“I bet,” I said to Greyson, trying to regain my composure, “you eat an entire bag of jelly beans at Easter, and you love rollercoaster rides. You probably had a dog growing up. His name was . . . Artie.”
Greyson laughed. “I hate jelly beans. I do like rollercoasters but haven’t been on one in about fifteen years, and I had a dog named Sammy.”
“That wasn’t so hard. I now know three things about you that magazine readers don’t.”
He touched my hand resting on the table. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah, I inhaled the burger. I think I need to leave before I eat the dessert case.”
“Do you want dessert to go? It’s going to be a long night.”
I smirked. “In that case, can you buy me one of every thing?”
“I didn’t have to twist your arm or anything.”
“I’m easy to please.”
We were left standing with two boxes each packed full with slices of pies and cakes.
“I was kidding,” I sputtered. “You’re going to have to help me eat these.”
“They’re all yours.”
I caught a glimpse of Caleb and Catarina as we left the diner. She was curling his hair around her finger. Caleb looked up in time to see Greyson and I leave. His face never changed. It was either his stone-hard poker face, or he couldn’t care less. Sometimes, I hate poker.
We deposited the dessert boxes on the kitchen counter.
“Do you want to watch a movie?” Greyson asked as he walked the length of the room to pick up the remote.
“Okay,” I said, ogling Greyson as he walked.
Greyson handed me the remote. “Pick whatever you want.”
“What if it’s really girly?” I asked as I sat on the couch.
The girliest I’ll watch is a romantic comedy. Any girlier and I become nauseated from the sappiness. I was just testing the boundaries to see what he would say.
He placed himself next to me. “Girly is fine.”
His phone buzzed. “They didn’t find him,” he said, reading the message.
“The guy in the camera?”
He nodded. “I didn’t think they would.”
“Who is he?”
“No one important enough to worry about,” he said, hooking his arm around me to lean on him while I flipped through the movie choices.
I couldn’t concentrate on the movie listings when I was tucked against Greyson with his arm around me.
There was a knock on the door. Greyson slipped out from my weight, freeing me from his mind-control hold. He kissed the top of my head as he stood. A happy tingle trickled through my scalp. He was going to have to stop doing caring little things if we were going to make it another twenty-two hours together with our clothes still on. But right now, I wouldn’t mind if they were scattered all over the floor.
Greyson opened the door to let Jason and Steffi in. Jason was disheveled and clearly stressed. Even his clothes were rumpled as if he slept in them. He cast his gaze in my direction and then at Greyson. Greyson didn’t give him an explanation for my presence.
“I’ve been trying to get in touch with you all night,” Jason said to Greyson. “I didn’t realize you had company and didn’t want to be disturbed.” He shot another glance in my direction.
I hoped he didn’t think I was one of Greyson’s disposable girls. Just the thought of it made my teeth grind.
“What do you need?” Greyson asked.
“It’s about the tournament fiasco. Insurance will cover the loss, but the police are questioning Jeff’s employment with us.”
“He wasn’t employed with us.”
“According to our books he is.”
Greyson’s eyes narrowed. “Find me his employment information. I want to know who hired him and why.”
Jason nodded and left with Steffi. Greyson stood still; his thoughts were elsewhere.
“You wouldn’t have hired that Jeff guy, would you?” I asked him.
“No, that guy was bad. I still can’t figure out how he fits in with the theft.”
“Maybe he was partners with someone and the partner decided he wanted all the money for himself.”
“If that were true, wouldn’t they just kill him after he helped transfer the money out of the building? It must have taken a lot of planning to move the money out the door without anyone seeing anything,” Greyson said.
“And a working knowledge of your security system.”
“You might be right. I’ve been thinking of all the angles. I didn’t want to believe the most obvious because I never assumed it would be possible. The theft might have been an inside job. The person who hired Jeff might be the thief.”
“It would explain how the theft could be pulled off without a single camera capturing any thing.”
“Right now it’s not even about the money but the security breech. I can’t believe this could happen under my watch.”
“Could the guy you’re looking for have anything to do with this?” I asked.
“I hope not. But like I said before, I didn’t know him as I thought I did.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I slipped it out to see an unknown caller. I gazed up at Greyson who was closer to me than my father would have appreciated. But I appreciated it!
“Go ahead and take it if you want,” he said.
I answered. “Hello?”
“Nadia?” A male voice asked.
“Yes, this is Nadia”
“I need a favor.”
“Who is this?”
“Are you alone?”
“No, and you’re creeping me out.”
“Are you with Greyson?”
“He’s here. Do you want to speak to him?”
“Tell him you need to go home and feed Gus.”
“Gus! Oh, shit! I forgot to feed Gus.”
The man hung up.
“Who was that?” His eyes expressed concern.
“I have no idea, but I need to feed Gus.”
“Is Gus a dog?”
“No, he’s my cat. He’ll eat my couch if I don’t feed him.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“If you come with me you can see for yourself.”
“Alright, let’s go. I’ve never seen a couch-eating cat before.”
