Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Sophie
“The terms require amendment,” Lucian says.
Lorenzo turns the tablet toward us.
I scan the agreement.
The archive. The decryption key. Certified destruction of every duplicate under Voss’s control.
I stop.
“Under your control?”
Voss looks at me. “Is there a problem?”
“That phrase leaves enough room to drive a convoy through.”
His expression cools.
“You could transfer the files before the wager and technically comply with every word of this.”
“Are you accusing me of planning to violate Lorenzo’s terms?”
“I’m suggesting you wrote them carefully.”
Silence settles across the table.
Then Lorenzo laughs.
Voss turns toward him. “Something amusing?”
“Not at all.” Lorenzo’s mouth still curves. “Shall we correct the oversight?”
Voss regards me for a long moment before sitting back. “By all means.”
“All copies,” I say. “Wherever they’re held. And anything derived from them.”
Lucian’s gaze sharpens with approval.
Voss studies me. “You should have been an attorney.”
“I prefer helping people before they require attorneys.”
Caleb’s hand closes around the back of my neck.
Not hard.
Possessive.
Proud.
Lorenzo makes the amendment, then turns the tablet toward Voss.
“Accepted?”
Voss places his thumb against the screen.
“Accepted.”
Lucian does the same.
“Accepted.”
The black decryption card is sealed inside a clear case at the center of the table.
I scan the other side of the agreement and see the restrictions Lucian and Caleb have placed on Voss’s use of their intelligence network, including a list of people he cannot target.
My name. My mother’s. Elena’s. Piper.
I look at Lucian. “Those restrictions were already there?”
“Yes.”
“For me?”
“For everyone you love.”
His words threaten to make my heart melt. But I can’t let them. Not yet.
I continue reading. They included certain people in their network. Altair Montgomery. Celeste Fallon. The Moretti family. Rosa from the taco shop.
Before I can comment on that, Voss pushes his remaining plaques forward.
“Winner takes all.”
Then Lucian turns to me.
“Choose.”
I stare at him. “Excuse me?”
“The wager.”
“No.”
“You understand the game.”
“I understand that neither choice can guarantee an outcome.”
“Choose anyway.”
My mouth goes dry.
Across from us, Voss watches with open contempt. “This is sentimental theater.”
Caleb’s eyes remain on mine. “Ignore him.”
“What happens if I choose wrong?”
Lucian answers without hesitation.
“We lose.”
The enormity of his trust terrifies me.
“You’re asking me to risk your network.”
“Our network,” Caleb says.
I look at him.
He doesn’t correct himself.
Lucian takes one of the gold-edged plaques and places it in my palm.
The piece is cool and heavy.
“This is not rational,” I whisper.
“No,” he agrees. “It is a choice.”
The word moves through me.
A choice.
A choice that matters, with the consequences shared by all three of us.
I look at the score display.
Banker has won five of the last eight hands.
That means nothing.
Player won the previous two.
That also means nothing.
The cards do not know what came before.
But Voss chose player before Lucian ever offered me the decision. He thinks momentum belongs to him. He thinks he has regained control.
And he still thinks I’m an emotional weakness rather than an asset.
I place the plaque on banker.
Voss smiles. “Predictable.”
“Is it?” I meet his gaze.
For a brief second, Lucian settles his hand over mine.
The dealer announces that no more wagers will be accepted.
The salon becomes absolutely silent.
She draws two cards for player and two for banker.
Player’s cards turn first.
A two.
Then a three.
Five.
Banker receives a four and a two.
Six.
Player must draw.
The dealer takes one final card from the shoe and places it face down on the felt.
My pulse is everywhere.
She turns it over.
The queen of hearts.
Air leaves my lungs.
Zero.
And now the card lies between Malcolm Voss and everything he wants.
Player remains at five.
Banker stands at six.
For several seconds, no one moves.
Then Lorenzo says, “Banker wins.”
Caleb’s hand clamps around my thigh beneath the table.
Lucian releases a slow breath.
The dealer pushes the clear case across the felt.
Toward me.
Not Lucian.
Not Caleb.
Me.
I stare at it.
“Take it,” Lucian says.
My fingers close around the case.
The card inside is almost weightless.
The power attached to it is not.
Across the table, Voss rises.
“Enjoy the victory.” For the first time tonight, Voss’s pleasant expression disappears completely.
Caleb stands. He doesn’t threaten Voss, doesn’t need to.
Clearing his throat, Voss adjusts his cuffs and walks away.
Lorenzo picks up the tablet. “The destruction protocol has begun. My team will retain the verification record.”
“Thank you,” Lucian says.
With a quiet word, Lorenzo dismisses the dealer and follows Voss from the room.
The door closes behind them.
I remain seated between my husbands with the decryption key in my hand.
Caleb turns my chair toward him.
“You were extraordinary.”
“I made an educated guess.”
“You read him.”
Lucian rises and moves behind me.
“No,” he says. “You understood what he needed, then used it against him.”
His hands settle on my shoulders.
I look down at the black card.
“What happens now?”
“We review the archive,” Caleb says.
“We?”
“Yes.”
I turn enough to look up at Lucian. “You’re going to let me see it?”
“It concerns your family.”
“That has never stopped either of you from deciding what I should know.”
His fingers tighten slightly.
“No.”
I hold up the case between us.
“Then whatever is on this, I see it when you do. No edited summary. No selective version designed to protect me.”
The men exchange one of their silent looks.
I recognize it now.
Not agreement.
Debate.
“You trusted me when the stakes were real,” I say. “Now trust me with the truth.”
Caleb answers first.
“Agreed.”
I look at Lucian.
His jaw tightens.
“Lucian.”
For several seconds, he says nothing.
Then his gaze drops to the card in my hand before returning to mine.
“Agreed.”
Something inside me loosens.
Caleb’s thumb brushes my shoulder.
“You know what changed tonight?”
I shake my head.
“You didn’t stand beside us.”
Lucian bends, his mouth near my ear.
“You led.”
A shiver moves down my spine.
His voice drops lower.
“And now you choose what happens next.”