her wrist in blue pen. I just tap the cards like it’s witchcraft. She leaves practically skipping.
By evening, the candles have burned down to wax puddles, and my throat is dry from talking. I lean back in my chair, stretching, my mind buzzing with faces and fortunes.
Every reading chips at me, leaves me a little more raw. They come in asking for hope, begging for clarity, and I give them honesty. Always honesty. Even when it hurts.
But when the light disappears and the shop empties, it’s just me and the oak table. Me and the shadows. And tonight, me and the knowledge that Dusty Crowley will be here soon.
I pull my phone from my pocket, open the folder labeled“Justice”, and scroll through the details. It just feels right to reaffirm that what I’m about to do is what’s best for the world.
Dusty Crowley is a landlord. And scum. He offers some of the lowest rent in the city. Yet, imagine that, ninety-five percent of his tenants are young women. Not only that, but they’re young women who haven’t been in Las Vegas very long. They all came to the city, looking for work, desperate for somewhere affordable to live.
Well, Dusty Crowley has somewhere affordable to live. He owns one of the biggest apartment buildings east of the Strip. But he has a special “screening” process.
Who is the most desperate? Who will do what he asks and not squeal to the police? Who will break under his pressure?
There have only been three official complaints made. Each one was dismissed. But online? Online in discussion forums, people talk the real talk. They air out the dirty laundry. They try to warn others who don’t know.
What Dusty has made women do in exchange for affordable rent is disgusting.
And he’s gotten away with it for eight years. Maybe longer.
But tonight, it ends.
I’ve been posing as a potential new tenant for five days now. We’ve been messaging back and forth, and tonight, he finally asked to screen me. I’d suggested here, told him it was a quiet, private space. He’s on his way.
My blood is already simmering.
You deserve what’s coming, Dusty.
Five minutes later, I check the clock and head toward the front door. But as my focus shifts to the glass, my heart drops, and panic rips through me.
No. Notnow.
Dusty steps inside, a wary look in his eyes as he tugs his grease-stained shirt down over his belly. But fate clearly hates me—because not-Kade slips in right behind him.
“Oh shit,” I whisper under my breath.
Kade seems surprised, and maybe a little bit concerned to see Dusty here. “Sorry,” he says, sounding disappointed. “I thought you’d be done working by now.” His voice is soft, apologetic—but his eyes flick to the room in the back. I know what he sees: an oak table without a tablecloth, the cards laid out, and instantly he knows exactly why I’m not quite done working.
Dusty bristles like a dog seeing another male in his yard. “The fuck is this?” His lip curls. “You running a two-for-one special tonight?”
Heat crawls up my neck, panic buzzing so loud I can barely think. “It’s nothing,” I rush out, forcing a smile so brittle it might snap my face in half. “This guy just forgot his…” my eyes rip around the lobby, searching for anything believable that he could have forgotten earlier. I snatch a selenite tower off the counter and shove it at not-Kade. “Cleansing crystal.”