I opened my apartment door slowly, peeking around the door to see Gus. I didn’t see anything, so I opened the door further and let Greyson go in first.
“I have a feeling you’re afraid of your cat.”
“Only when he’s dieting.”
“If he’s that scary why bother putting him on one?”
“The vet told me to.”
“Ah.” His voice told me he wasn’t quite sure what to make of me or my cat.
My phone vibrated again; it was an unknown caller.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Give Greyson the envelope on the table.”
“What envelope?”
“You’ll see,” he said and hung up.
I studied the table where a plain envelope rested on it. I knew it wasn’t one of mine.
“Uh, Greyson, that envelope is for you.”
Greyson followed my gaze to the table. “What’s going on?”
“I have no idea. A man just called me and said the envelope on the table was for you.”
Greyson peered down at it. His fingers touched the edge of the envelope.
A low growl made us both freeze. I crept over to the bedroom where the growl came from. A box sat on my bed, covering a sizeable chunk of the bed. I could sense Greyson behind me, but it didn’t make me brave enough to open the box.
“What do you think is in the box?” I asked, thinking I already knew the answer and wasn’t willing to risk my life to open it to find out.
“I just texted Remy to come up.”
“What will Remy do?”
“He was in special ops. He knows more things than I would care to know.”
“Why is he working for you?”
“He wa
s working with my brother, David, before he went missing. Since then, Remy’s decided to stick close to me. Well, that and I pay him way too much money.”
“No, you don’t,” Remy said behind Greyson.
I jumped, but Greyson didn’t even flinch. Remy pushed past us and surveyed the box. He listened and then carefully lifted a flap.
Mmrreeerrr.
Gus flew out of the box, claws out, and gouged himself to Remy’s thigh. Remy winced in pain.
“Is this yours?” He asked, trying to detach Gus.
“Oh, Gus!” I dashed out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. Whipping open the refrigerator door, I snatched a package of hotdogs. I hurried to the bedroom to bait Gus with his beloved snack.
Gus’s head snapped to attention as I wiggled a hotdog in front of him. He withdrew his claws and jumped to the floor. He snarfed down the hotdog with a fierce grunt.
“Remy, I’m so sorry,” I said. “Do you need a band aid or something?”
He glared down at Gus. “Just keep him away from me,” he said as he tromped out.
“Do you think he’ll be mad for long?” I asked Greyson.
“He’s been through worse. A kitty scratch doesn’t even compare.”
“But still, I feel bad.”
Gus batted the hotdog package out of my hand. I bent to pick it up before he could snatch another one, but he plopped down on the package to guard it and hissed at my hand. I popped up with my fingers still intact.
“You win, Gus. No more diet for you.”
Greyson backed out of the room, and I followed, leaving Gus to his hotdogs.
Greyson picked up the envelope on the way out the door.
“Are you going to open it?” I asked as I slipped into the limo.
“Do you have any idea who it’s from?” He asked.
“I have no idea. But he knew I was with you, and he knew where I lived. He didn’t shoot my cat, so he can’t be a horrible person.”
Greyson opened the envelope and read the enclosed letter.
“Well?” I asked.
He handed me the paper to read.
Your money is fake.
Chapter 9
I turned the note over to see if there was anything else written. “What does this note mean?”
“I believe someone is telling me counterfeit money is being laundered through the casino. It’s the only thing I can think of.”
“Can that happen?”
“At this point in time it looks like any thing is possible.”
“Wow, you have some serious security issues.”
He ground his teeth. “How the hell can this be happening? I monitor every thing in the casino.”
“But you’re not on property all the time. You constantly have meetings offsite.”
“True.” He ran his fingers through his hair.
I handed him back his letter. “I don’t suppose there would be fingerprints on this letter.”
“Probably not.”
“Do you know who is behind this letter?”
“I’m sure I do.”
“That’s good. If you think you know who gave you the letter, then you’re one step closer to figuring it out. Are you going to go to the police?”
He shook his head. “Not right now. It would create a big scandal and media frenzy. No one would trust the money coming out of the casino, and we would take a tremendous hit. I don’t know if the casino could survive. I want to get to the bottom of this first and then turn it over to the police.”
“You have cameras in the room with the safe. Can’t you review the footage?”
“Yes, I’ll need to begin right away. Any more delay and this could blow up in my face.” He eyed me. “I’m sorry. I’m sure you don’t want to be bothered with this. Would you rather go to someone else’s place to wait out your remaining time?”
I tried to think of a place I would rather be, but even at home with Gus didn’t seem like a good idea. “No, I’ll help you. It will keep me awake.”
Greyson led the way to the security room. He accessed the room with his keycard and flung the door open. All eyes flicked to him and then back to their assigned monitors. The security supervisor hurried over.
“I want footage from all the cameras in the safe, counting room, and hallways leading to it,” Greyson growled in a harsh whisper.
“Uh, sir, is there something wrong?”
