Not many people knew her number. She never had a phone to text with growing up so having one now was a new thing. While most women her age spent hours texting and taking selfies, she was just learning how to open an app. When the phone rang, it was always one of about four people. She’d hoped it was Lincoln, but it was Petra.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Marilyn. Are you with Lorenz?” Petra asked.

“Yes, I’ll probably be with him more or less day and night for the week of his contract.” Lorenz asked her to spend the day with him, and she had.

“Is he in the room with you now?”

“No. He’s working or something. He sent up some dresses and shoes and wants to take me to some fun things in the casino tonight. The dress is surprisingly tame. I’m practically covered up in it.”

“You look lovely in everything of course. But you forgot to mention a very important point dear.” Petra has the tiniest European accent that made her sound so commanding and smart. Leslie marveled that her tiny southern accent had the opposite effect. No matter how commanding she tried to be with the lawyer or the cancer clinics, she called they treated her like an idiot.

“Oh, you mean Lincoln?” Damn. She hadn’t wanted Lincoln to get in trouble with Petra so she hadn’t called her. But somehow she knew.

“He contacted me. And I know you are attached to him, but he’s not coming back. He’s decided to move on from Vallin Consulting. I hope you’re not too upset by it, but it really is for the best. His temper was making things difficult.”

“What do you mean? He’s moving on?”

“He’s quit darling. Now listen, do not worry about him for one more minute. The thing I’m upset about is not him, it’s you. You need security. All my associates must have security. I just won’t have it any other way. I’ll be sending someone in the next few hours. The only issue is staffing on short notice. But don’t you worry. We’ll be all set for your work this evening.”

Marilyn’s heart was in throat. He quit? Lincoln wasn’t coming back? That seemed impossible to her. Was he that angry yesterday? She replayed their fight. It was nothing. But maybe she’d misjudged it completely if he was leaving her for good. She felt a hot sting of tears in her eyes.

“Marilyn, did you hear me? I’m sending someone tonight for your protection.”

“Yes, I’m sorry. I just, well Lincoln, you said… never mind. Petra, I think I’m perfectly safe with Lorenz. He’s not like his brothers at all.” She was actually feeling more comfortable at work than she’d ever felt. Lorenz was patient and attentive. It was almost possible to forget she was bought and paid for. Her first three clients never let her forget it. She’d grown so used to not worrying about it, though, because of Lincoln.

At least, Lorenz was different. Petra was talking, she had to focus on Petra for a moment and stop thinking about how terrible not having Lincoln there was starting to feel.

“I believe you are perfectly safe with Lorenz. But that doesn’t change the fact that tonight we’ll be setting up the standard protocol. Lorenz will be informed as well. But for now, enjoy getting pampered on his dime darling.” As commanding as Petra was, she was also motherly. Well, Marilyn assumed it was motherly; seeing as she’d never had a mother, the way one behaved was pure speculation on her part.

It made her heart hurt to think of Lincoln. She couldn’t help the way they met. Maybe if they’d met some other time or place things could have been different? She stopped thinking about it. Different how? He’d want to marry you? She had to stop her make-believe dreams and refocus.

 She had a job to do, and so did Lincoln.

When she was with him, they felt so connected. He made her feel safe, and as a person, not an object to be acquired. She thought about the ranch he wanted to build on that land in Montana. He was probably in his truck right now, headed there, without her.

Had she known, maybe she could have gotten him to take some of her animals? Barns needed mousers. Dean Martin would be so good at that.

Thinking about living on a ranch made her sad. It was too much like the way she grew up. She had to shake it off.

She got in the shower and tried to rinse off the sadness and hurt. It was good Lincoln was gone. He didn’t deserve to be tortured by the jobs she had.

Whether it took one month or one year, she was going to get that money and get her daddy out. But still, whatever hope she had of being with Lincoln outside of Petra and Vallin Consulting was now over. So fine. She would focus on the job.

The dress that Lorenz had sent her was lovely. Almost something she would want to wear if she wasn’t on the job. Everything she’d worn since she’s started working for Petra was designed to emphasize her resemblance to Marilyn. They were tight at the waist, low cut, high slits, and designed to remind everyone who she looked like, not who she was.

