The Night of Seven by Nadia Siddiqui (each kindness read aloud .TXT) 📗

out of focus. It’s something he can’t touch but he knows is there, and then just as quickly as it came, it’s gone once more.

Another reason for his drinking is that the visions are getting more and more frequent, and they are making less and less sense. It used to only be triggered by a place, item, or specific event, but now they are like hazy clouds or pictures that feel familiar, but he doesn’t have any idea why they might feel that way. He’s going to have to be careful. He can’t afford to drive off a bridge along the way. There have been no other instructions from the company, and he knows that he will be offered another small gem of insight into his past if he does this job right...he really can’t afford to not do this right. Not with so many uncertainties hanging right over his head. At least that much has been made abundantly clear to him from the couple of big jobs that he was given last that the company felt that he mishandled. He can’t allow that to happen again. Whether he gets terminated or he is allowed to walk away, either way, Nathan knows that his time with the company is slowly coming to an end.

Chapter Four

M aximo & Cruz

“We got another one, boss,”

That is what he likes to hear more than anything else. Boss. What a perfect title for himself. Maximo turns to the direction that his head of security, Cruz, is standing in. They are standing in an average-sized room, but it feels smaller because of how dark it is. To one side of the room is a wall of small screens playing a constant live stream that covers each and every inch of his casino. Maximo spared absolutely no expense in making certain that there isn’t a single blind spot anywhere in his casino. He knows anytime anything happens, and he pays three men to sit in this room and stare at each and every single one of those screens at all times. They have the lowest crime and cheating record of any other casino on the strip. It’s practically impossible to even attempt to get anything by them.

In truth, Maximo might spend too much money on security. This place is a fortress around the close security and a ton of employees. There are more than a handful of rumors that surround this casino, wanting to know what they are guarding so heavily, if they are keeping people out or keeping something in. Many people have gossiped about how a humble little casino can afford such things like this, how they can pay as well as they do. Though, nobody can deny having a really wonderful time in the casino. Whether they are just playing their hand at the many games and machines available on the casino floor, or if they are enjoying themselves at the bar or taking in one of the many delightful shows that the casino offers. Maximo likes to think that coming to his establishment is something of an experience that you never experience the same way twice.

He renovates far too often for something like that. He does too much; he changes things too often, and really, he seems to have totally bottomless pockets. Some of the darker rumors about him include that he’s got his hands deep in the pockets of very many people that most reputable businessmen need to either pay a “special” tax to or avoid entirely. It’s said that Maximo is favored by many, but perhaps that’s just because Maximo creates those particular rumors himself. Despite how much his casino is spoken about itself, very little is known about the man who owns and runs it. Even in interviews, he is prone to changing his story. Perhaps he’s just private. Perhaps he doesn’t want people getting that close to him, or perhaps he embellishes because it’s not an interesting story. Everybody loves a good mystery. The only thing that everybody seems to agree on about Maximo is that he likes the attention. No, he loves the attention. It doesn’t matter what kind of attention, so long as people are looking at and talking about him.

Being called Boss by somebody as formidable looking at Cruz only further cements that in his ego, each and every time that he hears it.

“Got another what, big guy?”

Maximo turns his attention from the screens covering the far wall to the man speaking to him. Cruz stands at a formidable six foot three and is built with more muscles than any one person should be allowed to have. Cruz is very much the opposite of his employer. He likes to keep to himself; he is a no-nonsense sort of person. He doesn’t participate in staff functions, and he keeps a giant, electric fence between his personal life and his professional life. He doesn’t engage in small talk, and he tends to wear all black. Maximo knows that he has both served time on multiple felony charges as well as served in the Black Ops special forces because those two strange things stuck out on the man’s resume like they wanted to bite him. Maximo knew then just from looking at the piece of paper that he needed to hire Cruz, and ever since that day, Cruz hasn’t given Maximo a single reason to regret it. Yes, he’s an incredibly dry person but almost nothing gets past him.

“Card seven had an amateur attempting to sneak two extra queens into the deck from some little slot in the sleeve of his jacket; the dealer thought that something felt strange when the deck wasn’t as balanced and alerted security.”

Small red buttons were placed under the dealer seat at the table of each and every one of those nice card tables. Maximo likes the way that they look so important, and even more than that, it’s a very