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“Do you need help to your room?” he asked her.
“I might,” she said, embarrassed. She turned her head and looked around to make sure that no one was in earshot. “How long do I have to pay the casino? I don’t have all the money I just lost on hand.”
“Oh, they give you 24 hours to acquire the funds from your bank. So, don’t worry about that. Let me help you to your room.” Carefully, he tucked her arm under his and pulled her up to a standing position. Her legs were wobbly, and she almost fell down. “Careful,” he put his other arm behind her back to help steady her. “What’s your room number?”
Jessica started to giggle. “Oh, no, you don’t. I’ll take you there myself. If I tell you, you might try to take advantage of me,” she said.
“Okay, we’re gonna get there no matter what,” he said while helping her walk out of the room, back through the casino floor, and onto the elevator. “What floor?” he asked.
Turning her head and grinning at him, she held her hand to hide the floor number from Matt.
“Sneaky, I like it,” he said to appease her. He made no indication that he could see the floor numbers above the doors and continued playing her game.
DING!
The elevator doors opened to the second floor, and Jessica stepped out, pulling Matt along with her since he was still holding onto her to keep her from falling down or bumping into things. He continued to let her pull him down the long hallway. They stopped at room 228, and he realized that they were standing outside of a honeymoon suite. He played curious but wondered if she would let him inside of her suite. What was going on in that sexy brain of hers?
“Um, this is a honeymoon suite. Is there something you’re not telling me? Is there a husband I should be aware of?” he asked her inquisitively.
“Come in, and I’ll tell you the story,” she said, waving the key in front of the door until it lit up. The honeymoon suite was smaller than the suite he was staying in. Yet, it had a wonderful view and would be a great room for a couple spending their first few days and nights as husband and wife together.
Jessica threw her clutch on the coffee table and fell onto the bed, picking up an empty champagne bottle and trying to swallow anything that was left over.
Matt looked around until he found the mini-fridge. Grabbing a water bottle, he took the empty champagne bottle out of her hand and replaced it with the bottled water “You should really drink this. I could see that you were already partying up here before you made it downstairs. You don’t want to have a bad hangover in the morning.”
Come to think of it, she was pretty thirsty. She twisted the cap off and chugged half the water bottle before she noticed that Matt was staring straight at her. “What?” she asked.
“You said you were gonna tell me why you were staying in this honeymoon suite all by yourself. I take it the friend you planned this trip with was your fiancé?” He couldn’t believe he said that with a straight face.
She nodded in agreement. “He was more than my fiancé. He was my best friend, and he broke my heart,” she started telling him. “We knew each other for years, and our friendship turned into a budding romance. We finally decided to take it to the next level because we realized that we couldn’t live without each other. We had the same dreams. We planned this immaculate wedding, something he wanted more than I did. My parents paid for this beautiful wedding at Gotham Hall in New York City. My mother and I had picked out this extravagant wedding dress called White by Vera Wang Illusion Floral that made me look and feel like a princess. Spencer—that was my fiancé’s name—wanted only the best, and my parents agreed. They spent no expense on our luxury wedding. Spencer and I budgeted for our all-expense paid honeymoon that his parents paid for with a little spending money. We wanted to make sure that we could have the time of our lives while we were here, so I lived without a few luxuries for a year and a half, but I knew it would be worth it.”
“That doesn’t sound all that bad,” Matt interrupted.
“I haven’t gotten to the bad part yet,” she said before taking another sip of her water. “It was the morning of my wedding. This previous morning to be exact. I woke up in a state of bliss in my old bedroom. My entire wedding party had stayed the night at my parents’ house-”
Matt’s phone chirped. He picked it up, checked who had sent him a message, and put it back down as he continued listening to her story.
“We spent half the morning chatting like girls do, eating strawberries, sipping on champagne, and all the other things girls do when they are getting ready for weddings. My hair, makeup, and nails were done before we left for the hall. My stomach was bouncing with butterflies, but the fact that I would be walking down the aisle in a few hours, greeting my best friend, and making him my husband was the best feeling in the world. I wouldn’t want it any other way. That was until my worst nightmare came true.
I was standing in the bridal room of the Gotham Hall. My dress had been zipped with all the buttons done. I looked at myself in the mirror, and then there was a knock on the door. The wedding planner stuck her head in the room and reassured me that we would start in a few moments. All the guests were piled into their seats, and I was getting more nervous by the minute. Whitney, my maid of honor, helped me sit down so I wouldn’t wrinkle my dress, and we waited until it was my cue to go. About twenty minutes later, my mom walked into the room.
“You look so beautiful,” she said, tears streaming down her face.
“What’s taking so long, mom? Is there a problem?” I asked her.
The smile dropped from her face. “My darling. I hate to tell you this, but Spencer hasn’t shown. Vivian gave him a call to see what was taking him so long, and his phone went straight to voicemail. What would you like us to do?”
“I felt my heart drop in my chest. Spencer hadn’t shown. There must be some kind of mistake. I spoke to him this morning, and he was so excited to meet me at the altar. Those were his exact words. I reassured my mom that everything was okay, and that Spencer would show up. She left the room, and Whitney went to the restroom before the wedding started. That’s when I made a run for it. I knew Spencer well enough. If he wasn’t at the hall early, he wasn’t coming. I couldn’t face all my guests in that room, so I took my shoes off and went through the window. I hailed a taxi and had him take me all the way to my apartment, where I changed, grabbed my suitcase and passport, and made my way to JFK. The rest you already know.”
6
Spencer threw his phone down on the bed. Why wasn’t Matt calling him back? The Coretti brothers did not like to be kept waiting. He dialed his friend’s number one more time.
“You’ve reached the phone of Matthew Miller. Please leave me a detailed message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can,”his voicemail chimed.
“Matt, it’s Spencer again. Call me back. I have the Coretti brothers on my heels, and I need to know if the game plan is in play. I need to reassure them that they will be getting the money that we owe them. You know how they are if they don’t get their money. If you are deciding on backing out, I suggest that you don’t come back to Vegas anytime soon. Because they will be hiding outside your house to find you.”
Letting the phone fall, he rubbed his hands through his hair. He couldn’t believe what he had gotten himself into. He should be the one in Monaco right now, enjoying his honeymoon with the woman of his dreams. But he wasn’t a professional poker player like Matt, and if anyone could get them out of this mess, he could. He just prayed that Matt had his head in the game, and he wasn’t playing around. He wasn’t in Monaco on vacation, as he was there to conduct business and bring home the first installment of the money that they requested. They were coming up on their deadline, and the thought of that made Spencer nervous.
