Page 4 of Risking it All

“Not exactly.”

“You two have only known each other for a short period of time. Do you love him?”

I caught myself before I scoffed. Love was a funny thing. Such a simple word, yet such an elusive feeling. It was something I only felt for my mom and sisters. The rest of the world, I simply had to tolerate. Who wanted to simply tolerate their husband? Not this girl.

“It’s a family thing. It’s not about love,” I explained.

“Oh, baby, marriage is all about love.”

“In many situations, I’m sure that’s true. This is just about making up for a past mistake.”

“A man deciding that he didn’t want to get married is not on you. That is not your mistake to clean up. It wasn’t even a mistake.”

“I hear you, but this is my lot.”

“If it’s plaguing you this much, I say you should at least postpone.”

“I’m fine, Em.” I repeated the mantra that had essentially kept me alive for the past few years. In all actuality, it couldn’t have been further from the truth.

“I hear you, baby. I’m going to get out of your business. The last thing I’m going to say is even if you feel trapped, there is always a way out. If you need me or my husband, know that we can and will help you figure things out.”

“I don’t exactly need a lawyer right now,” I said, referring to her husband. “Also, you’ve done more than enough.”

“I’ve never done anything that I didn’t want to do. You’re my girl, Zenny. Don’t forget that.”

“Thank you.”

“That was our last appointment of the day. I’m about to close up shop so I can be home when my man gets there. He loves it when I beat him home.”

“See you tomorrow, Em.”

“See you later, babe,” she said over her shoulder as she strutted out of the room.

Once my dress was back in place, I changed back into the perfectly tailored magenta pantsuit that I’d worn to work. My position at The Diamond Needle just so happened to come with free tailoring since my girl liked to see her staff looking their best.

I wasn’t a doctor or working as a high-profile lawyer like my sister’s and Emerson’s husband, but I loved what I did. What little autonomy my dad gave us all was in our careers. As long as it didn’t directly interfere with Force business, it didn’t matter what field we went into.

After leaving work, I headed to the restaurant downtown where I was scheduled to meet my parents and my cousin Dexter to finalize the plans for the big day trade-off. It was stupid that I had yet to spend any alone time with my soon-to-be husband. The only thing that mattered to The Force was the looming deadline.

With less than sixty days remaining in the fulfillment of Zara’s contract, my dad thought it was a show of good faith to get things done as soon as possible. The sooner he restored his name, the better.

2

Sawyer Ash

“Hey, Chris, pull camera nine and rewind it back an hour,” I ordered as I walked into the security operations room.

I plopped down in an empty chair as one of the monitors switched from one of the blackjack tables to the parking garage. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my thighs as I watched the footage roll in reverse.

“Right there,” I said, pointing to the screen.

Chris pressed play, and we watched the scene unfold. The grainy footage paused on a slender man in a black suit as he slipped an envelope to one of the valet attendants. The attendant quickly scanned his surroundings before stuffing it inside his jacket. I didn’t recognize the man. There were a lot of frequent flyers at Cashville, but Slender Man wasn’t one of them.

I kept a close watch on the comings and goings of the casino, but it was a busy place. Some things happened to slip through the cracks here and there. Most of them were resolved quickly. The fact that someone could bribe one of our employees pissed me off.

“Y’all sitting around here all day doing nothing but watching these fucking screens, and you still letting all kinds of shit get past you. Do I need to send everybody in this bitch home and hire a whole new team? I’m about tired of giving the same damn speech.”

“Saw, you know there’s a lot of shit moving around here.”