Day 2
 

        “And there I was, wiping this oil off of this turtle’s back. It was the most amazing thing!”

        Meliza idly picked at her brunch as her date launched into another tale about saving wildlife. Not that she had anything against people who delved into that. It just wasn’t her thing. So she did what she always did and put on a polite face, pretending to listen.

        Sebastian Monroe was a fellow Atlantic City resident – his family owned several hotels around the United States. With his brown hair, blue eyes, and athletic build, it was pretty obvious why several women in the restaurant were glancing his way. He looked like he belonged on the cover of GQ Magazine.

        But he wasn’t exactly Meliza’s type.

        And what is that? An inner voice taunted Meliza as she half-listened to Sebastian’s animated speech about aquatic life in Alaska. Apparently, he had moved from sea turtles to seals.

        Would it be incredibly rude if she yawned?

        Meliza forced herself to focus on something. Anything.

        Locke.

        She bit her lip, poking at a piece of fruit on her plate. It had been so long since she last saw him. Over the years, a part of her had wondered what had happened to him. He never tried to get in touch with her, so she assumed that he had gone into hiding with no plans to contact anyone.

        He certainly looked different. Well…different enough that if she hadn’t met him before, she wouldn’t recognize him now. His hair was much shorter now – he had kept his bangs long, but the style tapered down to the back of his neck, and gone were the blond spots of dye.

        “I should take you some time when we go offshore,” Sebastian was saying. “I think you’d like it.”

        Meliza blinked, clearing her throat delicately before offering a smile. “It sounds like an adventure.”

        “It is. You’d enjoy it, I promise.”
 
 

000
 

        In his room, Locke perused the room service menu as he cradled the phone between his shoulder and ear.

        “I’ll have the Sunrise Breakfast, white toast, and you can charge it to the room.”

        “That won’t be necessary, sir…your room has been comped for your entire stay.”

        He frowned. “Say that again?”

        “Our system says that your entire room stay, food and incidentals are complimentary.”

        Locke sat up in his chair. “Everything?”

        “Yes, sir. The general manager left instructions in the system regarding the changes in room payment.”

        Meliza, Locke thought. He had never met the general manager of this hotel, but apparently, the hotel’s casino manager had quite enough clout considering her parents owned the place…

        “Cancel the order. Thanks…” Locke placed the phone back in its cradle, his eyes focused on a distant point beyond his window view of the Atlantic City horizon.

        Rising to his feet, he grabbed a jacket and put it on over his T-shirt and jeans, heading outside for a walk.

        He’d been a little surprised about Meliza’s hospitality. Considering she made it seem as if she had no intention to contact him again.

        But he wanted to see her. Why?

        He shoved his hands in his pockets as he continued to walk down one of the busy streets.

        Over the years, his profession had brought him all over the world. He’d made enemies and very few friends. And as for the women who had briefly entered his life…many of them had easily offered themselves to him…and they hadn’t interested him.

        Meliza was the second who had managed to get past the walls he had built around himself. The first…Florence Yee…had been a fellow assassin. He met her several years ago when their target had been the same man. Their relationship had taken time to develop, but there had been a sense of freedom and peace in being with her. She had been his salvation…after meeting her, Locke had decided to leave the underground world. But it wasn’t meant to be…they had been found by their target’s bodyguards and Florence had sacrificed her life to save his. He had buried himself in work, shutting out everything else around him. A few years later, he arrived on Fighter’s Isle, with his most lucrative assignment yet. He and Meliza had met by chance…she had actually come on to him, unaware of his true intentions. Meliza’s friends had been his targets. Shortly after he met her, he’d been torn between carrying out his assignment and making sure she was kept away from harm. Even when she found out who he really was. One could say they just kept running into each other, yet they couldn’t completely stay away. He’d been in pretty bad shape back then. It was either change his ways or continue a self-destructive pattern. While a part of him regretted coming to the island in the first place, he never regretted meeting Meliza. He didn’t think he could care for anyone else after Florence had died. And Meliza had expressed interest in seeing him again whenever his life settled down. Looking back…when he left Fighter’s Isle, he was just starting a new life for himself. He had a lot of things to think about. He just knew that she was…more. More to him than he expected.

