17. Sunny

The messageI sent to Agnes wasn"t technically a lie. I truly wasn"t feeling well.

That"s what I told myself on the bus back to the Benton with guilt—such terrible guilt—gnawing away at my insides.

Yes, I was sick with guilt, and there was no scenario in which I would have been able to keep playacting in this condition—in front of Rich freaking Harrison. Of all the cronies that cronied in Las Vegas, why did Rich Harrison have to turn out to be one of Cole"s?

I"d definitely done the right thing in leaving. It"s better this way, I assured myself over and over again on the regular-people elevator ride back up to my room.

However, just a few moments later, that gnawing guilt was replaced by a sinking feeling when the unlock indicator on the hotel door standing between me and a quick pre-shift nap kept lighting up red.

"Sorry for the confusion, Ms. Johnson, but it looks like your things were removed from the room and sent up to the penthouse suite," the hotel clerk informed me after I waited in line twenty minutes behind a tourist group of senior citizens who had lots of questions about which Cirque show they should go to, even though the Benton didn"t currently host any of the performances put on by those French-Canadians.

"Would you like me to call the person who authorized the move to provide you with the code for that suite?" the clerk asked with a polite and extremely curious smile.

"No, I have it," I muttered before leaving—without the room card I"d given her to check.

But I refused to use it. All my guilt was replaced by a determination not to let that dastardly (and ridiculously handsome) billionaire villain win.

"Sunny! What are you doing here?" Stella Reyes, Lucia"s second oldest sister and one of Tony"s favorite cousins, looked shocked to see me when I showed up almost two hours early for my shift still wearing the slinky red dress Cole had picked out for me.

"Hi-hi!" I answered with a little wave. "You were complaining the other day about never having enough waitresses on Saturday nights, so I was wondering if maybe I could start my shift early. I"ll just...um..."

I gave my bold red evening gown a sheepish look. "Yeah, I"ll definitely need to borrow another dress uniform."

Stella"s face fell. "Oh, Sunny, I assumed someone would have given you a call...."

She trailed off, like I should already know what she was getting at, but I had to ask, "Give me a call about what?"

And that was how I found out that the GM himself had pulled Stella aside earlier in the night to inform her I would no longer be working any shifts at the Tourmaline—in any department, for any reason.

"I assumed you"d been caught stealing or slapped a member of the Zaman family or something like that."

"Yeah, something like that," I muttered.

I would never slap a member of the royal Arab family that owned the mega-conglomerate, of which the Tourmaline luxury hotel chain was just a small part. But I had been caught stealing. And now, I recalled Cole"s earlier homey conversation about marathons with the Tourmaline GM in a new light.

Had I really thrilled earlier about how Cole had kept me by his side all night? Triple Ice had made small talk with the Tourmaline GM with me right by his side!

That cruel bastard!

I tried not to look like I was about to cry now that I had been reduced to one volunteer position at the Nora Benton Community Center.

I must not have done a good job.

Stella"s face fell. "Is there anything I can do to help? You know how much my sisters and I appreciate you—especially after everything you did to help Tony."

Okay, there was no way I was going to drag Stella into my drama when I knew she and her sister were struggling to raise Lucia and two other siblings after their parents landed in jail.

"No, girl, I"m fine," I answered, giving her a hug and a brave face.

Before walking away from her...and the job I was counting on to pay back my debt.

So, rat-infested apartment it was.

Cole might have lost me not one, but somehow two of my main jobs in as many days, but I"d be damned if I went crawling back to his penthouse.

Ignoring my aching feet, I hopped on another bus outside the Tourmaline and stepped out in front of my old apartment.

After sending up a little prayer that the Rat Thief hadn"t found a Rat Wife and started an entire rodent family in my efficiency, I walked up the stairs to my apartment...

...to find two bars of bright yellow DO NOT CROSS tape strung across the front door and a handwritten sign that read EVICSHUN NOTIS.

"Hiya, Sunny!" Vinny greeted me cheerfully after I knocked on his door.

And his eyes stayed firmly above my neck.

That should have been my first clue that someone had gotten to him.

Still, I answered, "Hiya, Vinnie? What"s going on with my door? Why did you bar me from my own apartment?"

"Aw, well, you were late with the rent, remember?"

"Yes, one day late. Once in my entire time living here. And I paid the rent in cash with the interest fee."

"Aw, did you?" Vinny grimaced and tilted his head to the side.

"Yes, Vinny, I did," I answered from between clenched teeth. "We had a whole conversation about how I wouldn"t be around for a while. You accused me of finding a sugar daddy, and I super-kindly asked you to deal with my rat problem while I was gone."

"Not sure I remember?—"

"Vinny, it was last night!" My voice was only a couple of notes away from shrieking. "Listen, can we not do this? I"ve had the longest day, and my feet are killing me."

"I mean, I"d be fine with not doing this. I"m a nice Italian guy at heart." Vinny proudly patted the chest of his stained wife-beater. "Friendly and respectful. But the thing is..."

Vinny scratched the back of his ring of thin hair. "This is technically Los Lobos territory. Not-so-nice Mexicans. I"m talking new-Vegas cartel. But they do make my job easier, usually. Do the collecting for me when someone doesn"t pay. Keep the building safe. Make sure nobody comes around here bothering me about my cash-only rent policy."

Vinny tilted his head with a thoughtful look. "Guess you could say they"re not-so-nice-but-usually-nice Mexicans to work with for an old Italian in his retirement years. You get what I"m talking about?"

Not at first. But it was beginning to sink in.

Vinny made the situation clearer than clear. "If I"m told to evict a particular tenant myself and make sure they don"t come back to their apartment, that"s what I got to do to keep things simpatico until my good-for-nothing roach of a son inherits this building—literally over my dead body. You got a nice set, that"s for sure. But you ain"t worth the trouble. Sorry, kid."

Ugh. Me, too.

So, back to the bus stop it was. Shivering in my red Benton Girls coat, I called Pru.

And I tried to keep my tone cheery when I went straight to her voicemail.

"Hey, twin! Hope the shows went super-well tonight. I was wondering if I could ask you a favor...?"

I trailed off, trying to figure out how to tell her what was going on without violating the terms of the NDA I"d signed.

Add that to the growing pile of reasons never again to sign a contract Cole Benton put in front of me.

The phone beeped with an incoming call from another number before I could come up with anything plausible, though.

I stop walking when I saw the name on the ID.

"Tony? What"s going on? Why are you calling me? Don"t you have a fight tonight?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got a fight in, like, an hour," Tony answered. "But..."

He suddenly broke down crying. Huge, despairing sobs.

"Oh, Tony! What"s wrong!"

"I know we broke up, but I need you, mi amor. I need you...."

He started crying again, too hard to finish his plea.

But he didn"t have to. My answer was a no-brainer.

"Of course! Of course!" My heart constricted with love as I pulled up the expensive rideshare app I hadn"t allowed myself to use since my life blew up last December. "Just tell me where you are...."