Gambling on Love (Stories of Serendipity #6) by Anne Conley Page B

tell me what happened.”
    “She ran that ad in one of the Vegas online places, the one about paying some guy for sex so she could have a baby, and I answered it. I’m always looking for easy ways to make a little extra cash, you know?” Of course, it hadn’t been difficult to find the guy at a gaming table, the ultimate illusion of easy money. “In the interview, I noticed that all of the other guys were complete assholes and she told me stuff she shouldn’t have, like the fact that she wore all her money in one of those tourist belt-things…It was easy. I told her where I would be later, and she actually showed up. She let herself go off with me alone; it was a piece of cake to just take the money I knew she had. She didn’t even fight me, man. I could have done so much more. Honestly, I think she wanted me to do more, she was giving off the signals you know? I let her off easy—”
    Luke had shoved the gun under the man’s chin. “Did you do anything else? Did you put anything in her drink? Did you touch her?” He didn’t recognize his own voice, or the ease with which he held the gun to this guy’s head. Luke chose not to dwell on that.
    Franticly, Darrin shook his head, eyeballs trained on Luke’s hand with the gun. Luke knew he had the power in this situation now. If Darrin had a gun, he would have pulled it by now, so he pushed the man’s head back with the tip of the gun, pressing on the grip to activate the laser sites, watching it light up Darrin’s face with an eerie red glow.
    “Get out of the car.” It wasn’t difficult for Luke to sound menacing. Listening to this asshole talk about Kathy like she wasn’t worthy of touching made him madder than the fact he’d taken all her money.
    Darrin swallowed hard, shifting the gun slightly and closed his eyes before slowly opening his car door and sliding out. Luke followed him, keeping the gun trained on the man’s face. At one point, he looked like he would make a run for it, but he must have known he didn’t stand a chance against Luke, and he didn’t.
    “Lose the knife.” He watched Darrin’s eyes widen before he slowly extricated his pocket knife from his pants pocket and tossed it into the darkness.
    “I didn’t come here to kill you, Darrin.” They were standing outside the car now, and Luke emptied the gun, putting the bullets into his pocket before tossing it back into the driver’s seat of the car. “I came to get Kathy’s money back. You stole her savings. Her security.”
    Darrin had visibly relaxed when Luke had rid himself of the firearm, and his easy-going manner returned. “I don’t have it, man. I’m sorry. It’s gone.” He held his hands out in a placating gesture which was lost on Luke.
    “Okay, let me rephrase that. Kathy’s my wife. We live in Texas, a community property state. So you stole MY money. I want it back,” Luke growled. He didn’t want to pull this card. It was Kathy’s money, but this guy was scared of him, not Kathy. As it should be.
    “Look man, I don’t have it—” Luke interrupted him with a well-placed punch to the nose, causing blood to erupt over Darrin’s white polo shirt. The man whimpered through his hands, eyes wide and disbelieving. Luke followed up with two quick punches to the gut, doubling Darrin over with wheezing breaths. A chop to the back of his neck brought him to his knees, and Luke kicked him once, for effect, silently thanking his father for putting up the punching bag in the garage when he and Connor were teenagers.
    Luke reached into his pocket. “Let me tell you something.” He re-played Darrin’s “confession” for the man, and watched his reaction. His shoulders slumped in defeat. “You messed with the wrong woman. She may be naïve, but she’s got a lot of people watching her back, and you are going to give me her money, or I’m taking this to the police and you’ll go to jail. Las Vegas PD doesn’t like people who prey on tourists.”
    “Are you the