Chapter 3
Samuel had kept Daniel’s instruction secret for almost a year.
That angered me.
He accepted it.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Boss Daniel told me not to.”
“He was dead.”
“Yes.”
“Then you follow me.”
Samuel looked ashamed.
“I know that now.”
Good.
No excuse.
Daniel’s instruction had been specific.
If Marina comes into possession of my braided wedding band inside the Lang private room, she owns the room before anyone else speaks.
Oddly precise.
Almost impossible.
Unless Daniel knew exactly where the ring would end up.
I looked at Edmund.
“You weren’t randomly chosen.”
His face hardened.
“No.”
The Lang family had managed this casino’s private operations for fifteen years.
Not owned.
Managed.
That distinction apparently mattered.
Daniel had quietly acquired controlling authority over the casino shortly before his death.
Derek did not know.
Edmund did.
His mouth tightened when Samuel revealed it.
“You told me this was ours.”
Derek stared at his father.
Edmund snapped:
“Quiet.”
Interesting.
Another family built on selective truth.
I turned toward Samuel.
“Why would Daniel buy a casino run by people he didn’t trust?”
“To watch who came through.”
That sounded like him.
Daniel hated gambling.
He loved rooms where powerful men forgot to guard their mouths.
This casino had been one.
Over eighteen months, he used it to track meetings between several families that claimed loyalty to Voss while quietly building another bloc.
“The debt,” I said.
Edmund laughed bitterly.
“Your husband owed us millions.”
Samuel shook his head.
“No.”
Edmund glared.
Samuel continued.
“The Langs demanded Daniel compensate them after he took control.”
So the “debt” was invented.
Payment demanded for losing authority they had never truly owned.
Daniel refused.
Edmund retaliated by cutting Voss clients from certain tables and threatening to expose private arrangements.
Daniel still refused.
Then the demands changed.
Not money.
The ring.
I looked at Edmund.
“Why?”
His face tightened.
“We heard he kept a key inside it.”
There.
Finally.
“A key to what?”
No answer.
Samuel walked toward the poker table.
He pressed beneath its carved edge.
A small hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a circular recess exactly the width of Daniel’s wedding band.
My skin went cold.
May you like
The ring was not sentimental proof.
It physically belonged to something inside this room.
