What does it matter? They’re paying you to play. This case isn’t any of what you are promoting. Simply win some cash, pay Sammy off, and focus by yourself targets.

That’s simpler mentioned than finished. I can inform myself to not become involved, however I’ve a sneaking suspicion it’s already too late. Prefer it or not, Dominic and Carter are extra than simply guys I’m planning on having informal intercourse with. I like them. I would like them to be comfortable.

Oh pricey.

The vendor raises his hand in greeting as he walks as much as our desk and takes a seat. “Ed, very long time no see.”

That’s a lie. Ed’s a shill; he’s right here on a regular basis. Which suggests both me or Plaid Man is the mark. I harden my focus. The final time I’d performed in an underground room, I’d misplaced massive, and my satisfaction continues to be stinging. Carter informed me he’d cowl my losses so long as I performed right here, however I’d favor to not need to take him up on it.

Time to concentrate on the sport.

Woman Luck beamsdown at me, as if she’s attempting to make up for the opposite night time. I win and win once more, and I’m up twelve thousand {dollars} very quickly in any respect. Vittoria’s male mates make faces and mutter issues underneath their breaths. No matter. It’s not my fault they assumed a girl wouldn’t know play poker. Plaid Man and Ed take their losses with higher grace. Plaid Man seems inscrutable, whereas Ed drowns his sorrows in drink after drink.

Or a minimum of, he pretends to. That is the proof that Carter despatched me right here to seek out, however I’m skeptical. I’m unsure Ed’s consuming any alcohol in any respect.

My conviction that he’s faking grows over the course of the night time. Ed performs unfastened, and he’s drawing out Plaid Man, getting him to enlarge and larger bets. He’s attempting to attract me out too, and if I hadn’t been forewarned by Carter and Dominic that he was a shill for the home, I might have taken the bait. Ed Wagner might need been compelled to work for Denton Mitchell, however there’s no denying he’s good at what he does.

His voice is getting louder and extra animated with every drink. His arm gestures develop extra expansive. Plaid Man buys the act, as a result of he decides to go head-to-head with Ed. When it’s his flip, he takes a take a look at the playing cards in his hand, after which at the remainder of us, and slides a thousand-dollar chip into the center.

Far too wealthy for my blood. I set my playing cards face down with a wry shake of my head. “I’m out.”

The vendor turns to Ed Wagner expectantly. Ed surveys his playing cards, tosses again the contents of his glass, after which carelessly tosses some chips into the pot. “I’m going to lift.” He lifts his hand to catch the bartender’s consideration. “I’ll have one other rum-and-Coke, Mark.”

Yeah, he’s lifeless sober; I’d wager my final penny on it.

Plaid Man raises once more. The pot grows—there’s over thirty thousand {dollars} at stake. Vittoria folds, as do her mates. It’s solely Ed and Plaid Man, who’s lastly beginning to present indicators of nerves. Sweat beads on his brow, and when he tosses his chips into the middle and calls, there’s a tremor in his fingers that he can’t fairly conceal.

Ed drops his playing cards on the desk. Pair of aces.

Plaid Man slams his playing cards down and surges to his toes, knocking his chair over within the course of. “That is bullshit,” he snarls, his masks of composure stripped away. The hair behind my neck stands up, and each intuition warns me to get the hell away from right here. Plaid Man went from zero to snarling rage far too shortly for my consolation. “That is fucking bullshit.”

Dialog dies down immediately. The room turns into so quiet that if a pin dropped in that second, you’d hear it. Heads swivel to look at the confrontation, and a couple of particular person seems brazenly nervous.

Bulldog materializes subsequent to us, 200 and fifty kilos of stable muscle. “Is there an issue right here?”

Plaid Man appears to flip a swap. He goes very nonetheless. “No,” he says, eerily calm hastily. “There’s no downside. I used to be simply leaving.” He tosses the vendor a hundred-dollar chip, and heads out. It’s solely when the door shuts behind him that I lastly breathe once more.

Vittoria breaks the silence first.She laughs, a excessive, brittle sound. “Properly,” she says. “That was dramatic. Mark, I feel we may all use a smoking break. Gabriella, do you smoke?”

I unclench my fists and wipe my sweaty palms on my thighs. “I haven’t smoked in additional than ten years,” I reply. Once I was sixteen, a rebellious teenager in London, my mom had caught me with a pack in my jacket. Shit had hit the fan, bigtime. My mother yelled and my father seemed bemused, till he realized he wanted to yell at me as properly. Usually, that type of parental disapproval would have simply made me dig in my heels, however then my mom correctly made me smoke your entire pack directly. I felt so gross by the point I used to be finished that I’ve by no means smoked once more.

“Good for you,” she replies. “I hold attempting to stop, however it doesn’t work.” She shrugs philosophically. “See you in just a few.”

I get to my toes and stroll over to the bar space. “What would you want?” the girl behind the counter asks me.

“Only a membership soda, please.”

She palms me my drink. I drink it on the bar, maintaining a discreet eye on Ed. He’s retrieved his cellphone from Bulldog’s closet and appears to be checking his messages. Then he heads outdoors.

On impulse, I stand up to observe. Up to now, I haven’t finished a lot by the use of spying. That is my probability to repair that. Ed’s pretended to be tipsy for a lot of the night time, gulping down one rum and Coke after one other. However a daily glass of cola seems precisely like one with booze in it, and earlier than I inform Carter his brother-in-law is consuming once more, I would like proof.

Conveniently for me, the ladies’s washroom is close to the exit. If I hear anybody strategy, I can at all times duck inside.

I stand simply contained in the outer door and do my best possible to pay attention. I hear nothing. Rattling it. I crack it open, simply an inch. Fortunately for me, Ed’s not removed from the door. “He had a nightmare?” he calls for, his voice clear. “Is he asleep now?”

The particular person on the opposite finish of the road says one thing. Ed nods. “Put him on.”

He’s calling to investigate cross-check his child. Huh. Carter thinks Ed is a horrible mum or dad, however is he proper? Or is he letting the ghosts of the previous intervene with the current?

“Hey buddy,” I hear him say to Noah, his voice softening. “Mrs. Khan tells me you had a foul dream.”

He listens to his son, his face critical. “I’ll be again residence quickly,” he says, reassuring and calm. “Sure, Mrs. Khan will learn you a narrative. Only one, okay? No, you can’t eat ice-cream in the course of the night time. Good attempt although. See you within the morning, child.”

He’s not drunk. Not even a little bit.

I end the night time with twenty-nine thousand {dollars} in my pocket—Carter’s ten thousand, plus my winnings—and one sobering realization. Carter’s not going to be comfortable about this.

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