        And now?

        He was fully in control of his new life, he had gone well into hiding under a new name, new identity. He’d meant to contact her…but when he was finally ready…a part of him thought that she had moved on.

        And yet…

        Locke paused as a familiar scent filtered through the mid-morning air. Turning slightly, he caught sight of a small flower shop, with several buckets of various blooms positioned just outside the establishment. Locke lowered his frame, settled on the balls of his feet in front of a potted plant placed in a white bucket. A thin trunk emerged from the soil, its top full of vivid green leaves. And among the leaves, pure white flowers with yellow centers. He reached out, touching the gradient petals and leaves between his forefinger and thumb before glancing down at the label attached to the bucket identifying the flower and the price.

        “Plumeria,” he said quietly.

        “Found usually in tropical areas,” a woman’s voice spoke up from the doorway of the shop.

        Locke glanced up. The woman was in her fifties, her graying hair pulled up in a bun. She beamed at him.

        “I used to grow them back home in Maui all the time. The flowers make beautiful lei.”

        “I’m sure they do…” He immediately recognized the scent from last night. Locke rose to his feet, an idea in mind. “How much for a lei made of these flowers?”

        The woman grinned, gesturing with her thumb to the store behind her. “I have some in the fridge right now if you want to see…”

        The store was a narrow space, it must have been a ¼ the size of his shop back home. Inside, other flowers in containers took up the space. When he got to the fridge, he opened it, immediately selecting a lei with white/yellow and white/pink plumeria. It was currently wrapped in a sealed plastic bag to keep it moist.

        “That’s about forty dollars,” the shop owner announced.

        “I’ll take it.”

        “Would you like a box?”

        “Sure.”

        After ringing him up, she placed the lei in a white cardboard box, wrapping the box with various colored strings. She gave him a card to write a note on. He kept his message simple and brief, placing it in the envelope which she taped to the box.

        “These can go around a lampshade in a home and provide a wonderful smell for the room,” she suggested, handing him the box.

        “Thanks.”

        Purchase under his arm, Locke continued walking outside, stopping at a nearby café for a quick breakfast, grabbing the café’s newspaper for some reading material while he ate.

        So far he was up to date on his current events, but he read the articles anyway, just to see if there was a different perspective. Nothing wrong with considering something from all angles.

        When he got to the local section, a familiar name appeared in the gossip column…

        Sebastion Monroe is Meliza Rinaldo’s latest conquest. Honey, save some of those rich men for us! This is what? Golden boy number nine in the last two weeks?

        A faint line appeared between his brows as he continued reading. This couldn’t be right. It made it seem like Meliza engaged in casual affairs on a constant basis. While the woman he remembered certainly had a lot of confidence when dealing with the opposite sex, he hadn’t pegged her as promiscuous.
 

000
 

        “You’re early,” Ryan Cooper announced as Meliza walked into his office. He laced his fingers together, placing them behind his head and watched as his casino manager moved to stand by the windows that overlooked the casino.

        Meliza grinned at the hotel’s general manager, technically, her boss, but neither of them saw things that way. One, everyone knew that once her parents’ retired, she’d start running the company, and two…Ryan was the most easygoing person she had ever met. He hated formality that came with corporate structure. But he was ambitious and had been working in the hotel industry since he was a kid. His parents owned a successful chain of resorts across several destination spots in the world until a corporation bought them out less than a year ago. Not eager to follow strict protocol and corporate politics, he began to work at The Rinaldo in Atlantic City. He was well-liked among other employees and the staff had welcomed him when he came on board six months ago.

        Meliza moved to lean against his desk. “Just paying you a visit.”

        He glanced at the clock on his wall. “Forty-five minutes early?”

        “Seeing you brightens my day.”

