Call my bluff a las vega.., p.1
Call My Bluff: A Las Vegas Themed Anthology,
p.1
Call My Bluff
A Las Vegas Themed Anthology
Elizabeth Knox
K E Osborn
Rae B. Lake
J. Lynn Lombard
Addison Jane
Sam St. James
H.J. Marshall
Evan Grace
Flora Burgos
Barbara Nolan
Kathryn C. Kelly
This book(s) is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the authors’ imaginations and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to persons, organizations, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book(s) may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations used in articles or reviews.
Conned. Copyright © 2020 by Elizabeth Knox
Vengeance. Copyright © 2020 by K E Osborn
Played With A Made Man. Copyright © 2020 by Rae B. Lake
Fighting Together. Copyright © 2020 by J. Lynn Lombard
What Are The Odds. Copyright © 2020 by Addison Jane
No Warning. Copyright © 2020 by Sam St. James
Altered Perception. Copyright © 2020 by H.J. Marshall
The Payback. Copyright © 2020 by Evan Grace
Luck of the Draw. Copyright © 2020 by Flora Burgos
Redeemed. Copyright © 2020 by Barbara Nolan
Red Stiletto. Copyright © 2020 by Kathryn C. Kelly
Cover design by Clarise Tan, CT Cover Creations
Content/Copy/Line Editing by Kim Lubbers, Knox Publishing
Formatting by E.C. Land, Knox Publishing
Proofreading by Jackie Ziegler, Knox Publishing
Created with Vellum
Contents
Elizabeth Knox
Conned
KE Osborn
Vengeance
Rae B. Lake
Played With A Made Man
J. Lynn Lombard
Fighting Together
Addison Jane
What Are The Odds
Sam St. James
No Warning
H.J. Marshall
Altered Perception
Evan Grace
The Payback
Flora Burgos
Luck of the Draw
Barbara Nolan
Redeemed
Kathryn C. Kelly
Red Stiletto
Conned
Elizabeth Knox
Available Now
By: Elizabeth Knox
Series: Skulls Renegade
Reign
Redemption
Revenge
Relentless
Reckoning
Reclaimed
Regret
Reckless
Reclusive
Retribution
First Generation: A Skulls Renegade MC Boxset
Series: Steele Bros.
Tough as Steele
Stripping a Steele
Protecting a Steele
Steele her Heart
Stolen Hearts: The Steele Bros Complete Series
Series: Reapers MC
Scarred
Blackjack
Here Kitty, Kitty
Booger
Widow
Kade
Hawk
Bull
Cobra
Mouser
Dixon
Zane
Havoc: A Reapers MC Boxset
Chaos: A Reapers MC Boxset
Series: Iron Vex MC
Enraged
Series: The Clans with Iris Sweetwater
Promised
The Trade
Cherished
Deceit
Love is War
Defiant
Shattered
Ruthless
Covert
Heretic
Venomous
Sin City Fets with Linny Lawless & Aubree Valentine
Switched
Full Throttle with Erin Trejo
Against All Odds
Coming Soon
By: Elizabeth Knox
Surrender (Co-write with Aubree Valentine)
(Sin City Fets #2)
Rely on Me
(Royal Bastards MC: Baltimore #2)
Amara
(Reapers MC #12)
Playlist
Small Talk — Niall Horan
Worry About Me — Ellie Goulding & Blackbear
Jealous — Lennon Stella
This is Us — Jimmie Allen & Noah Cyrus
Kings & Queens — Ava Max
Come Undone — Tove Lo
Still — Niall Horan
Acknowledgments
My Betas, Courtnay, E.C., Jai, Chas, Tania, Janet, Taneesha, Kim, Isabelle, Heidi, Cynthia, Jojo, Vikki, & Lisa— Thank you guys so much for your feedback. I loved writing you guys into this story, and I can’t wait to see where your characters continue on in this mini-series. 😊
My Cover Designer, Charli— This cover is gorgeous. Thank you for doing what you always do and creating masterpieces.
My Blogger Team— You guys rock. I hope you enjoy this and can’t wait to hear what y’all think.
My Editor, Kim and Proofreader, Jackie— You two are the best team in the world. I love you both so much not only as my editing team, but as dear friends as well. Thank you both for being here when I need you the most.
Rae, E.C., and Raven— You three constantly make me feel like I can test my limits and try anything, so, thank you for giving me the courage to continue on with this story, even when I was nervous about it. Love you three, my soul sisters!