“Yes, there’s something wrong. Bring me all the footage immediately. I want as much as you have.”
“Sir?”
“Immediately!” Greyson barked.
He led me out letting the door slam behind us. I trailed Greyson to the elevator and into his penthouse. His jaw was set hard and his eyes fierce. He closed the door with his hand fisted around the door knob. So, this was the hard and fierce businessman, Greyson Miller.
I had an urge, so I gave into it. I turned around, flung my arms around Greyson, and gave him a hug. He was momentarily surprised but then returned the hug. I was a little surprised by my actions too. I’m not a person who goes around hugging people.
“What’s this for?” He asked, still locked in my embrace.
“You needed a hug.”
It’s a good thing I don’t go around hugging people because this was just embarrassing.
“I think you may be right,” he said, resting his chin on my head. “If you keep hugging me, I’m going to forget I’m mad.”
“That was the point.”
He chuckled. “Alright, I’m not mad any more.”
“Really?”
“No, you should keep hugging me.”
I unwrapped myself from him. “Now you’re just trying to collect free hugs.”
“Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
A message chirped on Greyson’s phone. He scanned it with narrow eyes. His eyebrows raised and then pinched together. “Damn it!”
“What happened?” I asked, glad it wasn’t something I did.
“I think I’ll need an hour of hugs to recover from this,” he said between clenched teeth. “Half of the footage is missing; they’re bringing me what’s left.”
“We can review what you have.”
“I have a suspicion that all the incriminating footage was erased.”
“You never know. They might have missed something. All we need is the one piece they forgot.”
There was a knock on the door a few minutes later. Greyson swung the door open. A security guard handed him a package and bolted. Jason was only a few steps behind the guard and slipped in through the door.
“Steffi found the employee file on Jeff, but it’s empty,” Jason said, fidgeting like he wanted to run.
Greyson pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. “It’s empty?”
“Yes. We don’t even know what department Jeff worked in. There were ten checks cut in his name for one hundred thousand each.”
“We paid him a million dollars? For what?” Greyson’s fists clenched at his side. “This is an inside job.”
“How do you know?” Jason asked.
“Only someone on the inside would know that any checks over one hundred thousand dollars needs my approval and signature. And I sure the hell wouldn’t have signed them.”
“What do you need me to do?”
Greyson rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Nothing. It’s Friday night, and it’s late. Go home. I’ll see you Monday.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind staying.”
“No, I’ll watch footage tonight and come up with a game plan for Monday.”
“Alright, see you Monday.”
Greyson closed the door behind Jason. His hand rested on the door handle. I tugged at his other hand.
“Let’s watch the footage,” I said.
“Yeah, let’s get this over with.”
“You bring the files and laptop, and I’ll meet you at the couch with wine. It will be like watching a movie.”
A small smile escaped his lips. “I hate to say i
t, but I’m glad you were conked on the head. I like spending time with you, even if it’s watching boring footage.”
I smiled and warmed. I was rather happy about the conk on the head, too, just not the headache. “Red or white wine?”
“Red.”
Greyson picked up his laptop from the table and brought it to the couch where he settled in. I peered into the stocked wine cooler.
“Do you have a preference?” I asked him.
“I only stock the ones I prefer. Reach in and grab one.”
“Okay.” I grabbed the first red my hand came in contact with. I found a corkscrew and two wine glasses. I plopped down beside Greyson with it and curled up next to him.
“Here you go.” I said, handing him a glass of wine.
“Thank you,” he said. “I’ve started with the cash room footage. There’s about two weeks here minus the missing parts. I’ll keep it on fast forward until we see something unusual.”
“This will be fascinating. I’ve never seen what people do in a cash room.”
“It’s not that fun. Money comes in and money goes out. There’s a lot of counting involved.”
I watched the footage of workers speed in and out and around the room like the Road Runner. The Road Runner, however, would have been far more entertaining. Greyson was right. After watching a few minutes of footage, it didn’t seem fun.
I sipped on my wine as people scurried around the screen. I watched the time counter on the bottom of the screen. The time was speeding by but nothing looked different. Greyson knew the employees, so I couldn’t help with identifying; nor could I help with knowing when armored truck deliveries were scheduled. I wasn’t much help at all except to keep the wine flowing. I dutifully topped off the wine glasses and re-cuddled into the couch. Greyson brought out his arm and wrapped it around my shoulders, bringing me to his side. His eyes were focused on the screen, but his arms were all mine. I snuggled in.
Greyson put me at ease. He was like a rock. Even with all of his problems at the casino, he never stopped or backed down. He was solid. I bet he could succeed at any job he was thrown into.
An image popped into my mind: Greyson as a captain of a centuries old sea ship. He would trade his tailored suits for breeches and boots. I grinned at the picture forming and taking on life. He was fierce and unbelievably sexy. His hair blew in the sea air while his muscles shimmered in the sun. His steel-gray eyes glinted with rum and lust. I giggled a silly, wine and estrogen induced giggle.
The Big Blind (Nadia Wolf) Page 10