“Where is Sawyer?”
Nobody pulled me for security reasons. There were people for that. Faith was already in investigator mode again, grabbing that tablet off my desk. The center six-carat diamond in the eight-carat ring I’d picked up for her glistened under the light as she maneuvered out of my lap. In any other situation, I would love to see my baby sparkle. In the moment, I was too distracted to care.
“He’s already on his way down. He sent for you.”
This would usually be the time when I asked my lady to hang back while I handled business, but this was Faith. She was here to verify that Cashville was now on the up-and-up. Without a word, I stood and took her hand as Derrick led the way out of my office. Faith slipped her hand out of mine as she went to pecking on that tablet.
We moved quickly down to the security floor. I noticed a couple of the guys moving around a little too fast for things tobe normal. I didn’t like chaos. Especially after the shit that went down with Darius. We were just getting things back on track after the Feds busted him for money laundering and kidnapping.
I knew Nicholas wanted him dead, but his uncle had been able to persuade him to stand down. He wasn’t my cousin. If he was still moving strings from behind bars, I would handle him personally.
We followed Derrick to the cashier’s cage by the high roller section. A small line had formed, which was another indication that something was off. There was never a line there. Whispers and side-eyes showed that rumors were spreading already. I hated rumors.
We didn’t need rumors. Rumors were always the thing that made headlines, never the full story. I glanced over at Faith. She actually looked excited. I shook my head at my baby. It looked like she might get her big story after all. Fucking journalist.
The crowd made way when they saw me coming, but no one spoke. Derrick led the way to the back where a heavyset man stood fuming. Curt Randall was a frequent flyer who I had a pretty good rapport with, which explained why Sawyer sent for me.
“What seems to be the problem?” I asked as we approached.
Curt pointed at the cashier’s cage as he spoke to me. “These crazy motherfuckers are claiming I cashed in fake chips. You know I wouldn’t bring in fake chips. Do you know how much I’m worth?”
“I’m not sure about that, but I’m sure this is just a misunderstanding.”
“Tell that to your employees. They sequestered me back here like I’m a common criminal.”
Moving past him, I walked over to the cage and scanned my fingerprint to open the door. “Let me see those chips,” I requested to no one in particular.
Some bullshit was going down in my establishment, and that would never sit well with me. I didn’t sleep for almost three days when I was fielding calls and interviews behind the Darius fiasco. This shit was not happening again. One of the cashiers walked over and slapped a stack of chips in my hand. My posture stiffened instantly.
“What is it?” Faith whispered.
Why the hell was she still whispering? It didn’t matter. I couldn’t exactly answer her question yet. So far, all I knew was something didn’t feel right. Motioning with my head, I instructed her to follow me to the surveillance room. Once we were behind closed doors, I inspected the chips further. I flipped one of the chips over and then another. To the naked eye, they looked legit, but something was definitely off.
The details were intricate. Even the company logo and engravings were spot on. They were top-tier fakes but fakes, nonetheless. They could have fooled almost anybody. Almost. The chips were way too light.
One of Sawyer’s bright ideas was to use weighted chips. They were light enough that the patrons of the casino wouldn’t notice, and just heavy enough that one of us would know immediately if they didn’t fit the bill. Only a few people knew about the weight.
“They’re counterfeit,” I confirmed to the cashiers as I headed back out to speak with Randall. Sawyer burst through the door with two burly men behind him before I could walk out. “They’re fakes,”I told him.
“Damn.” He shook his head. “How the hell does this keep happening?”
“The hell if I know. Aren’t you head of security?”
“I haven’t noticed anybody moving wrong. You know I would have shut it down from the onset.”
“Fuck!” I snarled as I worked out what needed to be done.
“Shut down the high roller tables,” Sawyer instructed, making the call that I didn’t want to make. This was his area of expertise, not mine. I had to deal with the fallout.
“They’re fakes, Randall,” I notified one of our best customers as I stepped out of the cage with Faith on my heels.
“The hell if they are. One of those little girls gave them to me.”
“I don’t doubt that. I’m just letting you know that they’re counterfeit.”
“So, what now?” he asked.
“Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do until we complete our internal investigation. Once the dust settles, I will personally rectify the situation.”
