1

“You have to help me, Madeleine. I can hide in your apartment. They can’t find me!"

Pia sank down on the kitchen chair, crying.

Madeleine stood leaning against her sink and looked at her sister desperately. She had bailed her out so often, borrowed her money, or picked her up from dark street corners at night.

Madeleine groaned loudly. She really loved her little sister more than anything, but slowly she had no strength and actually no more desire to do it.

"When will you finally grow up?" Madeleine wanted to sound hard, furious and angry, but somehow she couldn't do it again. "Why don't you go to work like other, normal, people?"

“I'm just not as smart as you are!" Pia's words sounded desperate and bratty at the same time.

In fact, she had never been the brightest at school. While Madeleine had skipped a class, Pia had to repeat a year and dropped out after tenth grade. After that, she shifted from one waiter job to the next. The money earned was immediately put into make-up and clothes.

Madeleine sighed heavily and sank into the chair next to her sister.

The sisters could hardly be more different, both in appearance and in nature. Pia was a good-looking real blonde who knew how to use her feminine figure in the best way possible. In the last three years, she had managed to throw herself from one affair into the next and let the men endure her. So she came into the circles of posh casinos, rich men and of course the gamble.

"How much is it this time?"

Pia just shrugged.

"Pia, please. You need to have at least an estimate!” Madeleine was getting a little angry.

The ringing of Pia's cell phone made her flinch. She stared fearfully at the never-to-be-silenced phone.

"They will find me everywhere and then," Pia began to cry again.

After what felt like an eternity, the phone stopped ringing.

Madeleine got up and made a pot of tea. Again and again, she looked over at her sister, but she just crouched motionless on the chair.

When Madeleine brought the teacups to the table, Pia looked up in despair. “You have to talk to him. Surely he will listen to you. He's supposed to be an intelligent man. You are an intelligent woman. He will hear you."

Madeleine looked confused at her sister.

"Me? And who am I supposed to talk to? And about what?"

“Crawford. Torben Crawford. He is the owner. He will certainly believe you that we want to and will pay off the debts."

"We?"

Horrified that Pia expected her to not only help again but also pay off her debts.

“What amount are we talking about anyway? Is it at least still in the four digits?"

Pia shook her head timidly.

"Five digits?"

Madeleine groaned again, but again Pia just shook her head.

"Pia! How could you? Haven't you learned anything in all these years?"

Slowly Pia began to tell how she had slipped into the casino scene and at some point lost track of it. Since she was always there with well-off men, they always generously paid her debts whenever she lost in the casino. But mostly she was lucky. Never very much, but it was enough and the last times the gentlemen had caught her, but unfortunately not this time.

“They will force me into prostitution. I'll have to work through it, so to say."

“The idea is not bad” Madeleine replied thoughtfully.

"I should do sex work?"

“No,” Madeleine relented, “but work. Why don't you talk to him, what was his name?"

“Crawford. I tried, but his security won't let me near him."

"How did you get the idea that they would let me of all people get close to him?"

A little hope flashed in Pia's eyes. "He doesn't know you and he is fundamentally interested in women. He would be curious what you would want from him."

"I thought the security wouldn't let anyone through."

"I heard that Crawford knows and sees everything. He knows exactly what's going on in his houses. Especially in the one where he currently lives, nothing escapes him. At the moment, he is staying here in his hotel in Las Vegas."

Pia sat up straight and beamed hopefully at her sister.

She swallowed when she realized that she couldn't get out of this story. She had promised her mother on her deathbed that she would always take care of her father and little sister. But she had no idea how difficult the latter would be.

Pia's cell phone rang again. She carefully squinted at the display and immediately flinched back as if someone could see her through the display.

"Then you'll come with me!"

Pia looked at her sister in terror.

"No, they'll keep me right there, and with me by your side, you won't get through to Crawford either."

