Bit the Jackpot (Vegas Vampires #2)(57)
Author: Erin McCarthy

"But Seamus called Kelsey and said they were trapped at the Venetian and that they needed help."

"He called Kelsey?" Okay, that ticked her off. "Why would he call you instead of me?" Like Kelsey could possibly know the answer to that, but she was asking rhetorically.

"I don’t know. Maybe he was afraid you wouldn’t answer. But he sounded really urgent, Cara. They need our help. I think the Italian has them."

" Donatelli?"A shiver went through Cara. In her mind, he had been elevated to the status of a monster. "Why do you think that?"

"Because he lives at the Venetian," Alexis said. "I think they went there to confront him about everything that has been going on."

"Why would they do that without guards?" That didn’t at all logical.

"Because they’re stupid."

Cara wasn’t going to argue with that. "So what do you think we should do?"

"I think we should go check out the poker play at the Venetian. You are the Ava’s Texas Hold ‘ Emchamp. Maybe you want to see what the play is like at the Venetian."

That reminded her that she’d never cashed in on her winnings, and she had left the chips in Seamus’s room. They weren’t going to do her any good there. "I’m not sure about this. What good is it going to do to go over there? We don’t know that Ethan and Seamus are even there, and there is no way we’re going to be able to search private rooms."

"But we can flush Donatelli out of his suite and have a little chat with him. If he’s hurt my husband I will do unspeakably painful things to him."

The venom in Alexis’s eyes was a little scary. "I thought you were mad at Ethan."

"I am. But he’s still my husband. The only one who can slap him around is me. And after he apologizes for being an idiot, we’re going to have really great makeup sex. The bottom line is, we all make mistakes, including me, and I love him."

That hit Cara hard. She loved Seamus. She knew she did. He was a good man, loyal and responsible and always, always willing to take care of others. He had made a mistake, because he had wanted her. Was that such a terrible thing?

She wasn’t sure. It was really damn hard to trust. "Do you think I’m making a mistake leaving Seamus?"

Alexis shrugged. "I don’t know, Cara. Only you can know that. It’s possible to love someone and not be able to live with him." She pulled Kelsey off the bed by grabbing her hand. "But right now I have this urgent awful feeling something is wrong and I need to go after my husband and bring him home. You can come with us and or you can stay. It’s totally up to you."

There were two choices. One, she could stay in the hotel room and cry over the loss of a relationship that had just barely gotten started. Or two, she could brush her hair and go after Seamus, hoping they could work their issues out.

It took her less than two seconds to decide. She loved Seamus.

"Let me grab my hairbrush. I’ll use it in the car on the way over."

"Cool. Can I do your hair?" Kelsey asked.

"We could have walked faster," Alexis complained when they finally had snarled their way through traffic, parked the car, and went into the casino at the Venetian.

"But then how would we make a quick getaway if Ethan and Seamus are hurt?" Kelsey asked, giving a flirtatious smile to a man who gawked at her in naked interest.

"Good point. How reassuring to think they won’t be able to walk home on their own."

Not to mention that with traffic as brutal as it had been, an anemic vampire with cataracts would be able to catch up with them.

Cara crossed her arms over her chest and swallowed nervously. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good plan.Like it was much of a plan. They were just going to hang around the Venetian and hoped Donatelli sensed them? This wasn’t his hotel—he didn’t have cameras and guards like Ethan did at the Ava.

"Let’s go sit at one of the tables," Alexis said, hands in the back pockets of her jeans. Her eyes were scanning the room.

"Okay," Cara said because she wasn’t sure what else they were going to do. They found an open seat at a craps table, and Alexis fronted her some cash.

It wasn’t her game. Cara lost two hundred bucks in ten minutes and turned to Alexis. "This isn’t working."

"The plan or the craps playing?"

"Both."

Alexis bit her fingernail. "Okay, I have an idea. If Donatelli is involved, and Ethan and Seamus are in trouble here at the Venetian like Seamus told Kelsey, it stands to reason they’re in his suite, right?"

"I guess so." But Cara wasn’t sure they could make that leap in logic, or how they could get into Donatelli’s suite.

"It makes total sense." Alexis marched up to the front desk, told them she forgot her room number. "It’s in my husband’s name, Roberto Donatelli ," she said.

Cara thought the clerk would tell her no go, but he just looked it up and gave her a new key card with a smile.

"Whoa," Alexis said as they walked away. "I used vampire mind control and it actually worked. I feel guilty." But it didn’t stop Alexis from hitting the up button on the elevator and pocketing the key card.

While they were waiting, Cara tried to ignore the tugging at the back of her brain that something was off. The Venetian had a less fluorescent decor compared to some of the other casinos. It was full of wood, creamy textured walls, andelaborate frescos on the ceiling.

"Who is that?" she asked, gesturing with a slight tilt of her head. There was a man sitting in the lobby lounge with two women, his posture relaxed and arrogant. He wasn’t even looking at them, but Cara felt an awareness . There was a scent lingering over him, different from mortals. "He’s a vampire, isn’t he?"

"You’re good," Alexis said, expression grim. "You just found Donatelli ."

He didn’t look powerful. He did look smarmy and self-absorbed.

"And now we know he’s not up in his room," Cara said.

"Which is why it’s the perfect time to head up there and check it out."

Damn. She had thought Alexis might say that. She’d bet her stripper heels—which were damn expensive—that she was going to regret this.

Once in Donatelli’s room, she was convinced of it. The suite, lush in gold and burgundy fabrics with a king-size bed on a platform behind an elaborate balustrade, looked and felt empty.

"No one here.Let’s go." Cara grabbed Kelsey’s arm and retreated for the door, heart pounding.

"We should at least look around."

"For clues?Give me a break, Alexis. There’s nothing Nancy Drew about any of us."