Luck of the Dragon

saw the exhibit destroyed.”

Joey shook his head in denial.

“What are you planning on robbing, charred curtains?” she asked.

“You are supposed to find out where they moved the jewels.” Joey leaned forward, his face red with indignation. “We’re waiting on you. You are the problem.”

“I am the problem?” Fury swelled up in Lucy’s chest and exploded into words. “I am not the problem.” Lucy jumped to her feet, straining to keep the volume of her voice under control so Lil wouldn’t hear. “YOU are the problem.”

Joey glared up at her with a mutinous look.

“When I called you, hurt and scared—” Lucy’s voice broke and she couldn’t continue. Instead, she picked up a pillow and threw it at Joey’s face.

Joey swatted away the pillow with a casual toss of his hand.

Lucy’s chest heaved with feelings too long suppressed. Spittle gathered on the sides of her mouth, and tears filled her eyes. She crossed her forearms arms around her stomach protectively and tried to get control of her tilting emotions.

“I got news for ya, little sis.” Joey crossed his ankle over his knee and jiggled his foot. “I have helped you out, not the other way around. Do you know how many people wanted to take you out when you turned your back on Dad’s connections? I stopped them. I put myself in your shoes, I paid your debt.”

Lucy searched his face for the telltale look to the right that meant he was lying. He stared straight at her, his eyes unwavering.

“All you care about is the next big score,” she whispered.

“Yeah, Luce, so what. It’s what I do.”

“But it’s not what I do!”

Joey shook his head in disgust. “Fine, you don’t want to help me, I’ll do it all myself.”

“I just want you to quit with the stealing and gambling.”

“Not going to happen.” Joey shrugged his shoulders and cast his eyes around the room. He was disengaging from her—the sister always in-the-hand—to focus on the robbery-in-the-bush.

“You’re never going to change, are you?” Lucy’s words were somewhere between misery and acceptance.

“Now you’re listening,” Joey said. “I gotta gift. With the cards.”

“What?” This was the first she had heard about a gift. Could Joey have magic, too? “What kind of gift?”

“I just know what’s coming out of the card shoe.”

“What?”

“Yeah.” Joey met her eyes and glanced away, to his left.

“Then how come you don’t win?”

“I didn’t say I was always right, but I’m getting better.”

Lucy was stunned. Her agile mind tried to sort through the new information. “Do you think you have some sort of magic?”

Joey’s mouth opened, and he gave her a look like she had lost her mind.

Suddenly, the hotel door splintered in half, and Alec stormed through the pieces.

Lucy jumped in front of Joey, shielding him from the murderous look in Alec’s eyes. “No, no, he didn’t do anything!”

Alec stormed to the middle of the room, followed by an aggrieved-looking Lil. Alec scanned her up and down. Fury pulsed off him in waves. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes,” Lucy insisted, pushing her hands toward the floor, placating. “It was my idea to come see him. This is my brother Joey.”

“Who’s this guy?” Joey stepped around her and raised his chin and fisted his hands at his side.

“This is Alec Gerald, the owner of the casino,” Lucy explained.

“Well, I guess I don’t have to explain the broken door to anyone.” Joey’s words were cocky, but Lucy knew he must be thinking fast, trying to come up with an excuse for the room full of thieving paraphernalia.

Alec scanned the room slowly, then stepped to the table and picked up the schematic of the vault. For several long seconds, he picked up and discarded the other items on the table. The room was utterly quiet except for her rapid breathing and Joey’s shuffling feet.

Lucy chewed her lip. The costumes, the maps, the computer equipment—all spelled r-o-b-b-e-r-y. She winced when Alec jiggled the computer mouse and a live feed of the front of the exhibit appeared on the screen.

“It’s not what you think,” Lucy started, then stopped. It was exactly what he thought.

“You were going to steal from me?” Alec turned to face her, his face incredulous.

“I didn’t want to,” she said. “It was Gino. He blackmailed us into helping him.”

“You were going to steal from me, even after you knew about our bond?”

Lil cleared her throat. “I’ll just watch the hall, Jer’ol.” Lil exited the room without glancing at Lucy.

“I…” Lucy swallowed the lump in her throat. “I wasn’t actually going to take the jewels in the exhibit.”

Alec shook his head. “You.” He pointed at Joey. “You got her into this mess.”

“Who the fuck are you to point your finger at me?” Joey shouted, puffing up his chest and stepping toward Alec.

“No, Joey.” Lucy stepped between them.

“She told me you were holding her against her will, some drug shit, and dragons.”

“Did she?” Alec did not take his eyes off Joey.

“Leave my sister out of it. Go ahead and call the cops. You got nothing but a research project going on here. I was just studying your security, learning your best practices for consulting with other casinos.”

Alec stepped forward, light on his feet but full of heavy menace. “You don’t want to tempt me right now. I will tear you apart.”

Fear clutched Lucy’s heart. “No, no, no.”

She put one hand on Alec’s chest and the other on Joey’s. Under her fingers, Alec’s heartbeat was steady and slow. Joey’s, despite his bravado, thumped overtime and sweat sheened his forehead. He was bluffing.

“Please, Alec, can we just talk about this calmly?” she pleaded. Lucy saw a willingness to hear her side of the story in his eyes.

Alec stepped back. “Go ahead.”

Lucy looked at Joey, but he still looked like a rodeo bull in the chute, ready to buck at the buzzer. “Joey, please.”

Joey crossed his arms. “She’s not a part of this. Gino pulled her in to pay my debt. She didn’t want to do it, not any of it.” Joey held up his bandaged hand. “Gino convinced her to help out with a steak knife to the back of my hand.”

Alec nodded. “But Gino is dead. Why would you still be watching the exhibit?”

“I tried to tell him,” Lucy said. “But he didn’t believe me.”

“Gino is really dead?” Joey’s mouth opened, and then turned up at the corners. “All his rackets will be up for grabs.”

“Jo-ey.” Lucy’s residual hopes for him circled the drain and ran dry.

“Well, now that we have all that cleared up, we’ll just be on our way.” Joey was in a rush to get to Gino’s leavings.

“Lucy stays with me.” Alec’s words were final, his face a smooth wall of absoluteness.

“I don’t think so.” Joey put his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. “I’m not leaving her with some psycho who gave her drugs.”

Lucy struggled to get away from Joey, but his arm was a tight band around her stomach. “Joey, let me go.” She pinched his forearm, but Joey only held her tighter.

“Let her go.” Alec stepped forward, his eyes glaring over her head to Joey’s face. Joey lifted her off her feet and swung her to the side. The Padma sapphire dislodged from her pocket and fell to the ground at Alec’s feet