The Casino Billionaire

Chapter 2

There was no sleeping in our apartment last night. Evert time Shawna moved she cried out in pain. I tossed and turned wanting to take her to the emergency room. That was so not possible. Once the emergency staff laid eyes on her beaten body and then examined her further, they would surely be wanting to call the police. What would we have said? “Oh, she has a gambling problem and lets them take it out on her body when she loses the line of credit, they extended her. Yeah, you know the casino out there on route 9. Uhhuh, the big one that funds most of the town. That place. This all happened there.”  Yeah, that would go over so well. 

Everyone in this town is under his payroll. The cops, the mayor, the town hall members, hell even the teachers bow down to a man they have never laid their eyes on. If we went in and said anything bad about this man we would end up dead not just one of us laying here with a possible few broken ribs. Sighing, I just give up on sleep. Rolling over, I look at my cell phone and see that it is three a.m. Might as well get up and start my day. Rubbing my eyes, I sit for a while on the side of my bed wondering how scared Shawna was during this whole ordeal. Yeah, it has happened before. Never four guys at once. That is just overkill. Shawna and I are built much alike. She is a bit taller than I, but we are both small. I stand looking at myself in the mirror. Shawna is bustier than I am, turning sideways, I do have more of an ass than she does. That makes me smile a bit for the first time in, jeez, days, maybe months.  

Already in my stretch pants and t-shirt, I pull on my coveralls. It was tough to find one to fit my 5’4” frame. They let me bring a weeks' worth home to alter to fit me. They are a must for my job. It’s a man's world that the company just threw a petite woman into. No one was ready for that, not even me. I had the experience, there was no way they could tell me no. The job was mine. They protect my body from the hot metal that flies around me all day long. I sweat like a w***e in church. Better than having terrible scars all over my arms I suppose. Grabbing a hair tie off the dresser, I twirl my long brown hair up into a messy bun, so it doesn't get singed by the sparks flying around when I walk by the welders. My hardhat covers it all pretty well if I get the bun just right. Hate working in a factory. It pays like s**t, even with a degree and experience. Getting a paycheck every week is better than not getting one at all right? Shawna works for some mind-numbing company where she sits in a cubicle all day answering phones. I don’t know, she says she likes it. Think it would drive me nuts just sitting in one spot constantly closed off from the world. Her pay is just as shitty as mine, so what does it matter where we work these days. No one wants to pay us what we are worth. 

Hitting the kitchen to grab some imitation pop-tarts to eat on the way to work, then go check on Shawna before heading to the place I loathe the most in the world. My frown deepens when I circle the couch and see her body. The bruises have turned purple and black, some are red around the edges. Her face is more swollen. Grabbing my phone from my pocket. Think pictures are needed for my after-work venture. Looking at her, I want to go there right now with a 2x4 and nail him straight in the balls so hard they come out of his mouth. Gently pulling back the blanket as not to wake her, I want to puke. The handprints are so distinct I could probably get perfect fingerprints for the police from them. I snapped enough pictures of her upper body to make a slide show. Figured that was enough. Not only could I take no more, but Shawna was also starting to stir and each time she mover she winced. Quietly and as softly as possible, I put the blanket back on her and head out the door. 

Getting down to the parking lot, taking a look at my rusty old ‘’98 Chevy cavalier thinking about how I get to drive this piece of s**t every day while that bastard rides around in luxury and gets to tell his big burly men to beat on small defenseless women. Yes, she is partly to blame, but it is an addition. Just because she cannot control herself sometimes doesn’t mean he should give her more and use that to his advantage. He could try to help and discourage, not encourage to feed his evil impulses. It’s not like he would be losing so much money that he would even notice that it is even gone. I’m sure he burns through a couple thousand an hour without even blinking. Christ his clothes probably cost more than she spent there last night. The more thoughts that run through my head the angrier I get. The angrier I get the easier it is becoming to just turn off onto the highway and go straight there now. Need to go to work. Need the money. Shawna won’t be working for at the very least a week. Someone needs to keep a roof over our heads. 

Seemed like the day would never end. I got myself all riled up again over lunch break telling the story to Chad. We have been eating lunch together since I started here five years ago. He sort of took me under his wing. This small girl walks into a factory full of men looking like she had just graduated high school, shy, timid, inexperienced. Boy did he have it all wrong. He found out fast that I knew exactly what I was doing and more. As for the shy, timid girl, well, the first big oaf that tried to manhandle me found out I was not one of those things. It earned me the respect I needed among the rest of the guys there and now I am just like one of the guys and I love it. They make me feel like family. I truly hate the job, love the guys I work with every day. 

Chad had been to the casino many times and told me he hadn’t ever seen anything seedy going on there. It is a nice clean place. The bachelor parties he went to were a blast and they went over the top to make sure the groom had the time of his life. Chad has never seen the owner; he does know that he owns more than just the casino in our town. All I could think is ‘Great so he lets this s**t happen at all the casinos he owns?’. Chad noticed me shaking my head to the thought. He touched my arm and tilted his head when I looked at him. “Oh, nothing. Just thinking that this s**t is going on everywhere, not just here.” He sighed along with me. This cannot be happening. My anger level is over the top. If he owns more than just this one how am I to even know he is here now so I can beat his ass for what he did to Shawna? 

“Well f**k. How can I attempt to confront him if he isn’t even here?” The defeated look on my face made Chad reach out and put his hand on my shoulder. 

“This ought to brighten your day a bit.” He made sure I looked up at him, “I saw his limo roll through town yesterday when I ran out to grab some dinner so, I do know he was here last night. There is a good chance he still is.” Chad nudged my chin with a smile then crumpled up his empty lunch wrappers. “We need to get back to work.” He stood up and started walking back in. 

Chad did his best to calm me over that lunch period. That last little note gave me hope that my day would end with getting some sort of revenge on this bastard. Kowing that he has more money than I realized didn’t help much. I know that over the years Chad has grown to like me for more than just a friend. I try to ignore that fact. I love being his friend and that is all. He is so not my type and his friendship is something I do not want to lose. Tossing my trash, I run up next to Chad, bumping my hip to his thigh (he is like a foot taller than me) as thanks for helping me over lunch. Chad looked down, smiled at me and then we went our separate ways. Back to work as usual.