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She paled, swaying slightly where she stood, and I rushed forward to grasp her arm, guiding her to sit back down on the slot machine’s stool. “What’s wrong?” I asked before signaling a nearby cocktail waitress to bring over a bottled water, encouraging her to sip as soon as it arrived.
She shrugged me off as the color came back to her cheeks, so I took a step back. She sipped the bottle some more as I watched her intently, subconsciously tracing her features and searching for similarities between us.
There were almost none, save for the similar slope of our noses.
I gave her a few more moments before I spoke. “If you want to have an honest conversation about this, or anything, I’ll always be open to it. You have my number. Until then, I think this is goodbye.” I leaned down and squeezed her briefly, hesitating a moment to allow for her to respond.
She didn’t, instead turning back to the slot and inserting her player’s card.
The sight and feel of her dismissal sank into my being as I turned away from the only family I had and walked straight to Mr. Dez’s office.
“Mr. Dez?” I asked, peeking inside.
He looked up from his desk, the expectant rise of his eyebrows turning to one of understanding when he saw me.
“Cody called you?” I surmised.
He shook his head. “If only. I wish he would sometime. Najette did.”
“What did she say?”
“Just some suspicions about you and a contract. If I hadn’t seen you in the next hour, I was planning to call you. Or come find you,” He gestured to his security monitors. “It’s my specialty.”
I collapsed into the chair across from him, second, third, and fourth winds depleted and the foodless void in my stomach wearing on me. “Do you think you could do me another favor?”
He steepled his fingers under his chin. “You’re not going to punch someone are you?”
“Not this time. And it’s more like two favors.”
“It always is, isn’t it?”
I tried to laugh, but it came out choked. “Can you keep an eye on Grandmother for me?”
“Am I watching for anything in particular?”
I tilted my head, considering her privacy, but then decided to lay it all out. “Yes. Erratic behavior. I’ve pretty much just cut ties with her, and I’m worried about how she might react.”
He dropped his hands and sat back in his chair. “Wow.”
I nodded. “She forged my signature on the Lady Luck contract.”
He shot out of his chair. “What?”
Surprised by the strength of his reaction, I wondered if maybe I hadn’t fully believed his innocence in it. Feeling a surge of warmth toward him, I waved off his reaction, unable to match outraged energy with him.
I was trying to keep my mind blank to give it a bit of a break, which meant not summoning the rage that I knew was lingering not too far beneath the surface. Which only left me dealing with tired.
If I thought about it, that was what Fortuna always gifted me.
“What’s the other favor? Name it.”
“Can you confirm or make it seem like you can confirm that I was not here on October 19th? I think that should be enough to contest the contract…?” I let the statement turn to a question, looking at Mr. Dez for guidance. I had no idea about these things.
“I get why you had that thought, but it wouldn’t help your case. Documents like these don’t need to be signed in person. Really, you could probably just threaten to expose what they did. Whether it was Terry or AJ—or both—who conspired with Miss Barb, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t see them trying to take you to court to hold up a document they know is falsified.”
“That was fancy language.”
He laughed. “I dropped out of law school.”