        “You’re making me turn red,” Ryan cleared his throat.

        Her grin widened. “Actually, I have a little gift for you…”

        As if on cue, Stella, Ryan’s assistant knocked on his door and entered, two small paper bags in hand and a drink carrier in the other.

        Ryan’s jaw dropped. “Starbucks?”

        “Venti Caramel Macchiato,” Meliza announced as Stella placed Ryan’s drink before him on the large oak desk.

        “Wow. Legal crack.” Ryan gratefully took a sip of his drink as Stella laughed before sipping her hot White Chocolate Mocha.

        “You can last for another four working hours with that,” Stella said.

        Ryan took another long sip before setting his drink aside, turning to Meliza. “I meant to ask you…since you’re here now, I should get it over with. Have you noticed anything going on with the late afternoon shift? I’m looking over numbers…”

        Meliza winced before stirring her Mocha Frappuccino. “I think some of the dealers are getting bored. Players win too easily against them. They’re practically throwing money away. I’m going to start them on the evening shift tomorrow and alternate weekends just to make things a little more interesting.”

        “Okay.” Ryan nodded. “Not to point fingers, but who specifically?”

        “Pat, for one. She doesn’t seem to be here half the time.” Meliza took some of her drink as Stella went to the window to observe the dealer in question at the poker tables.

        Ryan and Meliza followed, watching the young woman work. She was currently playing with four other customers.

        “She looks here right now,” Ryan declared after a moment.

        “That’s because of the company she’s in,” Meliza said quickly after studying the four customers.

        “What?”

        Meliza bit her lip, feeling her heartbeat speed up just a fraction. “See the man on her far right…the one dressed in the dark suit…he’s a professional. She’s on her toes because he’s doing a good job of reading her.”

        Stella squinted slightly before going to Ryan’s desk to pick up a pair of small binoculars. “Hello, dark, brooding, and handsome…” She handed the glasses to Ryan who watched the game unfold through the lenses.

        “You’re right. He’s good,” Ryan said quietly. “Too good.”

        “I bet Poker isn’t the only thing he’s good at,” Stella said, her voice gaining a breathless quality as she lifted a hand to fan herself.

        “Blackjack, Roulette…he’s played them all,” Meliza answered. She kept her eyes focused outside the window as Stella and Ryan simultaneously turned their heads to stare at her. A mischievous smile came to her features as she looked at Ryan’s assistant. “And if it makes you feel better…he’s single, twenty-five years old, and he’s from New York.”

        Stella’s mouth dropped.

        Clearing her throat delicately, Meliza said in a conspiratorial tone of voice, “He invited me out for a drink last night.” Then she added, “He’s the one I asked the comp room for.”

        “That’s him?? Then he really is good if he got your attention that fast,” Ryan commented. He amended, “Or maybe I should say bad…anyone ever tell you that you have a bad-boy complex?”

        Meliza gasped. “I do not!”

        Ryan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. Chris told me all about them.”

        “Chris talks too much.” Meliza swore the next time she was in Vegas that she’d smack the hotel’s general manager for gossiping. Ten-year friendship aside.

        “And I’ve seen a couple of them,” Ryan responded.

        “They weren’t bad!”

        “What about that guy who ran his own business selling stocks that didn’t exist?” Stella asked.

        “Or that Italian mafia son?” Ryan asked.

        “What about that yakuza guy who tried to buy The Imperial hotel down the street?”

        “Okay, okay!” Meliza bit out, unable to argue with the two any longer.

        “Just being honest, Mel,” Ryan said, shrugging. “You should try going for nice guys for a change.”

        Meliza couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He was giving her relationship advice? Since he started working for the company, they’d become pretty good friends. But not once did he ever give advice.

        “Sebastian’s nice,” Meliza said reluctantly.

        Ryan made a face. “Sebastian loves animals more than he loves women.”

        Stella raised her hand. “I agree.”

        “And he’s only dating you for two reasons,” Ryan said dryly. “You’re as rich as he is and you’re beautiful, which basically keeps the speculation down about him being a real dolphin-hugger.”

