"You're staying here. With us. Until we move on the hotel."
"...What?"
The words landed in the room and silken followed.
I looked sideways at Molly, Maribel, and Rico instinctively. But their expressions told me everything. Molly's eyebrows had climbed slightly. Maribel looked genuinely caught off guard. Rico had that face he made when something happened that he hadn't been briefed on either.
So this wasn't pre-planned. Marlon had just decided this. Right now. At the table.
"What are you saying exactly?" Cindy blurted out, dumbstruck.
"You heard me well enough, little blond head," Marlon said, without any particular urgency. "I'm keeping your boyfriend here, with us until we've taken back the Golden Nugget and secured the State Marina. After that, he's all yours again."
"B…But Ryan is with us!" Daisy said, and there was more firmness in her voice than she usually let through. For Daisy, that basically counted as slamming a fist on the table.
