Chapter Twenty-Seven
H ours earlier, in the same room …
Ada played this game, these cards, for her life. And she’d succeeded. She’d not only won, but she’d also crushed her nemesis.
Funny how she hadn’t exactly thought past that to consider how he’d react, or the repercussions of her actions.
“That woman?” Mr. Silvers yelled when Titan and Puck shoved him into the dimly-lit private room off the main hall. “She already cleared me out! She’s a cheat!”
Puck grabbed him by his lapel. “You begged for another chance because you couldn’t pay. This is it.”
“’Tis not fair!”
His protest infuriated Ada. No matter that he’d recognize her. After all he’d done to destroy her life, a part of her wanted him to bleed out.
“Isn’t it? Fair?” Ada asked.
He inhaled sharply when she spoke and his eyes met hers. She didn’t drop her gaze as she slowly removed the hairpins that held her mask in place. Even though her heart pounded, she couldn’t help but revel in the terror that gleamed in Silvers’ eyes. But then the terror drained away when he realized who she was, and he growled like a vicious dog.
“You cheated! Just like your father!”
She lay the pins on the table in a straight, exacting row. “I didn’t need to cheat. You and your luck are that bad.”
“Prove it!” He would have lunged at her had it not been for the wolves on either side of him, holding his arms so he couldn’t move.
Surprised at the strength she drew from facing his hatred, Ada placed her mask to the side and folded her hands in front of her on the card table. The scene was set perfectly; she in the light and he in the shadow between Puck and Titan.
“I won’t play you, girl!”
“You already did and you lost,” she answered and the calmness in her voice surprised her. And it pleased her. She was done allowing this man to ruin her life and steal her inheritance. And she definitely wasn’t going to allow him to think he’d gotten away with the murder of her father.
The arrogant man broke into a sweat but shook his head.
“Will you cut his throat then, or shall I?” Titan asked Puck.
Ada wasn’t exactly sure what happened to the men who didn’t—or couldn’t—pay and she’d never asked. She couldn’t imagine the wolves killing them. They were too smart, and truly, death would be an easy way out for Silvers—which he didn’t deserve.
Puck shoved Silvers to the chair across from Ada and the man cowered like a boy caught stealing. The wolves were, if nothing else, effective.
“The highest card wins,” Ada said. “If you win, I will pay your debt to The Lyon’s Den.”
“And what happens if you win?” His voice dripped with malice.
“Then you admit to killing my father and transfer the trust back in my name.”
“I will do no such thing!” He began to rise from the chair.
Puck pushed his shoulders and held him down. Silvers smacked his lips and licked the sweat off his stubbly chin. “It’s not your trust anymore, it’s my daughter’s dowry.”
“Except that Charlotte lied!”
“Did she?” he spat. “Where’ve you been the last fortnight then?”
Ada blushed when Titan and Puck’s eyes darted to her. What a world they lived in, full of double standards. She couldn’t go back to the Silvers yet failing to return sullied her reputation. And losing her virtue to the man she loved was not even something she could openly defend. She had to fight for him the only way she knew how—gambling.
“Where I’ve been is none of your concern,” she bluffed. “The higher card wins. If you lose you will explain to the authorities—in front of witnesses who I trust—that you forced my father to sign the trust over to Charlotte under duress. You made the conditions up, didn’t you?”
“You don’t know that. You weren’t there!”
“Then why did you cross your debts out in my father’s ledgers?”
“How do you know…”
He inhaled sharply. “You stole the books!”
“And you erased your debts to my father in his ledgers, didn’t you? That’s why you hid them from me! And you altered the will, too! You promised to look after me, to introduce me to London society just so you could get my father alone.”
“You have no proof for any of it!”
“I know that you killed my father to get my trust. You stole from him and me!”
“No court in England will take the word of a Jewish girl! Much less the mistress of a peddler!”
That was the moment Ada lost her cool. Beads of cold sweat built on her back, and she clenched her jaw. “Every court of law will accept written accounts of your debts. That you tried to falsify the evidence but didn’t finish just proves how guilty you are! And the debts are motive.”
“That may barely suffice to prove mens rea , malice, but without a body, there’s no actus reus , no evil deed. You cannot even prove both parts of a simple crime, girl!”
Ada’s blood boiled. She needed to avenge her father’s murder. The stack of cards before her had become her weapon of revenge.
“At least he was useful this way!” Silvers snarled.
Ada shook with rage. Had he just alluded to her father being slaughtered like an animal at the butchery?
“Where did you kill him? Where was he?”
Silvers shrugged and pursed his scruffy lips. He was disgusting. The vicious old man winced in pain when Puck’s fingers dug into his shoulders.
“You will admit all it. All of it, do you hear me? And transfer the funds,” Puck ordered.
“What’s left of it.” Silvers laughed then, clearly thinking he’d outsmarted her.
Ada’s heart dropped. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” he started in a gooey singsong, “A debut costs money. A ticket to Almack’s, the new gowns, furnishings for a lady’s parlor. If there are callers, where will they go?”
The blood drained from her limbs. “You didn’t!”
“Oh, but I did,” he spoke with fiery pride. Charlotte had already spent her trust. That’s why she went shopping every day, but Ada had never been in the stores with her.
“How much is left?”
He shrugged. “If you win, you find out. If I win, you’ll never know.”
Silvers reached for cards and checked them for cut corners or other alterations. He counted them carefully. “Cut?”
Ada swallowed hard. Now, rather than playing cards, she wanted to strangle him. But then she’d be just like him. This was going to be the hardest bluff she’d ever had to manage but also the moment to show her true capabilities. Losing to her would hurt him more than physical pain.
The room was so dimly lit that she couldn’t see Titan’s face. Usually, Robin signaled her opponent’s cards, but he stood behind Silvers in the shadow. This was a clean deck. The old tricks didn’t work. Ada leaned forward and steadied her nerves.
Then she noticed the candelabras. Polished brass made excellent mirrors and she saw all of Silver’s cards when he shuffled. So that was why Titan and Puck had set the candelabras rather than lighting the gas lamps. Ada forced her face into a placid expression but sent Titan and Puck a grateful look.
Silvers dealt himself a ten of hearts. He laid it face down on the table. She had four turns to trump his card or else he’d win.
“Your first?”
He picked the next card, an eight of spades. Ada shook her head. Silvers had no clue that she’d seen it.
“Go on,” Ada said.
He dealt another. She couldn’t make out whether it was the king or queen, but she shook her head regardless. If there was a higher card, she’d want it. She didn’t want to win against Silvers, she wanted to crush him.
“Are you sure? Only two left.”
“Next card. I’ll let you know which is mine.”
Silvers shuffled again and pulled another card. His face fell and Ada saw the card in the polished brass.
“That’s the one,” she said.
Silvers put the card on the table.