        “What a horrible thing to say!” Meliza exclaimed. And yet she was trying not to laugh. The image of Sebastian hugging a dolphin was too funny.

        “Sad, but true,” Stella sighed. “What a waste on good looks.” Then she shrugged. “Oh well. There are other fish in the sea…”
 

000
 

        Entering her office several hours later, Meliza immediately spotted a white cardboard box on her desk. She picked up the card, reading the note:

        Thanks for the hospitality. –L

        She smiled, opening the box, her eyes widening in awe at the sight of a beautiful plumeria lei held in a plastic bag. Carefully, Meliza pulled the item out of the bag, admiring the string of flowers put together before placing it over her head. The scent was wonderful…more real than the fragrance she would wear.

        That was very thoughtful of him…

        A knock came to her office door. Meliza opened it, revealing her assistant who held a small box in her hands.

        “Hi, Alison,” Meliza greeted warmly.

        “Hi…this came for you just now.” Alison held it up, her eyes going to the lei around her neck. “That’s really beautiful.”

        “Thanks.” Meliza eagerly opened the box. Two presents in a day? Were women usually this lucky?

        She tore off the lid and dropped it in shock.

        Alison gasped, her hands flying to cover her mouth.

        In the middle of the box was a brown teddy bear holding a rose. The stuffed toy was partially cut up and shredded, with streaks of blood red paint on it and in the box’s interior. Painted on the chest of the bear in jagged, capital letters, ‘You bitch’.

        “Oh my god,” Alison quickly snatched up the box from the floor, placing the lid back on. “I’m so sorry, Meliza. I don’t-”

        “Who delivered that?” Meliza asked quietly.

        “Jack…the UPS guy.”

        “So it could have been sent by anyone, anywhere…” Meliza quickly turned to her office and shut the door.

        Alison merely went outside the office to toss out the item.
 

000
 

        It was getting close to dinner time as Locke played yet another winning round of Poker. He must have won a couple hundred since he started playing that day. Not too much by standards. Just pockets of money here and there. Mid-morning he had spent gambling at The Rinaldo. And just two hours ago he had arrived here, two hotels down from his hotel.

        He pulled back the sleeve of his blazer to glance at his watch. Today, he had worn a gray dress shirt and black pants and matching blazer – apparently, the outfit gave the impression that he was a working man spending happy hour at a casino versus a bar.

        Locke watched the dealer collect winnings before his eyes shifted to his right side.

        A short, bald Asian man with a goatee was approaching.

        “Excuse me, sir,” he spoke quietly, presenting a piece of paper. “My employer wished for me to give you this message.”

        “Who’s your employer?” Locke demanded.

        The man turned slightly, placing his hands behind his back, his eyes on the next table behind the dealer. Locke’s eyes followed, seeing a dark-haired, slender woman wearing a clingy red dress that tied over one bare shoulder. She was probably in her twenties. She met his gaze head on before taking a sip of her martini.

        Locke took the note, flipping it open.

        I have a business proposition for you. I could use a professional card player.

        “She says that she can pay you handsomely for your services.”

        “Not interested,” Locke responded, tossing the note back.

        The man’s jaw dropped. “But sir, this is an opportunity of-”

        “I don’t like repeating myself,” Locke warned. He rose to his feet and left the table, going in the direction of the restaurant.

        After settling at a small table and placing his order, Locke kept his eyes trained to the large window by his side, overlooking the city. In the glass, he caught the reflection of the woman he had seen earlier in the casino.

        “I told your lapdog I wasn’t interested,” Locke said flatly.

        “Not even if I’d pay you for what you seem to do best?” she responded.

        He turned, watching her carefully as she settled in the seat across from him. Her dark hair was pulled up in a twist, and diamonds dangled from her ears. They matched the bracelet that circled her left wrist.

        “I’ve been watching you since you entered the casino,” she began. “You’re very good.” She held out her hand. “Sun Chong.”

