Secrets That Kill (18 page)

“That’s not going to happen,” Ramos said. He was thinking I was sweet and unpredictable, even though I could be pretty stubborn. There was more to me than most of the women he knew, and he liked that. “You’re a lot of things, Shelby, but you’re not stupid. You can do this. It’s really not that hard. When we get back I’ll show you how you’re going to beat Carson at his own game. You’re going to make him so mad. It’ll be great.”

“Okay,” I said. “But I’m still nervous.”

“I’m sure you are, but it’ll all work out.” He checked his watch. “We’ve got a little over five hours before the game starts, so we’d better get moving.” I followed him to the car, feeling much better.

“We have to make one more stop before we head back,” he said, thinking he had to be careful about how he said it.

“What’s that?” I asked, curious.

“Well, Nick had a point. You do need something nicer to wear.”

I chuckled. “I know that. I was thinking that earlier myself. So what do you suggest?”

“I’ll show you.” His eyes held a hint of excitement, so I knew it had to be good, which made me excited too.

A few minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of this huge mall and followed the lane toward the main building. Palm trees lined both sides of the drive, and Ramos pulled to a stop in front of a glass-enclosed, circular, two-story entrance. A valet opened my door, and I stared up at the mall while Ramos circled the car to join me.

Inside we found more trees, several fountains, a breathtaking glass ceiling, and every store imaginable. I didn’t know where to start. “What do you think I should wear?”

“I don’t know,” Ramos shrugged. “Something casual, but sexy, like a short dress and heels. Just something to keep Carson a little distracted. There.” He maneuvered me toward a large Neiman-Marcus store. “They should have something here that would work.”

“Okay, sure,” I agreed, pursing my lips to contain my enthusiasm.

We found the dress department, and hardly a minute went by before an attendant spotted us and eagerly trotted over. She was young, probably a college student, and barely looked at me while I tried to explain what I wanted, instead staring at Ramos with undisguised admiration. She sent quick glances my way with an occasional head nod to show me she was listening, but her smile was all for him.

Ramos’ phone buzzed, and he excused himself to take a call from Nick. I breathed a sigh of relief to have him gone, and the attendant finally turned her helpful attention to me. From her thoughts, I knew she was determined to find something I’d love just so she could see Ramos smile again.

I tried not to snicker at this turn of events and let her help me all she wanted. This time she listened when I told her I was going for the playful but sassy look that didn’t reveal too much, but still looked feminine. I also wanted it to be comfortable since I’d be sitting in it for hours and hours.

After my explanation, she found the perfect dress. It was a blue floral-print georgette with a gathered split surplice neckline that didn’t reveal too much, but just enough to be sexy. It was sleeveless and had a smocked waistband that wasn’t a bit uncomfortable. The length was just right as well, hitting my legs a few inches above the knee. Even better, she thought I looked great.

“Do you have shoes?” she asked. I shook my head, telling her no, and her eyes lit up. “I know the perfect shoes to go with this dress. Follow me.”

With the dress still on, I followed her to the shoe department, and she went straight to a pair of black leather zip-back sandals. My breath hitched at the price, then I realized they were Prada. I’d never worn Prada before, and my heart rate doubled just to try them on. The attendant also brought over a pair of Jimmy Choo’s that were similar in style and price. I’d never worn those before either. Indulging myself in the moment, I tried them both on. No doubt about it, they looked great and gave me a boost of confidence, but I couldn’t get over the nearly thousand-dollar price tag.

“Do you have anything else?” I asked the attendant. At her crestfallen expression, I continued. “You know, just to compare?”

“Sure. Let’s look over here.”

We came upon another pair that I immediately liked. They were dark paloma snakeskin suede sandals, which seemed kind of fitting in a way, and even better, they were on sale. They were still expensive, but at least they didn’t cost more than the dress. I put them on and smiled. They looked just as good as the others, and more important, I still got a rush of confidence just walking around in them. “I’ll take them.”

“Great choice,” the attendant said. “How about some jewelry?”

Wow, she was good. “Yeah, I probably need that too.”

