At another table, a group of friends from around the world had flown in to enjoy a game. I was positive they were wagering on some real estate venture one of them had recently procured in addition to the million dollars in the pot in front of them.

Yes, all of these players could bet in the many casinos of Vegas and win big, but none of them could make the type of deals that went down at my tables. Here, it wasn’t just cards and cash at stake, but business transactions. I created the opportunity for them to meet, and the players created their endeavors without a paper trail.

It was all very illegal, with the possibility of landing every person here in hot water if caught.

They all knew what to expect the second they entered an event space: high stakes, cash up front, with a percentage going to the house, and no one discussing the guest list or what transpired.

All attendees went through a vetting process before receiving an invitation, and I never held a Silent Night event at the same location twice. Even tonight’s event would disappear come morning with the suite only having evidence of a couple of friends enjoying their last night in Vegas together before one of them moved to New York for her wedding.

My wedding.

My stomach clenched. I was really going to do it. I’d leave this city I’d grown to love and return to a life filled with rules and expectations.

All for a man.

A man who drove me crazy half the time and made me need him with every fiber of my being the other half.

“Drink this. It will calm your nerves. I know it helped me,” my girlfriend and cousin-in-law, Penny Lykaios, said as she set a soft hand on my shoulder and held out a tumbler of dark reddish-gold whiskey with the other.

Without thinking, I threw it back, letting the fiery liquid burn down my throat and soothe my senses. “What makes you think I’m nervous?”

“Well, if downing the drink wasn’t indication enough, let me count the ways. First, the last time you spoke to your intended, he told you to shut down your operation, and you told him to fuck off. Then immediately scheduled tonight’s event.”

Until Simon Drakos met me, no one ever dared to tell him to fuck off without dire consequences.

It was one of the first things I told him to do after discovering who he was a little over a year ago.

Back then, I’d rather have shot him than marry him.

We’d both broken so many of our hard-and-fast rules of life when it came to each other. He’d softened for me, letting me see a side of the hard man no one else saw. And I’d given him all my secrets, knowing he’d keep them safe.