Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Sophie
The dealer steps into position, and the room grows quiet.
I look at the score displays built into the table, the empty columns waiting to be filled with red and blue marks.
Apophenia with complimentary electronics.
“Standard commission baccarat,” Lorenzo says. “The plaques remain in play until either side calls for the principal wager. Once both parties accept, the next hand decides the real stakes.”
“One hand?” I ask.
“One,” Voss says.
“That is insane.”
The dealer slides the first cards from the shoe.
For the first several hands, I focus on the cards. Player. Banker. Totals stripped to their final digit. Fixed drawing rules. Lucian and Voss trade wins while millions of dollars move back and forth across the felt with alarming ease.
But before long, the cards become less interesting than the men.
Lucian plays with controlled patience. He does not chase losses or increase a wager merely because he won the hand before. His plaques rise and fall, but his breathing never changes.
Caleb does not bet.
He watches.
The dealer. Voss. The other men.
And me.
Voss loses a million-dollar hand, and his fingers move to one of the dark-red stones at his cuff. He rotates it once, then releases it.
Interesting.
Two hands later, he loses again.
Again, his fingers touch the cuff link.
“What does it mean?” Caleb asks quietly.
I look at him and whisper back. “What?”
“You’ve been watching his hand.”
And so has he. “I don’t know what it means yet.”
Voss looks at us. “Something to share?”
I offer him a pleasant smile. “I was admiring your jewelry.”
A faint line appears between Voss’s brows, and his expression turns cool.
Caleb approvingly brushes his thumb across my shoulder, and warmth moves through me.
The game continues, staying irritatingly even. Then Voss loses two hands in succession.
On the next wager, he chooses tie.
My head lifts.
The payout is seductive, and the odds are awful.
The dealer reveals the cards. Player finishes with six. Banker with seven.
Voss loses.
He rotates the cuff link twice.
Not fear.
I know fear.
This is irritation sharpened by humiliation.
He didn’t choose tie because he believed it was statistically sound. He chose it because ordinary wins are no longer enough. He wants spectacle. He wants to defeat Lucian in a way everyone in this room will remember.
The money has become secondary.
His ego is the real stake now.
I lean toward Caleb, holding up my hand and whispering behind it. “He’s tilting.”
Though Caleb’s gaze remains on Voss, he asks me to explain.
“He came here expecting control. The longer the game stays even, the more he experiences that as a loss.”
Lucian’s gaze shifts toward me.
I continue quietly. “He isn’t trying to win money anymore. He’s trying to restore the version of himself he expected us to see.”
“What version?” Lucian asks.
“The man who frightens you.”
Caleb’s mouth curves.
Voss places another million on player.
Lucian does not bet immediately.
I touch his wrist.
The contact surprises all three of us.
His skin is warm beneath my fingertips, his pulse slow and steady.
“Make him think you’re backing down,” I whisper.
Lucian studies my face. “You’re certain?”
“No. This is gambling. Certainty is the product you sell to people immediately before they lose.”
Caleb gives a soft huff of amusement.
I keep my voice low. “He needs to believe he’s regained control. Give him a reason to press.”
Lucian places only one hundred thousand on banker.
The dealer reveals the hands.
Player wins.
Voss reclaims his million and glances at Lucian’s smaller wager.
There.
His shoulders ease.
The cuff link remains untouched.
He believes Lucian is becoming cautious.
On the next hand, Voss wagers two million.
Lucian places half a million against him.
Voss wins again.
The room’s energy changes.
He feels it too.
He leans back and takes his first drink in several hands.
“Perhaps we should move to the real purpose of the evening.”
Lucian appears to consider the suggestion.
I know better now.
He has been waiting.
“What do you propose?” he asks.
Voss rests his glass on the table. “The principal wager. Full access to the archive against one use of your intelligence network.”