26. Nik

CHAPTER 26

Nik

I move without conscious thought, reacting on pure instinct. In a heartbeat, I'm between Brie and the enraged Larry Caruso, my stance wide and steady, hands slightly raised in a threatening gesture that makes him stop short.

"Everyone needs to take a step back," I say evenly. "There must be a reasonable explanation."

Behind me, I hear Brie's shaky intake of breath. I risk a glance back at her and my heart clenches at the sight. She's pale as milk, her pallor visible even under her carefully applied makeup.

I'm not sure how we're going to get out of this, not if the Colombo men team up with the Syndicate women, but I'll do what I can.

An unexpected voice pipes up. "This is bullshit!"

Holden stands, his face flushed. I've always seen him as a bit of a lightweight, more concerned with appearances than substance. But as he faces down a room full of hardened criminals, I see a different side of him.

He's got a backbone.

"Brie loved Terry," he continues, his voice ringing with conviction. "She would never hurt him. You all know that, for Christ's sake!"

His passionate defense seems to give Frank, at least, some pause, who frowns as he thinks it through. But Caruso isn't having it. "Shut your mouth," he snarls at Holden, his large hands clenching into powerful fists. "After I snap the blonde's neck, I'll come for you, too. You make me sick, you little?—"

"Enough!" Frank's sharp shout cuts off whatever slur Larry Caruso was about to throw. He turns to Brie, his expression grave. The look on his face—a mixture of disappointment and resigned determination—tells me all I need to know about what's coming next.

"I'm sorry, Breezy," he says, and I believe he genuinely is. "But given this evidence, we need to at least take a look at things. You understand." He nods to Vince. "Sabatelli, take her to?—"

"Not so fast," Lyssa interrupts, her hand moving again to rest casually at her hip. The move is smooth, almost lazy, but I know better. She's ready to draw a weapon in a fraction of a second if needed. She and Scarlett are the ones I really need to worry about—at least Larry Caruso telegraphs what he's about to do. "If she's one of Grandmother's, we have a prior claim. She comes with us."

The tension in the room ratchets up another notch. I can see hands inching toward weapons, eyes darting. We're seconds away from a bloodbath.

I reach behind me and give Brie a subtle push toward the door. To her credit, she takes a step back, even though I'm pretty sure she's close to collapse.

"Here's the thing, folks," I say loudly, pulling the attention of everyone. "Anyone who wants Brie Colombo will have to come through me. And as a member of the Novak Consortium, my boss would not like to hear that her representative has been…disrespected."

At this point in time, I'm not sure Eva Novak would care one way or the other what happens to me, but happily, the rest of the people in this room don't know that. Invoking her name has the effect I sought, giving everyone pause—even Lyssa, who initially rolls her eyes. But Scarlett says something quickly in her ear that makes her sigh and relax her stance.

"You want to leave, fine," Lyssa says to me with a sharp grin. "We'll just track her down later and kill her then."

"No one's killing anyone," Frank growls. "Not until we get to the bottom of this."

"No one is doing anything right now but allowing Brie and me to walk out of the casino unharmed," I say.

"And Holden." Brie's voice comes over my shoulder reed-thin at first, but with gathering strength. "Holden is coming with us, too."

I think that's probably a good idea. If Caruso is the one who's been sending him threatening notes—and felt comfortable enough to threaten Holden just now in front of an audience—Holden will be safest far away from the Golden Sands.

"And Holden," I say, jerking my head at him. He just about sprints across behind me. "We'll say goodnight for now."

We back out slowly.

No one moves to stop us.

"What now?" Brie asks breathlessly as we walk-run across the casino floor, heading for the lobby. "They've probably put a bomb under my car!"

"We'll take mine," Holden says. "Staff parking lot. This way!"

We get to the lot and Holden's car is there where he gestures at it, a nondescript sedan that blends in with a dozen others. Not bad for a getaway vehicle. "Keys!" I snap, clicking at Holden as he hits the button to open the doors. He throws them to me and dives into the back with Brie, while I take the driver's seat, gun the engine, and drive as fast as I dare away from the Golden Sands Casino.

Without anyone trying to stop us, I merge into the never-ending flow of Vegas traffic. The glittering hotels and casinos blur past us as I weave through, my mind racing about as fast as the car.

When I glance in the rearview I catch Brie's eye. She's starting to get a little color back, and she turns to look out the rear window, to make sure we're not being followed. Holden, on the other hand, looks like he might throw up, his face pale green in the intermittent glow of passing streetlights.

"Did they really let us go?" Holden gasps, breaking the tense silence that has fallen over us.

I grip the steering wheel tightly, my knuckles white with the effort. "I don't know," I say grimly. "Maybe." I look at him in the mirror. "You could've given us a heads up, Brooks."

His face crumples. "I'm so sorry—Frank came in when I was fiddling with it in Security and he saw Brie's face the same time as I did. He had me under surveillance from that second on." And then he looks at Brie, begins to ask a question, and thinks better of it.

I turn my eyes back to the road, but as I navigate the turns my mind is running through everything that happened tonight.

Who the hell is Brie Colombo, really? Is she the vulnerable but clever woman I've come to care for, or is she something else entirely—a skilled actress playing us all for fools? One of these assassins the Syndicate is searching for?

What exactly have I gotten myself into?

I glance at Brie again, who still hasn't said anything, studying her beautiful face in the shifting light. Her jaw is set, her eyes focused straight ahead. Despite everything, I can't help but admire her strength, her ability to hold it together even now. But there's a haunted quality there too, a hint of that scared little girl from the trailer park.

Or was her background just a story, too?

Does it even matter?

Because in this moment, speeding through the neon-lit streets of Las Vegas with a maybe-murderer and a terrified assistant, I realize I'm in way too deep. I've broken one of the most fundamental rules of the Consortium—business is business.

Never get involved.

Eva is not going to be happy about this. And while I'm happy enough to take on the Colombos, even the Syndicate…

I'm not sure I can protect Brie from Eva Novak, not if she decides to point the whole Consortium Brie's way and pull the trigger.