Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 126098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
“I have plans for this hotel,” she announced. “We’ll be doing a systematic renovation that, finishing on schedule, should take less than year and turn the Custer into a four star, luxury hotel which is the highest star rating we can achieve while still complying with the guidelines for obtaining and maintaining historic status, which I’m also applying for at the end of the year.
“What this means for you is more work, more attention to detail, and no excuses regarding job performance. It also means more guests and more money. A lot more money. For all of us. I’m inviting all of you to stay on and help me turn the Custer into the best hotel in the Black Hills. If you’re not interested, get the fuck out. I’ll replace you.
“If any of you think you’ll stay and try and start up your own sidebusiness like Mr. Kessler, I will ask one of these men-” She jerked her thumb at the large bikers standing a few feet away, “to break your fucking legs. And then they will throw you the fuck out. I hope you’re sensing a theme there. No more pussy for sale, no more bullshit.
“So take these home with you when your shift ends tonight,” she encouraged. “Look them over. I’m going to need a lot of help making this place shine. You need to think about whether or not you want to be a part of it.”
The employees filed out of the ballroom, eyeing the rangers warily, and keeping their distance. As Susan left the large assembly room, she shut the double doors. Abby, exhausted from the morning’s events, collapsed into an empty chair.
Each of the men picked up an extra prospectus and looked them over.
“Abby,” Mark said. “Where did you get that money?”
She sighed. “The Dugans.”
Mark’s jaw twitched. “You did not borrow millions of dollars from the mob.”
She scoffed. “Of course not. It was a gift.”
Mark narrowed his eyes. “How much did they give you?”
Abby could see no way around telling him the truth or any reason to keep it from him. “Ten million dollars.”
Hawk let out a low whistle.
“Why would the mob give you ten million dollars?” Mark demanded.
Abby looked up at him. “I told you my mother was cheating on my father. But I didn’t tell you with whom. With the old man. Mick Dugan. They’d been seeing each other for years. Even before my mother married my father. She actually started out as the old man’s mistress. When he wouldn’t divorce his wife to marry her, she married my father instead. She was pregnant with me at the time.”
“So Slick Mick Dugan the mob guy was your real father?” Shooter asked.
Abby shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t really know. I never opened the DNA test results. My mother thinks he was. If it’s true and I had filed a claim, I could have eventually ended up with a third of the Canyon.”
“How much is that worth?” Easy asked.
Abby shrugged again. “Hard to estimate exactly, since a large chunk of its worth is based on the action at the casinos at any given moment. But say roughly, I don’t know, two, three hundred.”
“Two hundred million dollars?!” Easy cried.
Abby nodded. “Pretty conservative, but something like that. I signed away any future claim on the Canyon in exchange for a cashier’s check for ten million. I bought the Custer for five and the extra five should more than cover operating costs until I get the place back in the black.”
Easy scoffed. “You should have asked for more.”
Abby shook her head. “Well, I didn’t want to go for a ride in the desert.”
“This is what you were talking about,” Mark finally said. “When you were fighting with your mother and you said our relationship wasn’t for sale.”
Abby nodded. “It’s not like the Dugans would just hand over the money to buy me out. And they sure as fuck wouldn’t just give me shared control of operations, either. It’d be a court fight. I’d win. There’s no doubt. But it’d take a few years at least. I’d have to stay in Vegas to sort it all out. My life is here. With you. With our friends.”
Easy stared at her and then turned to Mark. “She gave up sixty million dollars for you.”
Abby shook her head. “It doesn’t feel like I gave up anything.”
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
Six weeks later.....
It was Friday evening and Abby found herself yet again stuck in her office. Granted it was a bigger office, now that she’d thrown Kessler out on his ass and taken over his. But since she’d bought the Custer, she rarely seemed to actually leave it. She was determined, though, to get out at a semi-decent hour. She shut down her computer and opened her bottom desk drawer to get her purse. She had nearly made it out the door when the phone’s intercom buzzed.