She grabbed the shoebox and led me across the aisle to the jewelry department. “I’m thinking silver and blue,” she said. She went straight to a striking three-strand blue-beaded silver necklace with matching earrings. They were simple, but elegant, and set off my dress beautifully.

“Yes,” I said, my eyes glazing over, knowing I had to have them.

“Okay then, let’s get you back to the changing room.” The attendant was glowing herself, thinking how satisfying her job was when she helped someone like me look so good. I tried to take that as a complement. Anticipation ran over her to see Ramos again, and she wasn’t disappointed to find him sitting in the chair outside the changing room.

“What do you think?” she asked, gesturing toward me and hoping she’d pleased him.

He glanced at me and nodded, a slow grin spreading over his face. “Very nice,” he said. The attendant followed me to the changing room and unlocked the door. Once I was inside, she wasted no time getting back to Ramos.

Shaking my head at her reaction, I quickly changed into my clothes, placing the dress on the hanger, and the shoes back into the box. I’d certainly enjoyed myself with this little shopping excursion, but now it was time to get back to business. An hour had passed, leaving me with only three hours to prepare for the poker match. My stomach clenched, and I took another swig of Mylanta before opening the door.

The attendant bagged my dress efficiently and scanned Ramos’ credit card, paying special attention to Ramos’ name. She sighed over it, thinking Alejandro was perfect, and bid us a fond goodbye, her gaze following Ramos all the way out the door.

“You do know she was totally into you, right?” I couldn’t help asking.

He pursed his lips. “Yeah, I get that a lot.” He threw a mischievous grin my way. “Especially when I’m with someone. It’s like they gang up on me. I guess they just can’t help themselves.”

“Whatever,” I said, rolling my eyes. He chuckled and we got in the car. “So, is everything set up for tonight?” I asked.

“Pretty much,” Ramos responded. “Like I told Nick, we’re playing at Max’s Club, and I already met with Carson this morning to agree on the place. One of Manetto’s friends suggested it, and since it wasn’t on Carson’s list, I checked it out. I hit it off real well with Max, especially when I mentioned we were playing against Carson. Turns out, he doesn’t like Carson much, and was real interested when I told him about our agreement. He told me Carson wasn’t known to cheat, but he wasn’t to be trusted either.

“I asked him about hiring a few of his bouncers to keep a watch out on Carson’s men, just in case he tried something, and he was very obliging. So we’ll have extra people there to rely on if we need them.”

“That’s good to know,” I said. “What about Nick? Will he be able to come at all? He talked about delivering the evidence of Carson’s cheating to his associates during the game.”

“Yeah. But that shouldn’t take all night. Once he’s done, he’ll be back to help out as well. Right now, Nick’s on his way to the club to meet with Carson’s men. It’s just a preliminary kind of thing where the location is inspected by both sides to make sure there’s nothing set up that could be interpreted as cheating, or anything like it. After that’s accomplished, we should be set to go.”

I nodded, feeling a chill at the back of my neck. “Do you think it’s all going to work out?”

“Yes,” Ramos said. “Now all we have to do is get you ready. I’ve hired a professional dealer, so all you really need to do is play the game.”

It sure sounded easy to him, but what if I messed up? What if I got mixed up between a flush and a straight and which was better? What if I didn’t realize that what he had in his hand was better than mine until it was too late? What if Carson cheated? How would that go over if I accused him of cheating? I could imagine him pulling a gun and everyone shooting everyone. So much could go wrong.

“Shelby?” Ramos asked.

“Huh?” He nodded toward my hands and I realized I’d been clenching my purse. “Oh.” I let go and smoothed out the wrinkles. “I guess I’m worried about tonight. Do you think I could take a cheat sheet? You know, with the ranking order of the poker hands so I don’t mess up?”

Ramos let out a laugh. “Sure. That’s a great idea. It would totally throw Carson off his game. He’d think you were a total novice, and then when you started winning it would drive him nuts. That’s perfect.”

“Okay, good,” I said, going along with him, and not pointing out that I really was a total novice.

