Read Online Luck of the Dragon (Entangled Covet) by Susannah Scott - Free Book Online

floated over Lucy’s head like so much bad air. She had to get out of there. Get back to her house. Behind her gate. Lock the doors and pack.
    Gino swallowed his last bite and used his napkin to wipe his face. “Okay. It’s done then. You’ll get the print. There’ll be a drop in the casino bathroom, same as before.”
    Lucy shook her head, exasperated and terrified.
    In a flash, Gino embedded the steak knife in the back of Joey’s hand. Joey’s screams filled her ears.
    “Stop!” Lucy tried to get up but the burly thug held her chair snug to the table.
    Gino smiled, and Lucy knew his snake’s fangs had just sunk deep into her jugular. “Stop being a finocchio , Joe…or I’ll give you something to really cry about.” The three muscle-guys laughed heartily at the scene.
    Joey’s muffled cries turned into bottled-up moans that pulled at her heart with tortuous fingers. She all but felt the knife piercing her own hand.
    “Let him go.” She was surprised by how steady her voice sounded.
    “It’s up to you, testa rossa .” Gino twisted the knife a quarter turn. Joey cried out before squeezing his hand over his mouth and closing his eyes. “All I need to hear are the words, ‘Yes Mr. Narcisco, I’ll get you that print.’”
    “This is never going to end, is it?” Even as she asked the question, she knew it was true. “I do this for you, and next month you have another job. Right?”
    Gino pulled the steak knife out of Joey and wiped the blood on a white cloth napkin. “If it’s money you’re after, we could come to an arrangement.”
    Joey wrapped his bleeding hand in his own napkin, his eyes wide and shell-shocked. “Luce, quit playing around,” he whispered. “Do what he wants.”
    Lucy’s gaze ping-ponged between Gino-the-snake and Joey-the-bait. There was no way out of this. She and Joey would definitely have to leave Vegas for good when this was done. She had not really accepted it as truth until now. She had built something here, a reputation, a home, a life. Sadness swamped her along with crushing hopelessness.
    “Okay.” She placed her hands flat on the table, leaving a sweat mark. “I’ll do it. But I want your word that Joey is in the clear, and I’m not doing any more favors for you.”
    Gino smiled and reached his blood-smeared hand across the table. He picked up her hand and kissed it. “Sounds good to me, testa rossa .”
    He was lying. She knew it. He knew it. But there was nothing she could do about it. Gino saw her weak underbelly now in Joey, and she was at his mercy. Her stomach twisted in knots. Don’t think about it now. She would find a way out of this mess.
    First, they had to get out of the bingo hall alive and with all their fingers.
    Lucy stood, trying to appear agreeable instead of defiant. She inched her chair back. This time, the burly dude let it slide. She nodded once at Joey. “Let’s go.”
    Joey stood, cradling his bleeding hand to his chest.
    Gino stayed seated. “Bruno here will escort you home, go over the details with you, and take you to the casino tomorrow. Make sure you don’t get confused or nothing.”
    Lucy moved toward the door with deliberate strides. “Just keep walking,” she whispered to Joey.
    “Oh, Luciana,” Gino called as they cleared the threshold. “I want your green sapphires. You give Bruno your earrings, as a token of your appreciation for me bringing you two amateurs in on my score.”

Chapter Six
    It was 7:50, Thursday morning. Alec watched the lobby surveillance camera from his room for Lucy’s arrival. Frustration still pounded through his chest at his thwarted attempt to get rid of his old enemy. Their dragon hunter had tracked Ambrogino to a seedy motel on the north side of the Strip, but by the time Alec got back to the casino, he was gone.
    Ambrogino was feeling bold to have come to Vegas, to Alec’s turf. He usually hid himself away and operated through surrogates. He would have to be dealt with, and his return