I’ve been standing by the hotel room window, staring out at the alluring white and neon lights of Vegas glowing up at me, pretending to be distracted. I can’t help but overhear what the girl is saying, though, partly because I’m in the room, and partly because it’s my job to listen.

I didn’t believe her name to be Naomi for a second, but I’ll go with that for now. Honest guests don’t show up at my floor and clean out a table full of professionals for a quick million, and they certainly don’t take secret calls in their hotel rooms. I’ve long since abandoned the theory that she’s just an escort of some kind.

She’s more than that, and that makes her both more dangerous and more intriguing.

Vanessa. I make a mental note of the name, but all I have to go on is what “Naomi” is saying. It sounds like she’s friends with this person, or at least close to her in some way. She dropped the name, too, which doesn’t seem appropriate for someone as obviously experienced as she is.

I have a few advantages here. First, she doesn’t seem to know I’m either security or working for the mob that runs this place. My boss is Jerry Laskin, one of the most dangerous and feared names in Vegas right now. That carries weight, and I can guarantee that if she had a scrap of a hint that I answer to him, she’d be treating me very differently, probably not even engaging with me out of fear I’d catch on to... whatever she’s doing. Second, whatever’s going on with Vanessa sounds urgent enough that she’s dropping her guard, at least a little bit.

Far be it from me to take advantage of a vulnerable woman, but I could get some valuable intel out of this, if I play my cards right.

Or, she could be stringing me along for something even more elaborate. “Naomi” is full of different possibilities, all of them interesting. Regardless, if she doesn’t know who I am, I need to keep it that way.

There’s a very good reason I’m not dressed like the rest of security and don’t like the guests seeing me act like security. She doesn’t need to know that reason. Nobody does. Not until my job is done.

“Vanessa, calm—I need you to calm down, take slow, deep breaths like we practiced,” she says as I stare out the window. “Where are you?” A pause. “Okay, stay there, I’m on my way. Keep the door locked, don’t answer until you see my text and can see me standing outside the door. Okay? Okay, good. See you soon. Breathe.”

She clenches her jaw as she ends the call, staring at the phone with a worried look on her face. It’s the most she’s let her guard down since we first saw each other. A moment later, she looks up at me, and I feel an arrow through my heart.

At first, she looks like she forgot I was there entirely, like I just intruded on a very private, intimate conversation. There’s defiance mixed with surprise in those eyes that reflect part of the Vegas skyline through the window. Even so, they’re so deep and expressive that I feel my heart thud harder against my chest as our gazes meet. There’s something so profound about the way her eyes can lock into mine that for just a second, it makes me doubt whether I’m really in control of this situation.

“Sounds serious,” I say mildly.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go,” she says, brushing a stray lock of red hair out of her face. “I don’t know how much of that you actually heard, but a friend of mine needs me to come see her. I hate to be that kind of person, but…” She pauses, looking me up and down. “Can we pick this up another time?”

“We could,” I say, taking a few slow steps toward her. She doesn’t flinch, nor so much as move a muscle, even with the dim lights behind me casting an ominous shadow over my figure. I know how intimidating my body can be to most, but “Naomi” is definitely made of something stronger than that. “But if you would like a hand, I know a little muscle can make some problems go away.”

“I don’t recall saying this was a problem that muscle could solve,” she says, cool as ice.

“You didn’t,” I admit. “But the kinds of problems women like you have in a casino like this tend to be the kind where a little muscle doesn’t hurt.”

“And what does ‘women like me’ mean?” she asks.

“The kind who catch my eye,” I answer.

Her jaw clenches again, and I can tell she’s looking for an excuse to tell me no, so I finally give a soft smile and start to walk toward the door.

“If you’re holding out for me to say ‘wait’, you’re going to be disappointed,” she says as I walk past her and rest my hand on the door handle.

“How about I just block the door until you make up your mind, then?”

She hesitates, and that tells me I’ve already won.

“Fine,” she says, trying to play it off as if she’s the one doing me a favor by letting me tag along. “I... Vanessa can get a little ahead of herself this time, so honestly, I don’t know what kind of problem I’m walking in on. She’s staying here at this hotel. If you’re not doing anything, I could probably use your help.”

“I’m not doing anything any more than you are,” I say without missing a beat, pushing the door open and winking at her as she steps through. She rolls her eyes, but I could swear I see a smirk on her face from the side as she walks by with her head held high.

She’s proud, confident, and quick. I had my suspicions I was dealing with a professional of some kind, and now, I’m sure of it.

We make our way down the hallway and to the elevators, then down a few floors. I follow “Naomi” all the way to one of the rooms near the end of the hall, where she quickly sends a text before knocking on the door and standing in view of the peephole. I make a point to stand back from there, peering at her thoughtfully.

Soon, I hear the sound of a door unbolting, and the room opens. A willowy wisp of a woman with long, dark, glossy hair appears in the crack of the door, looking nervously at “Naomi” for a moment before opening the door the rest of the way.

“Hadley, thank god,” she breathes, and then she sees me and freezes.

“It’s okay, Vanessa,” Hadley says quickly while I hold back a smile at learning her real name. “He’s fine, I brought him along in case you were in trouble. Is anyone here with you?”

Vanessa shakes her head, still peering at me uneasily, but she finally steps aside to let both of us in.

“Vanessa, this is Dominick,” Hadley says gently as we step inside. “Dominick, this is Vanessa, a friend of mine.”

I give Vanessa a nod, but she clearly isn’t sure about this whole arrangement. That confirms in my mind that she and Hadley are working together on something, but I still don’t know what. More interesting and possibly concerning is the fact that it obviously isn’t going well on Vanessa’s end.

I close the door behind us, and as soon as we’re in privacy, Vanessa makes her way further back into the room and takes a seat on the bed, subtly taking a fistful of sheets and fidgeting with them while Hadley speaks.

