Chapter 6

Ace's POV

He was fishing, trying to figure out what I was doing here. Which meant he suspected something, but didn't know what.

I let my smile turn sharp. "The Ace you know also wouldn't let someone steal from her and get away with it."

Blake went very still. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Eight hundred and forty-seven thousand dollars." I let the words hang in the air. "Ring any bells?"

The color drained from his face, but he recovered quickly. Too quickly for someone who was genuinely confused.

"I think there's been a misunderstanding," he said carefully.

"I don't think there has." I pushed all my chips forward. "All in."

Blake stared at the chips, then at me. The rest of the table was watching like spectators at a train wreck. This had stopped being about cards and started being about something much more dangerous.

"That's... that's a big bet," Blake stammered.

"Not as big as the one you made with my future."

He folded, pushing his cards away with shaking hands.

I collected the pot without showing my cards, letting him wonder what I'd been holding. In poker, uncertainty was often more powerful than actual strength.

The next two hours were systematic destruction. Every tell Blake had ever shown me, every weakness I'd observed during our relationship, every insecurity he'd ever confided—I used it all. Not just to win pots, but to get inside his head, to make him doubt every decision.

Knox had positioned himself where Blake couldn't see him clearly, but I could catch glimpses of him in my peripheral vision. Twice I noticed him take phone calls, stepping away from the bar and speaking in low tones.

The third time, I caught a snippet of conversation as he passed behind my chair.

"Target's responding exactly as predicted," Knox said quietly into his phone. "Should have the information we need within the hour."

My stomach dropped, but I kept my expression neutral. Target. He was talking about Blake, obviously. Had to be. But something about the way he'd said it, the clinical detachment in his voice, made me wonder.

Blake was spiraling. He'd lost almost a hundred thousand in the past hour, making increasingly desperate plays and bad decisions. The careful, calculating man I'd once known was gone, replaced by someone running scared.

"You know what's funny?" he said as he pushed more chips forward on a hand I knew he couldn't win. "I always wondered what would happen if you ever found out about my side investments."

"Side investments." I kept my voice flat. "That's what we're calling theft now?"

"It's not theft if it's for a good cause." His smile was bitter. "But I guess you wouldn't understand that. You never could see the bigger picture."

There was something in his tone—not just defensiveness, but something almost like pity. Like he knew something I didn't, and despite everything, he felt sorry for me.

"Enlighten me," I said.

Blake glanced around the table, then back at me. "Some games have higher stakes than money, Ace. Some players aren't who they seem to be."

Before I could ask what he meant, he folded his hand and stood abruptly.

"This has been fun," he announced to the table, "but I think I'm done for tonight."

He walked away without looking back, leaving me with a pile of chips and a dozen questions.

I cashed out and made my way toward the exit, looking for Knox. I found him near the elevator, finishing another phone call.

"—everything went according to plan," he was saying as I approached. "Target took the bait perfectly."

He ended the call and turned to me with a smile. "How did it go?"

"Blake's broke and humiliated, just like you wanted." I studied his face carefully. "Who were you talking to?"

"Business associates. They like to be kept informed." Knox gestured toward the elevator. "Ready to get out of here?"

As we waited for the elevator, I replayed the conversation I'd overheard. Target took the bait perfectly. The timing was wrong for it to be about Blake—Knox had said those words after Blake had already left.

Which meant he'd been talking about someone else.

The elevator arrived, and as the doors closed behind us, I caught Knox's reflection in the polished steel. He was watching me with the same calculating expression I'd seen him use when evaluating a business deal.

I'd thought we were partners. But maybe I was just another mark in a game I didn't fully understand.