        “Devlin Cai.” He didn’t bother to accept her hand.

        A small smile came to her lips at the lack of handshake. “All right.” She leaned forward. “I have a proposition for you. And before you say no, hear me out. Your dinner is on me, and this chef is one of the best in Atlantic City. I should know, since I hired him.”

        His brows lifted. “This is your restaurant.”

        “One of several in this city.”

        He idly swirled his drink. “Then I shouldn’t be an ungrateful guest.”

        She nodded once. “Now then. You seem to know what you’re doing when you play. I need someone like that for this job.”

        “Job?”

        “Yes. Please let me finish.” The woman reached into her purse and tossed out a magazine clipping.

        The article appeared to come from a local magazine covering Atlantic City tourism and nightlife, discussing various casinos in the area. One of four photographs caught his attention.

        “The third picture…Meliza Rinaldo…is the casino manager of the same hotel with her last name,” Sun began. Locke could tell by her voice that there were no warm feelings between the two. Whoever this woman was…she and Meliza definitely weren’t on good terms. “She’s very, very good. And this is where you come in.”

        “Where…I come in,” he repeated.

        “Your luck and talent will get her attention,” Sun responded. And as if it were the most natural thing in the world, she continued, “I need you to seduce her.”

        Locke’s eyes moved to hers, narrowing slightly. “Why?”

        “I just need you to get her attention. Make her like you. And when she falls for you, you can dump her.” Sun shrugged. “She just needs a hard lesson.”

        “You’re taking a big gamble selecting a stranger to carry this out,” Locke said dryly. “I could be a nice guy trying to enjoy his vacation.”

        “Nice guys don’t come to Atlantic City alone.” She pointed to his left hand. “And no ring. You aren’t dodging any wife or kids to gamble.” Sun focused her eyes on him. “Besides, it isn’t that bad of a deal. I’d be paying you to gamble in her casino and seduce her.”

        “What makes you think I’d accept?” Locke asked calmly.

        “Because I’d pay you a quarter of a million,” Sun answered.

        “That's a lot of money. Still...there’s no guaranteeing I’d get her attention.”

        “Yes, you will,” Sun responded confidently. “With all due respect, you probably should look into a mirror sometime.”

        “It takes more than a suit to get her attention,” Locke stated, ignoring the compliment, crossing his arms. “If she’s as good as you say, that means she’s good at reading people. She’d see right through me.” Technically a lie, since she hadn’t been so good at it the first time they had met…but that was beside the point.

        “She appreciates men.”

        So he was getting close to the real issue. After that newspaper article he read earlier, he’d done a little digging on the internet about Meliza’s social life. Just out of curiosity. What he had found was even more confusing.

        “What happened?” he asked, slight mockery in his voice. “Did your lover have an affair with her? Or did he leave you for her?”

        “No,” she answered quickly, her voice shaking slightly.

        “Let’s just say that I’m curious about her now,” Locke said, sounding bored with the turn of the conversation. “If I’m going to chase after a woman only to dump her shortly after, I’d like to know the reason.”

        Sun’s fist curled on the table before she whispered, “My brother died because of her.”

        “What?” Locke leaned forward.

        “She’s a tramp,” Sun spat out. “She goes through men like mothers go through baby wipes.”

        “And…your brother was one of her…conquests?” he inquired.

        “He fell for her hard. I warned him about her, told him he was only setting himself up for trouble. After a month, she cut off all communication with him. She was probably bored of him. Hell, she was probably bed-hopping the entire time they were dating.” Her chest rose and fell with anger. “He was so devastated. He couldn’t imagine life without her. Two weeks after their breakup, he’d gone on a singles’ cruise with some friends and threw himself overboard.”

        Locke kept his face neutral, revealing no expression. In spite of the drama she had told him, he just wasn’t convinced. The woman he met two years ago was very different than the one she was describing. If Meliza was the seducing she-devil Sun was making her out to be, Meliza could have had her way with anyone on Fighter’s Isle.