This dress was a shift, it was navy blue, with a wide gray stripe in the middle. And instead of sky-high heels, there were boots. Flat. Lorenz had somehow seen around all the Marilyn. So for a change, she decided she’d roll with that. Instead of a poofed-up, stiff, Marilyn hair arrangement, she let her hair air dry. She scrunched it with her fingers and wound up with a short messy bob. If she had to pick a movie star she looked like right now, it was more Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle than Marilyn Monroe in Gentleman Prefer Blondes.

 She swiped a nude lip gloss and a very little bit of mascara on and was done. This way, she could pretend she was going on a date instead of going on display.

She heard a soft door knock on the bedroom suite. And she walked across the plush carpet to open it and find Lorenz. The man was take-your-breath-away handsome, and he too, dressed against type; gone was the million-dollar business suit, and instead he wore jeans and a casual button down. The shirt was tucked into the low-slung slim jeans and this Lorenz looked so much younger than the one she’d encountered in his expensive business suits.

“You look so beautiful,” he said, as he looked her up and down. It produced a blush in her cheeks; she could tell from the warmth that rose from her neck.

“Thank you. And thank you for the dress. I love it.” She spun around for him, which she hoped he liked.

“It suits you. I hear a little accent in your voice and thought the boots might be the perfect fit.”

“They are.” Lorenz extended his hand and she put hers in it. He pulled her forward and encircled her waist with his arm. He smelled of some expensive cologne, she figured. It was a beautiful smell.

Lorenz put a finger under her chin and tilted her face up. She got up on her tip-toes, without the heels she was shorter than before, so she stretched up and kissed Lorenz. She felt his hand run from her waist and down. As they kissed, she felt his hand inch the hem of her dress up, little by little. She pressed herself into him and wound her fingers into his hair. It was so thick she marveled at it.

Being with Lorenz was tantalizingly easy. He was paying her millions of dollars, and he was one of the most attractive men she’d ever seen. As she let his kisses wash over her, she rubbed her breasts across his chest. She’d begun to learn the power she could wield with her body, and sure enough, Lorenz reacted with a moan as she slid one hand into his shirt to find the flesh of his chest.

Perhaps he’d take her right here in the hall before they went out? Maybe they wouldn’t go out. It didn’t matter what she thought, she only wanted him to feel that she was worth the money. She trapped his lower lip in her teeth. It was sort of fun to push him to the point of losing control. It was another newfound skill she was beginning to enjoy.

Lorenz lifted her up and in one motion pushed her up against the wall. He had her pinned and the soft kisses had heated up. Lorenz ripped at her underwear and his own zipper. The question of whether he’d wanted her before they left the suite was now answered.

Marilyn used his shoulders to stay pinned beneath Lorenz. She heard a yell, and a crash, and was momentarily disoriented as Lorenz stepped back. Just as quickly as she’d been up against the wall, she was now back on her feet with Lorenz standing in front of her.

“Get your dick back in your pants and get out of here, Lorenz. Bring that whore you’re hiding with you.”

Marilyn didn’t know who was yelling, what was going on.

“That’s my father, Antonio. He’s the boss, so we’re going to go out there. Try not to let what he says hurt you. I will protect you from him.”

Why did she need protecting from Lorenz’s father? She smoothed the dress and Lorenz grabbed her hand as they walked out to the sitting room.

There was Dom, her last client, and Lorenz’s brother, standing behind an older version of Lorenz. He had less hair and a little paunch at the belly, but it was easy to see Lorenz in the man who stood in front of her.

“What are you yelling about?” Lorenz asked.

“He’s yelling because this bitch was the last one in this room besides me to see Franco and you don’t seem to be getting any answers from her in between fucking her.” Dom walked forward and was now standing next to his father.

“Why don’t you calm down, Dom.” Lorenz was as cool as could be faced with his fiery relatives.

“So what about it, Marilyn, is that your name? I can see what has my sons in heat.” Marilyn was slightly behind Lorenz. The older man walked forward toward them and Lorenz put an arm out across her body.