To the twin flames—who might not understand the why, how, or the what.
Time will pull you back together if you’re meant to be.
Follow your heart.
Trigger Warning
This book is intended for mature audiences only. If darker books are not for you, please do not move forward. After re-adjusting my trigger warning system, I will not be giving any spoilers. Please understand that this is not your run of the mill romance and tough subjects will be spoken about in this storyline.
Prologue
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
~ C.S. Lewis
Declan
10 years ago . . .
Sitting in my study, my elbow resting on the arm of my chair with my knuckles pressed against my lips. I still can’t believe it. All my life I’ve been the type of man who is logical. There is a reason for everything, but no matter what I can’t think of a reason for doing this.
A group of men scatter through my house, searching for anything she might’ve left behind. Something that could point them in her direction. The emotions haven’t fully hit me from today, so I sit here by myself and sip on the tall glass of scotch I poured hours ago. Not touching it until I heard the worst of the news. Fuck, I don’t even know if it’s the worst of it. I pray it is.
“Mr. O’Hare, are you alright?” Samira, my estate manager, asks from the doorway of my study. Her voice comes in softer than usual, attempting to soothe me right now. She’s terrified of how I’ll respond and I can’t even blame her. It’s not every day that something as ghastly as this happens.
Removing my hand from my mouth, I look up to her. She’s a sweet little thing, can’t be older than I am. I’m twenty-nine. Actually, let me take that back. I’ll be twenty-nine at eleven-thirty tonight. I gave her the job after her predecessor fucked with me. Apparently, he thought he could veto my decisions when this is my house. So, Samira was granted a very high promotion in my household. Now Edward empties the fucking trash and cleans the toilets.
I let out a deep breath before I answer her, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just give me some time, Samira.” I just blatantly lied to the woman which causes me to take another swig of scotch. Fuck, this has been the worst birthday of my life.
This morning when I woke up I was a self-made man, never having to tap into the inheritance my mother left for me when she passed. My father on the other hand has offered to invest in my company for years, and I’ve denied him at every turn because I refuse to be like everyone else we know. The ones who are only successful because they’ve relied on their parents for everything in life.
I haven’t informed him about what my fiancé has just done, but I’m sure he’ll hear about it soon enough. Charli King was a fraud. The woman who slept in my bed every night. The first woman to ever make me want to settle down for the rest of my life. She was a fake.
I discovered the hard way that she took me for everything I earned. Charli is a gold-digging whore like all my friends said she was. In the beginning of our relationship I dodged so much criticism for dating a woman who worked at a local coffee shop. Alec, one of my longest friends said she’d stick around when she found out who I was. He was right. She stuck around, long enough to trick me into falling in love with her, implant herself into my everyday life, steal everything important to me and take the fortune I created for myself.
Charli King snubbed me.
Charli King made me look a fool, taking off with over eighty million dollars.
What Charli King lacks understanding of is how far I will go to even the odds. She may have tried to destroy my life, but I’ll make sure I’m successful in destroying hers.
Chapter One
~ Unknown
Declan
Present Day
“No, you’re not understanding what I’m telling you. There is no way to safely do what you envision to bring it to code. It won’t be structurally sound.” I tell one of my new clients, Roger Saint, while we’re on a conference call with my team. He simply wants something that isn’t obtainable.
The old privileged man snorts on the other end of the line, reminding me far too much of my own father. Hell, they’d be best buddies. Maybe I should suggest he reach out to him and schedule a golfing trip, or perhaps a weekend getaway on the yacht. “You’re supposed to be the best of the best. So, you can make this happen.”
Immediately I roll my eyes, glaring down at the phone. “You aren’t understanding what I’m telling you. There is no way for me to build a hotel made of glass with the way you want it designed.”
Again, he begins to laugh. “What I don’t understand is how you’re the best if you can’t create a hotel like this. There’s another similar to my design in Tokyo.” I know the hotel he’s speaking of. It’s designed by a personal friend of mine, Vittorio Ricci. The only way V could construct it was because his client caved and accepted through the center of the structure there would be beams, killing some of the clean lines he wanted. In every corner of that hotel they have a small wall which covers up the support beams and concrete barriers. And I mean small, it was barely approved for the permits.
“You’re not creating a hotel, Mr. Saint. What you’re wanting me to build is a mass gravesite because the one thing I can guarantee you is that it will come crashing down, killing every man and woman constructing it. Listen up and for the love of God, don’t interrupt me again. I will not put my people, or anyone else’s team at risk like this. I will personally make it my mission to call every reputable architect in this business and let them know what kind of careless man you are. Is that understood?”