        “Anyway…will you at least think about it?” Sun placed a card on the table in front of him. “Here’s my card…and my assistant’s cell phone is written down as well. He knows how to reach me. Call any time of day…”
 

000
 

        Hours later, Locke wandered back into The Rinaldo, his thoughts on his conversation with Sun Chong and Meliza’s active social life. Could two years really change a person’s life that much?

        It certainly did to his, but…considering what he had before…

        The hotel lounge had only a few visitors. Locke sat at the bar, surveying the area. Blue lamps illuminated the establishment, and it complimented the hotel’s Renaissance architecture.

        To his left, three men in business suits were conversing, and obviously not very quietly.

        “I told her she looked like a model,” one said. “She turned me down.”

        “That’s not how you get women like her,” another said.

        Locke glanced in the direction the men were staring. A woman wearing a pale green blouse, black skirt and heels sat at a table by herself, looking into her mixed drink. Meliza.

        “Watch this,” the second one said before sauntering his way towards the table with the lone woman.

        “Hi,” he said.

        “Hello,” came Meliza’s polite response.

        “I’m Brad Carruthers…running for Senate. You look like a woman who likes politics.”

        Meliza merely stared at him as if he had three heads. Locke rolled his eyes, grabbed his drink, and slid off his stool, walking towards them.

        “You’re right,” Meliza said with a too sweet smile. “How did you know?”

        “I can tell just by looking at you,” Brad said, lowering her voice in what he probably thought was an attractive way. “Intelligent women are so rare these days.”

        “Really?” Meliza frowned slightly. “I didn’t realize you could tell if a woman was smart by staring at her legs.”

        Brad’s eyes shot back to her face and he smiled sheepishly. “You caught me. Sorry. They're just so out there-”

        “Get lost,” Locke ordered.

        Brad turned to face him, shocked at the intrusion, his expression changing to horror as Locke said smoothly, “Sorry I’m late, sweetheart.”

        Meliza smiled, shaking her head. “It’s all right. I’m glad you’re here, I’ve had a long day.”

        Locke gave a cool look to Brad, the action alone provoking the other man to move away. Locke then took the seat across from Meliza.

        “No wonder you’re so busy,” Locke said dryly.

        “Keeping losers away is a full-time job,” Meliza agreed.

        “Dating around is, too, I think,” Locke said casually.

        Meliza sipped her drink. “Meaning?”

        “I read in the local paper this morning that you’re on conquest number nine,” Locke answered.

        She sighed, looking away. “The local gossip is just like that.”

        “Consistently?” he pressed. “I never figured you to be a loose woman. Experience taught me that you can be trusting…but not easy.”

        She shook her head. “I keep my relationships simple. Men either want me, my money, or both. When I was traveling abroad, I never had to worry about that. But since I came here and started working, it became known among the locals who I am, who my parents are…and they started talking. Most of the men I might have been out with once…and the locals just assume we’re sleeping together.”

        “Did you ever see any of them more than once?”

        “Some of them. But again, they only wanted two things. I made sure they didn’t get either by keeping things short.” She took a drink again, meeting his gaze head-on as she set her glass down. “I just haven’t figured out what you want yet.”

        Locke met her gaze steadily. “If I said I was interested in catching up with an old friend, you wouldn’t believe me?”

        “No.”

        He arched a brow. “Then if I said I want to catch up but I don’t understand why, would that be more believable?”

        “Actually, yes. The Locke I remembered did quite a few things, and he didn’t exactly understand why.” She appeared thoughtful for a few moments, until her lips turned up in a wry smile. “I’m meeting some friends tomorrow at The Minx. It's a club about two miles from here. You interested in going?”

        At that smile, his mind processed the invitation quickly. He wasn't really a fan of dance clubs. Too many people in too small of a space, extremely loud and often bad music, lousy drinks. But she was giving him an opportunity to see what she was like in her hometown…basically…a chance to get to know her again.

        “What time?”