Sometimes I just didn’t understand that competitive streak men seemed to have when it came to sports and games. It seemed to cloud their judgment. Ramos was so stoked about my ability to win, that I worried he knew what he was doing. Of course, worrying about it now didn’t help, and I knew I had to change my attitude and quit worrying so much. If only I could convince my stomach, I might begin to believe it.

Chapter 10

Back at the house, we settled in at the table to play some poker. I grabbed a granola bar, and Ramos got me a soda with crushed ice. It was so sweet of him that I didn’t have the heart to tell him it might upset my stomach. Of course, with the food we’d eaten earlier, I was feeling lots better, so maybe I could handle a soda.

It was also a relief to have Nick gone so Ramos and I could actually talk about how to use my mind-reading skills to play the game.

“Our strategy is to play cautiously,” Ramos said. “I don’t want you to bluff, and only bet when you have the advantage. If your first two cards are higher than his, then stay in. Fold if he has the good cards. It’s as easy as that.”

Ramos told me what a good beginning hand was, and what cards I’d have the best chance of winning with. “It’s different with just two players. You’re not going to get a lot of good cards, so you’ll probably be folding a lot. Don’t forget, if his cards are higher than yours, you should probably fold. But it won’t hurt to stay in if his cards are bad, especially since he might try and bluff. That’s the beauty of reading minds, you’ll always know when he’s bluffing.”

“Yeah,” I said, wishing I could match his enthusiasm. I sure hoped playing a few games would help me pick this up. It didn’t matter so much now, but how was I going to handle it when it was a million dollars we were playing for? Just thinking about it frazzled my nerves.

We played a few hands, and pretty soon I started to get the hang of it. He showed me how to bet, check, raise and fold. “How much should I raise? I mean, what’s high and what’s low?” I asked.

“In this game, anything that’s five thousand or below would be a low raise,” Ramos answered. “Just make sure you never bluff, and always raise him at least five thousand or more when he’s bluffing.”

“Okay, I’ll try and remember that.”

“Let’s just keep practicing,” Ramos said. “That should help.”

I used everything Ramos taught me, and it started to make more sense and get easier. I didn’t know how hard Ramos was trying, but using his strategy, I was starting to get way ahead of him, and my stack of chips was growing.

“This is good, Shelby,” Ramos said. “Now that you’re ahead, you have an even greater advantage. At this point, when you have the nuts, bet big.”

“Um… I don’t think I have any nuts.” I chuckled self-consciously.

“No, that’s not…” Ramos burst out laughing. “I guess I forgot to tell you about that.”

“Uh-huh,” I said.

“When you have the nuts, it means you have a hand that can’t be beaten.”

“Oh, okay. So in that case I should bet big or raise him?”

“Yeah. He’ll either fold, or if he has good cards, call, and you’ll win the round. Or if you have the most chips, you could go all in and win the game. But remember, you can’t do that until you have the most chips.” Ramos demonstrated how that could work until it made sense to me.

Nick walked through the door and told us that everyone was satisfied with the location, and we were all set for tonight. A sudden fit of nervous tension ran over me, making my stomach hurt. As he came to the table, I reached for my bottle of Tums and took a few, hoping neither of them noticed. Ramos’ brows creased, but before he could comment, Nick asked a question. “With both of them having so much money, how are we going to set up the game so one of them wins?”

“Carson and I agreed about that this morning,” Ramos answered. “Since we want the game to end at midnight or earlier, we thought we would start the blinds at one thousand and double them every hour, so that by eleven o’clock the big blind will be worth sixty-four thousand dollars, and the small thirty-two thousand.”

“That should work,” Nick agreed. He glanced at me, thinking I looked a little pale, and decided not to tell me it would take a miracle for me to win all that money. “Does she know how to play now?” he asked Ramos.

“Hey… sitting right here,” I said. “For your information, I could beat the pants off of you any time.”

His eyes widened. “Okay then. That’s the spirit.”