Madeleine raised her eyebrows tightly. Unfortunately, she was probably right. She thought for a moment and it seemed as if Pia had held her breath.

"Okay. I do it. But I'll only try once, and if I can't get through, you're unlucky."

Pia jumped up and hugged her sister.

"I'll never forget that!"

"Yeah, like the other times!" Madeleine grumbled, slightly irritated.

Then she considered what to wear. There was no way she wanted to sell herself, but she just wouldn't do well there in jeans.

 

 

2

"Mr Crawford?"

Torben Crawford slowly turned to his manager, who was once again frantically hurrying through the huge lobby.

"Mr Harkert. We're still a first-class luxury hotel here, you can't run through the halls like a maniac!” His tone was calm, but emphatically strict which made Mr Harkert immediately slow his pace.

"Do you know those little things?" He made a hand gesture. "Cell phones, that's what they call it, you can reach someone very quickly and inconspicuously and you don't have to shout through the halls."

Mr Harkert immediately lost all colour. He had heard that his boss was in a rather bad mood today, but that look didn't bode well.

Torben Crawford left him and went down to the casino. There he asked the security staff on-site whether everything was in order and then slowly walked through the filled casino rooms.

The conversation with Angelina Porter struck him again. Slowly she was becoming a bit too intrusive for him. She was the assistant to the manager of his hotel in California and had accompanied him to official events over the past year, which he was better off not attending alone.

At the beginning of the year, he had transferred a generous sum to her, as she always changed her clothes in order to appear by his side on an equal footing. But her fussy appearance today was hard on his stomach, especially since he had never given her any hopes.

It was no use. He needed a woman. At least for the official events. Now that the year was slowly drawing to an end he was expected again at many official events. He had to come up with something. Angelina Porter was out. After her presentation on the phone earlier, he had told her directly that he no longer needed her services, whereupon she simply hung up. Now Torben Crawford had to smile when he thought that his manager Mr Adams on-site was probably getting her bad mood. But he could handle it well. If necessary, she would have to go.

It was now late afternoon and things were just getting started here in the casino. The fact that the rooms were already so well filled let his bad mood drift away a little.

Torben Crawford took the elevator up one floor, where the security service overlooked the whole area with many monitors.

“Hello Frank!” He greeted his head of security and friend.

“Oh, Torben! Hello there!"

They had a bit of small talk. Torben Crawford relaxed against a table and looked over the monitors.

His gaze caught on one of the monitors at the casino reception.

"Zoom in on that," he instructed the employee on the monitors, who immediately operated the corresponding camera.

Torben looked at the young woman. She didn't fit into this environment at all. Very neat and tidy, but no woman went to the casino in such pants. The loose brown trousers appeared to be the same colour as her hair. She wore the loose, long white blouse over her trousers and the simple, plain belt emphasized her wasp waist, but she probably wasn't aware of that. At least she made that impression.

"Frank? Ask what's going on down there."

Frank nodded and immediately asked through the microphone.

"She wants to speak to the boss?" Frank repeated what was said and looked at Torben Crawford questioningly.

He raised his eyebrows in amusement.

"Did she say that?" he asked.

This vocabulary did not match her appearance. She wore her straight, long hair loose, which shimmered slightly.

Since the security guard was looking into one of the cameras while answering Frank, the young woman looked up and straight into the camera. Torben Crawford was intrigued by the innocent but honest look of this woman.

"She asked about Mr Crawford and immediately said that she didn't have an appointment, but that it was very important."

Frank got him back from his thoughts.

"Important to her, or important to me?"

Frank smiled as he passed the question on.

"For her," Frank shared her answer.

She was honest and obviously quite brave. You could tell that she didn't feel comfortable, but she stood there firmly.

Frank looked at him questioningly. Torben Crawford nodded slowly and went to the door.

"In my office, she can come in five minutes."

Frank nodded and gave the instructions straight away, while Torben Crawford slowly closed the door behind him and strolled over to his office.

