Page 34 of Maximum Bet

Lucas nods and pulls out his phone. “He doesn’t have an earpiece. I’ve got to text him.”

Danny lifts his wrist to check his Apple Watch when the text goes through. His head lifts before he schools his features, and his lips curl. Our Russian from the ballroom raises his brows, watching like a hawk.

“He’s the leader,” I deduce, pointing at the screen.

“I got the same feeling,” Leo says.

Danny tilts his head back and forth, chuckling. “Girlfriend,” he says with a laugh. “She, uh, has some plans for after my shift.”

One of the cartel men laughs and pats Danny on the shoulder. “Is she hot?” His accent is thick, clearly from the west coast of Mexico.

“Ten out of ten,” Danny says. “You want to see?” He pulls out his phone and shows them the lock screen.

The cartel member whistles. “Muy bonita. Congratulations, my friend.”

The elevator stops, and the doors open on the fourth floor.

“Here we are, gentlemen.” Danny steps out, holding his arm toward the floor of guest rooms where partygoers mingle and discuss the luxurious features of the hotel.

A sinister grin crosses the face of our Russian leader. “Don’t fucking move.” He pulls his gun out, discreetly holding it by his side as he points it at Danny. “If you tell your boss we’re here, we’ll come hunt you and your girlfriend down, and we’ll take turns fucking her sweet pussy while you watch. Then we’ll slit both your throats and let you bleed out.”

“Charming,” Sadie mutters.

Danny’s hand twitches at his side while Lucas frantically texts, telling him to stand down.

The elevator doors slide closed, and the Russian turns to his crew.

“Where to, Boss?” the other Bratva member asks, fingers hovering over the buttons.

“Twelfth floor. We’ll take the stairs to the thirteenth from there. It’s reserved for staff and should get us to the back elevator banks. We need to find the security offices and wait for Tariello there. He won’t see us coming in his own domain.”

“You really think that kid won’t say anything?” the subordinate asks.

“Did you see his face?” the cartel member who talked with Danny laughs. “He was scared shitless.”

“Now, where the fuck is the security camera? There’s got to be one in here.” The leader glances around the elevator’s ceiling.

The second cartel member tilts his head. “You don’t think they’ve already seen us on the camera?”

“Remember, Anatoliy’s got a tech guy covering the feed for us.”

Next to me, Leo laughs. “Does he now?”

“There.” The subordinate Russian points at the camera, nearly imperceptible in the corner of the elevator.

“Good eye.” The leader lifts his gun, shoots, and the camera goes black.

“God damnit,” Leo mutters. “Now I’m going to have to replace that.”

I scratch my forehead, breaking down a battle plan as a thought enters my mind. “How the hell do they even know where to go? Could they have been to the property recently?”

Leo grunts, his lips pressing tight. “I wondered the same thing and had a few of our men start watching security footage from the past couple of weeks. But turns out there was a news report we missed.” He indicates to a nearby associate.

“Mr. Tariello.” The man steps forward. “A few weeks ago, the county clerk’s office was broken into. They didn’t find much missing, but there was speculation that the blueprints for recently built hotels were tampered with.”

“Jesus Christ.” I rub my palm over my face. “Leo when this is over, find out who the hell is responsible for those records and get them fired for neglecting to inform us that our fucking blueprints were compromised.”

Leo nods before turning back to the monitors.