“Go ahead,” Ramos said. “Take my place and see how well you can do.” He was thinking that all Nick needed was to get trounced by me. It was bound to convince him my skills were real and no laughing matter.

We played for a while, and I beat Nick most every time. I had to fold when his cards were better, but I was still doing lots better than him. He was starting to get frustrated with me, and I was starting to like playing poker. Winning carried with it a sense of power and control, and I liked that feeling… a lot.

“It’s three-thirty,” Ramos interrupted. “Time to stop. “I think you’re ready.” He glanced at Nick. “What do you think?”

“She beat me,” he said. “I don’t know exactly how, but she’s got my vote. It’s hard to believe you’re not cheating; and you’re not, right?”

“Nope,” I said, glancing at Ramos. He grinned, thinking that while I was cheating, it was the best kind of cheating, since it couldn’t be proven. He thought I’d do great, and I smiled back at him, starting to believe it myself.

“Better get ready,” he said. “Can I fix you something to eat first? It’s going to be a while before you get another chance.”

“My stomach’s too nervous to eat much. Maybe just a piece of toast and some yogurt. But I can fix it.”

“How about you get the yogurt and start eating, and I’ll put in the toast.”

After gulping down my food, I hurried upstairs to put on my dress, first applying a liberal amount of deodorant so I wouldn’t sweat too much. Once I had the dress on, I touched up my make-up and hair. Last, I slipped on my shoes and checked myself in the full-length mirror. I looked good, but it didn’t help with the butterflies in my stomach. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this nervous.

I came down the stairs and into the living room, finding Ramos and Nick glancing up from their seats admiring my outfit and the way my dress showed off my legs. Although Nick was hoping for a little more skin to distract Carson, he thought my dress suited me. Ramos was thinking I had just the right amount of class and respectability to play my part. He had no doubt that I would do well, and the expectation of getting even with Carson settled something inside of him, something that had been missing for a long time.

“You look great,” Ramos said.

“Thanks,” I answered. “So do you.” He wore his standard dark blazer and jeans, but looked more formal with a gray dress shirt that set off his dark eyes perfectly, making it easy to get lost in their depths.

“Ready?” Ramos asked.

I took a deep breath and nodded, then grabbed my purse, making sure everything I needed was inside. “Now I’m ready,” I said.

We arrived at the club thirty minutes early. Nick dropped us off, leaving to deliver his envelopes. The club wasn’t crowded yet, but there were still a lot of people at the bar and tables. A dance floor fronted a stage at the opposite end and was set up for a live band that would be performing later. The rich mahogany wood bar and dance floor spoke volumes about how well the bar was doing and gave the impression of old money.

A man sitting at the bar noticed our entrance and hurried over, shaking Ramos’ hand and ushering us into his office. Ramos introduced him to me as Max, the owner of the club, and three burly men whom Ramos had hired earlier quickly joined us in the room.

“I don’t want Carson or his men to know you’re working for me,” Ramos explained. “Let them assume you work for Max, but keep an eye on them. If any of them leave, I want them followed. I want to know what they’re up to. If they even look like they’re going to pull their guns or come in shooting, take them out.”

Ramos waited to see their nods before he continued. “Nick will be joining us later. Since I don’t know how many men Carson will bring, that’s up to you to find out and tell me during one of our breaks. One of you will be stationed inside the room with the poker game. Tell me immediately if you see anything suspicious.”

“I’ll be coming in and out as well,” Max said. “I like to keep tabs on what’s happening in my establishment.”

After a few more words, the guards left, and Max ushered us out of his office and down a long narrow hall toward the back of the building. He opened a door into a beautifully furnished room. It was a comfortable size, reminding me of a family recreation room, with one poker table set up in the middle. Dark wood paneling covered the lower half of the walls, and the upper half was done in gold and tan swirls, giving it a Mediterranean feel. A dark wood bar spanned the back wall with five bar stools set in front. Drop lighting shone on bottle-filled cabinets and illuminated the beautiful blue-toned tile work on the wall behind.