 

The windows in his spacious office were dark-tinted. The two large, expensive paintings were lightly illuminated by special lamps and the leather seating group was brightened with subtle light.

Torben Crawford sat at his desk and wondered if he should turn on the stronger lights, but decided against it. It was still light outside and so some light came through the panes.

What did she want from him? She didn't look like someone looking for a job with him, he pondered. Maybe it was about her father? She wouldn't be the first daughter to try to keep her gambling-addicted father out of the casino.

He was sitting relaxed in the thick leather executive chair when there was a knock. The security guard opened the door when prompted and then stepped in with the young woman.

Torben Crawford smiled at the young woman who had stopped where the security guard had left her before he quietly walked away again and closed the door directly behind him.

He noticed how she struggled with herself. You could tell that she wanted to turn around and wished she hadn't come here.

 

"Good afternoon, Mr Crawford," she said in a muffled, unsteady voice. Madeleine wasn't sure what was bothering her more, the situation or this man who not only looked breathtakingly good but also had an appeal that attracted her. "Thank you for giving me a minute of your precious time."

Torben Crawford got up slowly and walked over to her around the desk. "A minute? Did my men say that?"

His voice was calm but rough and immediately gave her a shiver again.

"Um, yes. You have little time, I'd assume. I don't want to hold you up long.” She took a deep breath to encourage herself.

Torben gallantly walked over to the seating area. "Would you like a drink, Mrs or Miss?"

When she said nothing, he turned back to her and smiled smartly at her. "Come on, let's sit down and tell me what's on your mind, Ms?"

"Pardon me. Tomorrow.” Slowly Madeleine went to him to the seating area and squatted down on the edge of the furniture. "Madeleine Tomorrow!"

Torben Crawford nodded slightly, took a glass jug, filled with some fresh soda, and brought it to the table with two glasses. He smirked again when she almost emptied the glass of soda in one gulp after he had had a drink.

"You give me the impression that this walk wasn't easy for you, and I can't shake the feeling that it's not really about you." Torben Crawford refilled her glass and leaned back in the chair, relaxed.

"Of course you are right," she said softly, but in a somewhat reserved voice.

"Of course?" he asked with a smile.

"I think that you can judge people well."

Torben Crawford eyed her. There was a very special tension between them. Torben Crawford couldn't place this feeling at all. It almost sparked between them. Did she want to flatter him? But she didn't make that impression. She must've been solemn.

"And? Who is it about?” he asked, friendly.

"About my sister." Madeleine looked at him.

"Pia. Pia Steward!"

He couldn't help but chuckle a cheeky giggle. “Excuse me, Ms Tomorrow, but I would've never suspected that Pia Steward is your sister. You two are so entirely different."

Madeleine blushed slightly. "Yeah, I know I'm not as glamorous as Pia." Her voice failed almost at the end.

Torben Crawford took a deep breath. He had injured her unintentionally, he didn't want that and didn't mean it. "I did not say that. But you have to admit that the two of you are not alike at all."

"Yes, I'm not exactly the party animal."

"That would be a shame, animal at best."

Is he flirting with me? Madeleine thought, but she immediately dismissed it. A man like Mr Crawford probably only made fun of women like her.

"What do you do for a living?"

She looked at him irritated. "Pardon?"

"What do you do for a living?" He repeated his question.

"Um, I've just finished my studies." She looked at him questioningly, but he just returned her gaze and was apparently waiting for her to tell more.

My God, I thought the man didn't have time! Madeleine shot through her head. "I studied to be a teacher."

Torben raised his head in appreciation. When his phone rang, he apologized and gave quiet, brief but clear instructions. Then he hung up again and gave her a warm smile.

"As I said, I'm here about Pia," Madeleine tried carefully to get back to the original topic. "She clearly has some debts here and therefore some problems at the moment."

Torben Crawford shrugged. "Is that so?"

