I’m still standing in the same spot, coffee soaking through my shirt, anger and something else I don’t want to name coiling in my gut.
Viktor’s gone. My first solid lead in weeks, and I fucking lost him.
But maybe not completely.
I peel off my ruined jacket and start walking. She’s on foot, which means her destination is close. I’ll hang back. See whereshe ends up. Figure out what connection she has to the Russian piece of shit who’s been haunting my nightmares for three years.
Whatever hold Viktor’s got on her, I’m going to find it.
And I’m going to use it to put a bullet in his skull.
She doesn’t know it yet, but she just became my new favorite weapon.
2
SIERRA
The Happy HighRoller is already filling up when I push through the staff entrance, and I’m grateful for that. A busy bar means less time inside my own head.
My hands won’t stop shaking.
I clench them into fists at my sides as I walk toward the manager’s office, forcing a smile onto my face.Fake it till you make it.Isn’t that what all the self-help podcasts say? Smile until you believe it. Smile until you forget the feeling of fingers digging into your arm hard enough to leave marks.
I peek my head into the office. Marcus is leaned back in his chair, eyes on the security monitors like always. The man hasn’t left that chair during a shift in probably six months.
“You’re almost late, Dixon.”
The use of my last name is supposed to be intimidating. It’s not. Marcus talks tough, but he’s about as threatening as a sleepy golden retriever.
“Talk to me when Iamlate,” The sass comes easy because this is what I do. I make jokes. I smile. I pretend everything is fine.
He chuckles, waving me off, and I head up to the rooftop bar.
The city sprawls out beyond the glass railings, all neon and noise. Viktor’s out there somewhere. The thought makes my skin prickle. Vegas never sleeps. Neither do my anxieties, apparently, but at least here I can drown them in work.
I tie my apron, check my station, start slicing limes. The familiar rhythm should help. It usually does.
Tonight, it doesn’t.
My brain is stuck on repeat, rewinding to the parts I’d rather skip. Viktor’s face when he grabbed me. The way his voice dropped, all that false sweetness curdling into something ugly.You think you can just walk away from me?
And then the other one. The stranger. Huge and armed and staring at me like he could see right through my skin.
I slice a lime too hard, and the knife skids toward my knuckles. I jerk my hand back just in time, heart hammering.
Get it together, Sierra.
I used to trust people. I used to look at strangers and assume the best, give everyone the benefit of the doubt. My mom always says I have a generous heart.
Turns out a generous heart is just another way of sayingeasy target.
The knife slips again, and I have to set it down before I hurt myself.
“Earth to Sierra.”
I blink. Nell is standing at the bar with her serving tray, giving me that look. The one that sayswhere’d you go just now?
“Sorry.” I shake it off, reaching for a smile. “What can I get you?”
