“If I scream, you go to jail,” she whispered, staring up at him as if he were nothing more substantial than a shadow in her path. Her nerve was kind ofawesome.
“You won’t do that. You’re in the wrong here, and you scared Faythe todeath.”
“Let. Her. Go,” I growled, and several people turned to look. Because I had not yet mastered the art of speaking beneath the human range ofhearing.
“You’re in enough trouble already.” Vic stepped up to my right side. Chris hemmed me in on the left, and suddenly our only way out became a very public scene, after which the police would probably discover my fake ID. And arrestme.
“Miss, is everything okay?” a security guard asked as heapproached.
Kaci looked right at me. I shook my head, but the determined light in her eyes refused to die. So I was surprised when she said, “Yes.” Then she jerked her arm from Jared’s grip and he had no choice but to let her. “My brother’s being a bit of an ass. But I’mfine.”
“Come on,sis.” Jared gestured toward the front door, and Kaci and I were escorted back through Caesar’s Palace toward the parking garage, passing restaurants, gambling floors, and shops, by a very conspicuous team of three identically dressed werecatenforcers.
People probably thought hotel security had caught us countingcards.
Jared led us into the garage, and the moment we were out of sight of security, he grabbed Kaci’s armagain.
“Southwest Pride?” I asked, my voice echoing over an expanse of parked cars, and he nodded. “How’d you know we werehere?”
“We triggered the LoJack in Chris’s car,” Vic said. “When we realized it was at the airport, we checked outgoing flights and alerted Alphas in all of thoseterritories.”
“We have two Pride members living in Vegas,” Jared added. “The moment we heard you might be out here, we started circulating your picture. A poker dealer at Caesar’s recognized you in a matter of hours. They don’t get many guys your age betting six figures in a singlehand.”
“Huh.” I shrugged, reluctantly impressed. “Goodwork.”
Vic snorted. “You, I get,” he said. “You’re young and stupid, and facing trial. But you?” He tapped Kaci’s shoulder. “How’d he get you to go along withthis?”
She shrugged. “That was my idea. I’ve never been toVegas.”
“What the hell is there to do here, for akid?”
“Oh,fuck.” Jared stopped walking and grabbed her left hand. “Look atthisshit.”
Vic gaped at the ring. “Kaci…” Then he turned and grabbed me by the throat so fast I never even saw it coming. He slammed me into a concrete pillar between two cars, and the force was like a sledgehammer swung at my skull, even though he was using his left hand. “What the hell did you do toher?”
“Nothing!” Kaci jerked free of Jared and pulled on Vic’s arm, while I focused on bringing my double vision back together. “Let himgo.”
Vic turned to her, his fist tight around my trachea, and it took every bit of self-control I had to remain perfectly still. Because if I’d learned anything about dealing with angry cats who outrank me, it wasdo not make things worse. “Is that thing real?” hedemanded.
She frowned at the ring. “Yeah, it’s, like, a full carat, Ithink.”
“Not the diamond,” Vic growled. “The wedding. Did you really marry this littleprick?”
Twenty-four hours ago, he’d been giving me advice like a friend, and now he was calling me names. Not that I could blamehim.
“I know a guy who can undo this in forty-eight hours.” Jared grabbed Kaci’s arm again. “No one even has to know. You take him in your car, I’ll take her, and we’llmeet—”
“No!” Kaci shouted as he started hauling her away from me. And that was all I couldtake.
I grabbed Vic’s left wrist and twisted as hard and as fast as I could. His bones cracked as they broke, yet his fingernails still drew blood as I ripped his hand fromthroat.
“Fuck,” Vic muttered through clenched teeth as he clutched his broken wrist to his chest. “Chris.”
Chris came at me, and I spun on one foot, then kicked him in the chest with the other. He flew backward several feet and landed on his ass on the trunk of a car across the aisle, more stunned than hurt. By some miracle, the car had noalarm.
“Let her go,” Igrowled.
Jared froze. Kaci gaped atme.