"Um, yes."

"How much are the debts?" When he saw her irritated expression, he had to smirk. "It is clearly less than a quarter of a million since I am only getting bothered with this kind of stuff above this amount."

Madeleine burst out horrified. "I wouldn't just call a six-figure sum some kind of stuff."

Torben Crawford gave a small laugh, picked up the phone, called his co-worker and received a shorthand note about Pia Steward's debts.

"I thought you knew my sister," Madeleine asked with a slightly irritated undertone after he hung up.

"Yeah. As a person. She's a real party animal who knows how to catch a rich guy over and over again. Obviously, as I said at the beginning, the total opposite of you. You seem to be very down to earth."

Madeleine eyed him slightly, but could not judge him. "What speaks against being down to earth?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all. That wasn't meant negatively. Quite the opposite, and it speaks for you that you dare to go into the lion's den for your sister." The corners of his mouth twitched cheekily. "It's roughly two hundred thousand."

Madeleine closed her eyes briefly and swallowed hard.

Torben Crawford gave her the moment she seemed to need. When she looked at him again, he smiled encouragingly at her. "What can I do for you now?" Torben leaned forward slightly and came pretty close to her face.

Madeleine pulled herself together so as not to flinch spontaneously. It was clear to her that if she wanted to achieve anything, she had to keep her cool.

"Perhaps you could stop the collection and defer the repayment until we find a solution to the problem."

"Huh. Who is this we?"

"My sister and I and maybe" she quarrelled briefly and swallowed, "maybe we can find a solution together with you."

"Huh" he said again. But his voice was still calm and friendly. "What exactly do you have in mind?"

"Maybe we could work for you?" Madeleine kept getting quieter. She couldn't help it, the presence of this man forced everything from her.

"You want to work for me to pay off your sister's debt?" Torben Crawford was both surprised and delighted. "May I ask what you had in mind?"

He lightly ran a finger over her arm. He felt her shudder straight away. He looked at her with a smirk.

"Honestly? I don't know,” her voice sounded desperate.

He looked at her in amusement. She was very pretty naturally, and he liked her. He found her reserved demeanour very pleasant. Suddenly he wanted nothing more than to pull her close and kiss her passionately.

"Will you excuse me for a moment?" Torben Crawford stood up and looked at her questioningly.

"Of course!" Madeleine also stood up straight away.

"Please stay here, Ms Tomorrow. I just have to discuss something briefly."

Madeleine nodded to him and Torben Crawford left the room.

 

 

3

He went straight through the security crew's office to the back room where the staff were sitting.

"Hello Charly," he greeted the man behind the desk, who immediately signalled the other men and they left the room without a word. Torben closed the door, sat down on one of the chairs and grinned cheekily at Charly.

"Torben? Long time no see. What brings you to me?"

"Pia Steward!"

Charly laughed out loud. "Sorry, but you are beaming as if you had just hit the bull's eye, but that can't be Pia Steward."

"Tell me what you know," said Torben Crawford. He knew he couldn't fool him. Frank, Charly and he grew up together. Everyone went their own way professionally, but the friendship remained. When Torben Crawford was building this casino hotel back then, he brought the two of them into his team. They were the only people, except for his brother and his wife, whom he trusted and could not fool.

Charly took out Pia Steward's file, turned the pages a little and dictated in stenography: “Born Tomorrow, married Robert Steward two years ago, but he quickly dropped her and generously resigned her. She is twenty-three and always catches rich men who need it. She goes in and out of the casino, though probably not at the moment. Her debt here is one hundred and ninety-eight thousand which we are currently trying to collect from her. Unfortunately, she is not in a relationship at the moment and is presumably completely blank."

Charly looked up: “It's crazy how the woman throws the money around as soon as she has it. So? What do you want from her?"

"What else do you know

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Cover: Christine Lenke
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 12.04.2021
ISBN: 978-3-7487-8012-0

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