Not only tonight, but with my life.
I don’t belong here.
Not in this place. Not among any of these people.
And neither does Daniel.
I want to go home. Right now. If he doesn’t want to leave with me, then he’ll have to understand that I’ll be leaving without him.
I head back into the salon and find Daniel speaking privately with Gibson. His face is ashen, his posture hunched . . . defeated.
“Is everything all right?” I ask as I approach, even though it’s clear that nothing is even close to all right.
Beyond Daniel’s slumped shoulders, the poker game continues—minus him and a couple of other players who seem to have left the gathering.
My heart sinks. I don’t have to ask him if he won back the twenty-five thousand. Or the extra fifty he borrowed on credit to keep playing.
“Oh, my God. Daniel.”
He doesn’t look at me. His voice is pitched low, his words rapid, his eyes pleading with Gibson. “One more extension, that’s all I’m asking for. Another twenty, just to give me another shot. Hell, I’ll take ten and not complain.”
His desperation is shocking. Embarrassing. “Daniel, please.”
It’s as if I am invisible to him. That’s how tight a grip his panic has on him. “Come on, Gibson. You gotta help me out here, man.”
The older man’s face is sober, his calm unwavering. But then he releases a slow breath. “I will see what I can do.”
Retrieving his phone from his pocket, Gibson calmly exits the salon.
“Are you insane?” I hiss at Daniel when we’re out of earshot from anyone else in the room. “You can’t possibly be crazy enough to keep borrowing money and gambling it away. What’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t have it.” His reply is toneless, wooden. “I can’t pay back seventy-five grand tonight. I need to recoup my losses and then some, or I’m fucked.”
I step back, mutely shaking my head. “You said you had it under control. You said the money you were getting from the new project was enough to cover the risk.”
“It is. Itwill be. . . but not until the work is under way. If I can’t make good on what I owe Jared Rush from this game tonight, there might not be a project anymore.”
Oh, God.
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I can’t believe this is happening.
Gibson returns, his schooled expression telling us nothing. He puts his phone back into his pocket, then formally extends his arm toward the salon’s exit. “If you would follow me, please, Mr. Hathaway.”
I’m not sure if I’m supposed to accompany them or not. I have no idea where they’re going, but the last thing I want to be is left alone to wait for Daniel in the salon or anywhere else in this strange place.
Besides, I’ve never seen him so unnerved and anxious before.
As upset with him as I am for his stupidity tonight, I’m scared for him, too.
I’m scared for both of us.
I slip my hand in his and walk with him to whatever awaits us at the other end of the long hallway.
4
MELANIE
We are taken to a private elevator, then up to the top floor of the five-story mansion.
