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CHAPTER 1

"I know my fairy tales," I told my cousin "And there's a beast up in that lair" Pete and I stood on the spacious terrace of the Calydon Casino's penthouse, peering at an even higher observation deck

We were already so elevated, I felt as if we could reach up and graze the full moon

"You're calling Dmitri Sevastyan a beast now?" Pete's expression was aht blond hair Likefroh you've never met him?"

"Yep" The Sevastyans' lavish party was in full swing--music boomed and hundreds of revelers crowded inside the enormous four-suite penthouse--yet Dmitri had sequestered himself up on that deck, apparently on his worst behavior "And just like in the fairy tales, you plan to sacrifice this o scope out the combative man

"That's crazy talk Everybody knows you're not a maiden"

I punched his arht as well be a maiden My three notches hadn't been worth it

"And D, "Much Hardly at all"

Pete knew everything there was to know about the Sevastyan farifter could find out with choice sources As the casino's VIP host, he catered to the whih rollers--our very own inside man

I didn't knohis pluenerate whales, mainly for blackmail

A curl escaped ust breezethe deck, D"

Another group of hopefuls had ascended a few o Every female on the Strip seemed to have heard about this party--free food, free

booze, and an eligible billionaire in attendance

Pete shrugged his buff shoulders I swore he was still growing at twenty-nine "I'ive ood"

Half talent er, half con coach, Pete had positioned e as cocktail servers/honey traps

Toe the line, boys, or you'll feel the sting

Unfortunately, the three brothers, tives, and one tagalong friend were toeing the line

They didn't ask for drugs, and their tastes didn't run toward the illegal or immoral Both of the married couples were devoted In fact, the middle brother and his ere here to celebrate their four-year wedding anniversary

No dirt, no dinero; no sins, no in

"Besides, you gotta get a looksee at Dmitri," Pete said "He'll be the most beautiful man you've ever laid eyes on" My sister Karin had said the saht

"Even finer than his brothers?" I'd passed them in the penthouse, two built, black-haired hotties who'd been glued to their lovely wives

"Much finer" Pete uileless as he said, "Trust me"

"Trust you?" Despite our circuuileless too, had learned that trick before I could even read with them

Grated words sounded from the deck above as Dmitri chewed out the latest females who'd dared to breach his lair

Not long after, a bevy of babes in vagina-length dresses flounced down the steps They all talked at once "What a prick!" "I don't care how gorgeous he is; who says shit like that?" "Could he have been hotter? Or ?"

I recognized Sharon, a bottle-service girl who lived in er to the grifter life herself

Chane flute in hand, she waved her friends onward toward the bar, then sashayed over to us; with her every step, her strapless red dress valiantly struggled to contain her rack

She rose on her toes to kiss my cousin's cheek and murmured with affection, "Petey Three Times"

Grifter nicknaood he could con you twice ht him the first time Also known as Re-Pete

I'd gotten the nicknanation from my family's stock-investment schemes

For years, we'd found , so we'd sold the

But those days were over

Pete s fabulous as ever"

"Char me a once-over "Great dress, Vice All classy"

"Thanks, doll" I'd o for a job Tonight, e from las for dia hair into an elegant knot Instead of platform heels, I wore ankle-strap d'Orsay pumps

Sharon sipped her flute "You dress up for that Sebastian gull?" A gullible, anyone outside the grift

"It's actually with a V," Pete said "Suh-vast-yun" Details were our job

Sharon shrugged, her dress hanging on precariously Her enhanced boobs dwarfed it carry drinks without a tray