“I will take you for every penny you have,” Roger declares, sounding frustrated.
“Go ahead and try. Haven’t you heard, my fiancé did that to me once before. I’ll recover you old bastard.” I snarl, slamming my finger down on the button to end the call.
“Holy shit,” Courtnay, one of my interns from the local college blurts out. She’s new, inexperienced, but is an incredibly hard worker. She’s one of two interns I have here at my company. Tara is the other and I’ve about had it with her bullshit. She’s the type who will only ever be an assistant. Has those fuck me eyes and constantly goes after my executive team. She’s the type of woman who wants to ride her way to the top. It’s why I allow Courtnay to come to these meetings. At least she’s serious about the job.
“Do you have something to say?” Kim, my Director of Engineering asks her. She’s been with my company since I started it twelve years ago, being one of the first people who put their trust in me.
Jackson, my Director of Surveying chuckles from the other end of the table. “Pretty sure it’s Courtnay’s first time witnessing our big ol’ boss losing his shit. Get used to it, sweetie. Declan isn’t a fan of people like Roger.”
“You mean callous pieces of shit who have no regards for others safety? Yeah, not a fan.” I retort.
“I uh . . . I was just a bit surprised at the ex-fiancé confession . . . thing . . . you know the uh . . .,” The poor girl struggles with her words.
“I hated that woman the moment I saw her. I told you Declan. Didn’t I? I told you she was trouble!” Jackie, my assistant hisses toward me. I ended up stealing Jackie from my father’s office. She’d worked for him for years, but much like Kim, she had confidence in my abilities and decided to switch her career path. At the time my business started up she’d just returned from maternity leave with her first daughter and wanted something that might have part-time hours so she could spend time at home.
“How about we don’t get into this right now? Everyone here doesn’t need to know all my personal business,” I declare, making sure to look straight at Jackie and Kim.
“But it would be rude to not fill Courtnay in,” Kim states.
“Yeah it would be,” Jackie confirms, “Declan here had his entire fortune stolen from him from his piece of trash fiancé. She wired all the money to an offshore account and before anyone figured it out it was all gone.”
“What?! How in the hell does anyone get away with that!?” Courtnay gasps, placing her hand on her chest. Shit, she really looks bothered.
She got away with it because like the dumbass I was, I added her to my accounts. Every single one had her name on it, so in the eyes of the bank the account was as much hers as it was mine. She took advantage of it. It’s hard to believe ten years have passed by since that horrible day. “Naivety, that’s how.” I reply, picking up my tablet from the table, I exit the conference room and head straight into my office. I can’t blame anyone else beside myself. The only reason she was able to get that close is because I let her.
Since then I haven’t allowed another woman that close. Sure, I’ve had the one-night stands, but nothing more. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to open myself up in that way again. If I do, well, it’ll shock me.
I see a notification pop up, letting me know I have a new email and click on it. Scanning my eyes over the body of the email, I see an attachment and click on it. Dark roots fade out into a snow-white hair. I don’t recognize the woman until I scroll down and see the trinity tattoo on her collarbone. Fuck, she kept it after all this time.
I stare at the picture for what feels like minutes after I realize she must’ve had some plastic surgery done. Her nose isn’t crooked anymore, but is perfectly straight, giving it a button type of feel. Meanwhile, her cheekbones are even more defined than before. I exit out of the photo tab and go back to the email.
Her name was never Charli King. Meet Lola Wynn, Declan.
She’s back in Vegas.
Holy shit. I’ve been paying Heidi for the last five years and now she comes up with something. I was about to fire her and get someone else, but boy I’m glad I was patient just a little bit longer.
Chapter Two
“Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy.”
~Ralph Marston
Lola
There hasn’t been a day in my life where I thought I’d be back here in Las Vegas. The last time I was here I managed to scurry off with eighty million in an offshore account for Father. The man isn’t actually my father, but he looks at all of us as if we’re his children. Actually, in a way maybe he is my father. He took me straight off the streets when I was about to resort to prostitution, or other ways of making money.
I remember it like it was yesterday. How everyone in the town of small tents immediately shifted their gazes to him. He was dressed to the nines, in what had to be a suit worth thousands. If that wasn’t enough, the watch he had on his wrist sparkled from the few streetlights we had down there. The one thing I remember the most though is his defined facial hair and the tattoos covering his hands.