“Yes, my name is Marilyn.” Her voice sounded as small as she felt in that room with these three men on edge around her. She was keenly aware all of a sudden that Lincoln wouldn’t come barging in and save her. She needed to be smart and get out of this family drama.

“Where is my son?” His dark eyes bored into hers, and she saw murder in them. Never had she been so scared, not when Franco blindfolded her or in the restaurant with the waiter. Antonio Maldonado was used to murder. She could see that as clear as she could see the gold cufflinks on his French cuffs. He could make one flick of that wrist of his and see her killed. It was right on the surface of this person who controlled half of Vegas. She could see why. Fear. People feared him, and they were right to.

“I don’t know.” She felt Lorenz slide her farther behind him.

“You’re protecting this whore?” It was a cold, calm question. Antonio Maldonado was surprised his son would do such a thing. Marilyn almost detected amusement in the question.

“Yes,” was Lorenz’s terse answer.

“So Dom, what do we do now? She doesn’t know where your brother is, she says, and yet we haven’t seen or heard from him, so where is he?”

Antonio Maldonado turned from Lorenz and looked at Dom.

“I say we make her talk,” Dom suggested. Marilyn grabbed ahold of Lorenz’s arm. He was all that stood between her and his ruthless family. Antonio Maldonado was weighing the options. He was deciding her fate. Would he hurt her to find out if she knew where Franco was? That and god knows what else, was rolling around in his ruthless brain.

The pause while he decided was interrupted. The door flung open and my god, was it Lincoln, had he arrived finally, in time to get her out of here?

No. It wasn’t Lincoln, she had no idea who it was. But he rushed toward them. Maybe he was from Petra’s team, she wasn’t sure, later she would realize he did have the t-shirt and camo khaki’s that Lincoln also favored on the job. But at that moment, she had no idea. Dom fired at the man who’d burst in and had run towards them. Did Dom kill the intruder? She didn’t wait to find out.

She recognized that this was her moment and she reacted. She was taking advantage of the distraction Petra’s guard had been for Dom and Antonio. She saw the open door and she went for it.

She ran forward past Antonio and past the man who’d interrupted their little scene and out the door. She gave a quick thanks to Lorenz for choosing flat boots for her instead of the standard workplace stilettoes. Moving fast in stilettoes was total bullshit; in cowboy boots, no problem.

She knew where the elevators were and instead headed for the stairs. She was going to run like hell and hope for the best.

Behind her, she heard Lorenz yell her name. She had no idea if he was trying to help her or do what his daddy said, and couldn’t bet her life on it.

She took the stairs a few at a time, leaping down floor after floor. She’d been at the top of the hotel and knew there were thirty-six floors. If she kept going floor by floor, they’d catch up with her eventually. But she didn’t know what else to do.

As she spiraled down, she could only think of getting to the street. Even in the hotel lobby, she’d be at terrible risk. They had cameras everywhere. She could only hope she could get out before everyone in the place knew to look for her or stop her. Maybe being dressed like this instead of like Marilyn Monroe would help.

She was going as fast as she could, and before she knew it, she was down to the last few floors. The expansive lobby was her target.

Heck with it, she was headed for the door. She’d find another stairwell and start zigzagging around; it would make it her harder to find if she was random. She knew this. No one was on her tail yet, and she figured that was because they knew they didn’t need to chase her to catch her. They were going to try to get her if she made her way to a public space. She continued taking steps down. She was so close.

That’s when a door to the first floor opened toward her and knocked her backward.

She looked up, and there he was. The door had sent her reeling backward, and he stood there over her, looking momentarily surprised.

“Franco,” She said between gasps, trying to catch her breath from the sprint down the steps.

“Well, I guess it’s my lucky day.” Franco moved forward and grabbed her upper arm.

“Let me go!” She tried to wrench free from him but was still out of breath from her escape.

“Not a chance.”

Franco squeezed her backside and shoved her into him. He mauled at her neck and breasts.

“Just as tasty as I remember. You’re coming with me.”

Franco dragged her along and they continued their decent. The lobby and freedom were getting farther and farther away as they headed for the basement underbelly of The Diamond Hotel.