Felicia had a Jack, a Queen and a six.
The dealer had a Jack and an eight.
She went bust.
The dealer won.
Felicia’s mind froze.
She couldn’t believe she’d lost again.
The dealer collected the scattered cards and shuffled them calmly, waiting for her to decide which piece of jewellery to pawn next.
While Felicia was torn between leaving and continuing, the tuxedoed stranger slipped out of the crowd into a corner behind a roulette table.
‘You did well.’ Imogen patted his shoulder.
Neal Annable smiled. ‘She was easy.’
While his official title was ‘customer service representative,’ Neal liked to think of himself as ‘the roper,’ the bait to lure the inexperienced and unguarded newcomers into willingly opening their wallets and then emptying them.
He considered