“Okay, so what’s going on?” she asks as she steps forward. I keep my distance, standing by the door and keeping an ear out for anything unusual. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she says. “I... I probably shouldn’t have called, I didn’t mean to get you worried.”

“Well, obviously I’m going to be worried,” Hadley says gently, taking a seat next to Vanessa. “You sounded like hell on the phone.”

“I-It was my fault,” Vanessa says quickly, shaking her head. “I let something get out of hand and panicked, but he’s gone now.”

“He?” I ask, taking a step forward and surprising Vanessa, despite moving slowly. She turns her body to the side, and I realize what’s odd about her movements: she’s hiding something.

She’s hiding two somethings.

The first is something barely sticking out from under the bed cushions, that she covers with her legs and her dress, and I realize why she suddenly sat down. I can only see the edge of it, but it’s obviously a briefcase—the kind of nondescript, still-unlatched briefcase I’ve seen dozens of times in my line of work.

I’d bet my career that it’s full of cash. The only question is, whose cash?

The second thing I notice is her arm, which she catches me noticing. She does the smart thing and uses it in hopes of distracting me from the briefcase before I can see it. She slowly brings her forearm up and shows it to Hadley, pretending to be doing so reluctantly. Hadley’s jaw drops.

There’s a large bruise on her forearm, obviously caused by someone grabbing her hard, probably yanking her around for some reason.

“Vanessa…” Hadley breathes, and I can see her eyes seething with fury.

“It was just some guy from the casino,” Vanessa insists, shaking her head. “I was...he felt like he was being misled, it’s nothing to worry about. He’s gone now, and I don’t think he’ll be back.”

“Can you describe him for me?” I ask, testing a theory.

Immediately, I see her eyes dart to the side for just a moment, and her legs shift. They’re an obvious couple of tells. If she’s in league with Hadley, Vanessa is surely good at lying on most days, but whatever happened to her has left her shaken. Her guard is down. Now is the time to get any information I can from her.

“Tall, broad-shouldered, dark hair, square jaw...he wore a suit with a black tie, deep voice…”

I frown. She’s describing me, along with dozens of other young men working here. Like I thought, she’s lying. But who is she lying for?

“Are you sure it wasn’t me?” I ask, and her face pales a little. I feel bad for testing her, but I want to see if she might be willing to give up whoever she’s protecting with a little gentle pressure. I don’t want to push her any farther than this.

Normally, I wouldn’t be so interested in other people’s secrets, but this duo has proven that they’re skilled gamblers who have reason to hide large amounts of money from the kinds of men who aren’t afraid to leave bruises on women. That makes it my business.

“Look, we’re not escorts, if that’s what you’re insinuating,” Hadley says quickly, realizing that she needs to come to Vanessa’s side on this. I hold up a hand, nodding gently.

“Sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood a little. Listen, if someone’s threatening you, I can make that problem go away. You two are obviously a pair of women with good heads on your shoulders, and I don’t like the idea that someone around here thinks he can hurt one of you.”

Hadley and Vanessa look at each other, and the brief glance they share is the kind of knowing look that tells me they know something important that I don’t. That makes me uncomfortable, but there isn’t anything I can do about it unless they’re willing to divulge. And I have a feeling it has to do with whoever gave Vanessa that bruise and paid her all that money under the bed to keep her quiet about it.

Of course, I could just pull out my credentials on them and force the truth out, but Hadley intrigues me more than that. I want to see where she leads me of her own free will.

“I think I’d really just like a drink tonight,” Vanessa says at last, looking at Hadley, who nods in understanding.

“We’ll get room service up here,” Hadley says. She then looks up at me, stands to her feet, and strides over, taking out her phone. “I don’t want to make you think I’m not grateful for everything tonight.”

“I can think of worse ways I’ve been kicked out of a hotel room,” I say with a pleasant smile that seems to almost make her laugh.

“Then let’s stay in touch and see if I don’t kick you out again next time,” she says with meaningful, lidded eyes.

We trade numbers, and I tell them both one more time to get in touch with me if anything goes wrong tonight. I can feel both pairs of eyes on my back as I leave two women alone and close the door behind me. In the hallway, I take a deep breath before heading down the hallway.

I call up one of the other enforcers running security with me once I’m far enough away that I don’t think there’s a chance either of them could hear me if they wanted to.

“Tim,” I say when he picks up. “What’s the situation on the floor?”

“All’s well. Think people noticed how you dealt with that schmuck who tried to pick a fight with the bartender and figured tonight wasn’t their night.”

I chuckle.

“Good, glad things don’t melt down without me.”

“Where you been, anyways?”

“Just following a lead. Didn’t turn anything up though,” I lie. “So I owe you a beer for not telling anyone I ran off on the job.” That’s a joke, of course. Those of us running the floor are perfectly entitled to take care of business as we see fit, and if there had been a real problem, my phone would have been blowing up with calls from the guys.

“Sure thing, overachiever,” Tim chuckles. “Not like you’re on thin ice or anything, so you got nothin’ to worry about. Ain’t no secret that Jerry likes you. That’s pretty fuckin’ rare.”

“High praise, coming from you,” I say mildly.

“He treats most of us like shit, so yea, take all the praise you want. But let’s not pat ourselves on the back too much tonight,” he says. “We got another problem to look into. Boss says we got cleaned out good tonight, and I mean real fuckin’ good. Professional-good. It’s gotta be a team, and he says he wants their heads on plates yesterday.”

I stop dead in my tracks, and I’m sorely tempted to look back.

You just got a hell of a lot more interesting, Hadley.

“You there, Dom? Did that lead of yours give you any clue about what might be going on down here?”

I think for a moment before replying.

“No,” I lie.