A frosted glass chandelier hung from the ceiling directly over the table, sending warm light onto the surface. A leather couch and side tables with lamps were grouped along one wall, and two leather chairs with an oblong coffee table were grouped on the other. In one corner, with a potted ivy plant on top, sat an old-fashioned, black safe. Although there were no windows, the room was pleasantly lit, with paintings and plants strategically placed for maximum comfort.

The round mahogany poker table had a pedestal-type base and would easily seat six. A ring of cup-holders and a carved chip well lined the wine-colored felt gaming surface and was surrounded by a padded, faux leather elbow rest. Several wooden and leather rolling chairs matched the table and set it off beautifully.

Max introduced us to the man stationed at the bar, and the other man sitting at the table who was the card dealer for our game. “The bathroom is over this way,” Max said. He led me to a door beside the bar, thinking that from my pale face, I would probably need a place to escape more than once during the game.

He was right about that. I peeked inside to find a large marble countertop and sink, with mirrored wooden cabinets matching the outside room. It was spacious and classy with all the comforts one could hope for. Yes, I could definitely spend some down time in here.

Max’s phone chirped, and after checking the message, he excused himself. “Carson’s here. I’ll bring him back. Please make yourselves at home.”

Sudden fear tightened my stomach, causing my head to spin. The lights around me dimmed, and my legs lost their strength.

“Shelby?” Ramos caught me around the waist and pulled me against his side, walking me to the couch. We sat down together, and Ramos shoved my head toward my knees. “Take a deep breath,” he said. “Pull yourself together before Carson gets here.”

His words sent a rush of adrenaline through me. I couldn’t let Carson see me like this! “Let me up! I’m fine now.” He released my head and I sat up, pushing my hair out of my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I relaxed against the cushion. “Sorry. I’m okay now.”

Ramos studied me, his brows scrunched together, thinking that was close. He hadn’t expected that… not at all. “Just stay there. I’ll talk with Carson and keep him occupied until you feel better.”

Just then, the door opened, and Ramos left my side. He greeted Carson and kept him talking near the door long enough for me to get my equilibrium back. Two men came in with Carson, one I didn’t know, and the other was the same guy who’d followed me the first day, identifying me to Carson the night before.

Carson spotted me sitting on the couch. He was thinking I looked a little pale, and a small smile curved his lips. It was the impetus I needed to snap me out of it. What was wrong with me? I could do this, and more important, I couldn’t let Ramos down. He was counting on me. Forget the money. Forget Carson. Do it for Ramos.

Almost like he’d heard my thoughts, Ramos glanced at me, worry tightening his eyes. I caught his gaze and smiled reassuringly, giving him a slight nod to let him know I could do this. The tension left him, and he nodded back, relieved. He was thinking that he’d forgotten to tell me that I could read his mind for help with the game if I needed to, since he had no doubt he’d be thinking what I should do.

I smiled at that, and stood as Carson approached. “Shelby,” he said. “You’re looking splendid.” He took my hand and smiled, thinking the night might not be too boring since he’d have me to look at.

“Thank you,” I said. “I’m looking forward to our game, although I’ve heard some things about you that make me nervous.”

“Me?” He feigned surprise. “Like what?”

“Oh, just that you’re really good,” I said. “But I hope to give you a run for your money.” He smiled, but didn’t say,
“yeah, right,”
like he was thinking. Defensive anger swept over me, and suddenly, I couldn’t wait to wipe that stupid smile off his face.

Ramos came to my side and cleared his throat, successfully pulling my attention away from my murderous thoughts. Max placed a silver suitcase on the table, flicking it open and lifting the lid. Seeing all those stacks of bills totaling a million dollars sent shivers up my spine.

Max glanced through it, totaling it up in his head. “One million dollars,” he said. “Agreed?” he glanced at Ramos, then Carson, who both nodded their heads. “According to house rules, it will be placed in the safe until after the game is concluded.” He clicked the lid closed and carried it over to the safe in the corner. Spinning the dial to the correct numbers, he popped the door open and placed the case inside.

“You may state the terms of your bet,” he said, coming back to the table. “And the game will begin.”