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

damn good…What?” The single word question was a sucking black hole for Lucy’s apprehension. “I can’t speak for her, but I can arrange a meet…tonight? Okay.” Joey disconnected and walked back into the kitchen.
    “What?” Lucy clutched her mug like a shield. “What now?”
    “There’s a small glitch.”
    “What?”
    “The keycard only opens the exterior door. Alec Gerald’s thumb opens the jewel cases.”
    Lucy nodded.
    “You knew?” Joey looked incredulous. “How could you not tell me? I could have called him first with the information. Then he would’ve owed me.”
    “I did what you asked. I don’t care about getting in the black with the mob.”
    “Well that’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said.” Joey marched toward her side of the bar. “You think with our Dad, sly Joe-the-Cheat, that we were ever going to get out of the bed with these guys? This is our bed. Our house. Our everything.”
    “We. Are. Not. Crooks.”
    “I’m not a crook.” Joey smiled and stepped back. “I’m a…what do you call it…an adventure capitalist.”
    “Venture capitalist,” she corrected. “Big difference.”
    “Whatever, you with all your high-falutin’ degrees. You’re still my sister, but you’re a big stick in the ass sometimes.”
    “It’s stick in the mud, Joey.” Lucy rolled her eyes. “You know the right phrase, you just like to pretend you’re dumb. Either that or you’re just too damn lazy to get the words right.”
    Joey smiled, not at all offended. “Hey, if I can get something with no effort, that does not make me lazy. That makes me smart. Smarter than you, college girl. How many years did it take for you to get a piece of paper anyway? I could have gotten one forged for you in two weeks.”
    “Eight years. And it’s more than a piece of paper.” Lucy shook her head and set aside her tea unfinished and cold. “It’s the knowledge. No one can take that away from me.”
    “Yeah, yeah.” Joey smiled, all charming, central-casting, adventure capitalist. “You know you love me.”
    “I do, but…” Lucy’s internal alarm chimed at Joey’s use of the “L” word. Bad. Bad. Bad. “I heard you say ‘I can’t speak for her.’ I’m guessing the her is me?”
    “He wants you to go back in. Get the thumbprint from Gerald.”
    “No.” Lucy shook her head. “I’m on a plane out of here in the morning—with you.”
    “I’m not leaving,” Joey said with his real-Joey voice. “Get it through your over-educated head.”
    Lucy chewed on her trembling lower lip. She was used to the abrupt changes in Joey’s personality when he was up to something, but his real-Joey voice meant he was serious.
    “Gino’s spies said you spent a little alone time with Alec Gerald?” Joey asked, lifting a questioning brow.
    “I didn’t do anything. We just talked about appraising the exhibit.”
    “Gino said he would cut us in for 10% each—”
    “I’m not going back to that casino. Ever.”
    “When a guy like Gino offers to cut you in on his juice, you can’t say no.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You don’t take the easy deal, he moves on to the hard deal.”
    “Quit talking gangster and just spit it out.”
    “He can make you help him.”
    “How?”
    Joey smiled. “Because he knows you love me too much to let me swim with the fishes.”
    Again with the “L” word. Lucy gripped the edge of the counter behind her. It was ice cold and as unbending as Joey’s heart.
    She was in trouble.
    …
    Lucy followed her brother through the dimly lit Crazy Stallion bingo parlor. Although they were only a little north of the Strip, it felt like they had stepped back in time to their childhood: Sunday bingo games, interchangeable trailer parks, and apartments with occasional electricity.
    She was cold down to her bones, but her hand sweated on a plastic bag holding the expensive loaner red dress and designer shoes she had worn to Alec’s casino. She tightened her wrap sweater over