Page 49 of Handsome Devil

Heavy silence fell across the room.

Achilles was the first to speak. A gleam of amusement tinted his onyx eyes. “Message received and will be conveyed. Now, enough chitchat. Let’s reveal our hands.”

Achilles exposed an impressive flush. Luca spread three of a kind onto the fuzzy emerald table. I took my time before I flipped my cards, unveiling a royal flush.

Vello and Filippo exchanged knowing grins.

“What are the odds?” Vello clucked.

“Did you know that there is a 0.0001 percent probability of getting a royal flush?” Achilles’s low voice skulked out of his mouth, along with cigarette smoke. “If you had that kind of luck, you wouldn’t have grown up to be this fucked up.”

“It’s incredibly convenient,” Luca agreed. “Even more so when you consider Blackthorn put his empty glass of whiskey on the credenza behind our backs before the game to act as a mirror so he could see our cards.”

I offered them a sly smile but no words.

They saw through my tricks. I found more common ground with them than I did with CEOs and hedge fund managers.

“He won’t admit it.” Achilles studied me, baring his teeth. “Just as well. Iwantto give him his prize. I’ve been meaning to get rid of it for a while now.”

“The jackpot is all yours.” Luca gestured toward a terrified-looking pasty boy, no older than fourteen, who sat in the corner of the room, huddled with the rest of their human currency. “Fresh off an Irish boat and ready to be worked to the bone.”

I took one quick glance at the child. “Throw him in a boarding school. I’ll collect him when he matures. I’ve no use for him now.”

The kid belched and hiccupped with relief.

I turned to him, raising my finger in warning. “Study hard. Don’t do drugs. Do not fucking contact me unless you’re bleeding out. Do you have a family?”

He shook his head hysterically.

“You can’t spend the holidays with me,” I announced dryly.

He nodded.

“What’s your name?” I demanded.

“Brayden.”

“I’ll see you when you’re eighteen, Brayden.”

Luca tapped his chin, still mulling the game over. “That royal flush of yours, Blackthorn. Make sure it doesn’t happen again. We’re men of honor, and when you betray us, we become very unfriendly.”

“What can I say?” I stood up, snapping my fingers. One of my bodyguards hurried with my coat, ready for me to slip into. “I’m a lucky bastard.”

Iwatched Gia in the surveillance camera app as she yet again slinked into the building at midnight, silent and sleek like a cat. She hugged a brown paper bag to her chest, tiptoeing her way in.

I did not like unprofitable deals.

As far as this one went, I wanted my fucking money back.

Not only had I lost a competent secretary, but I saw my so-called fiancée less than ever. She avoided me like the plague. Which left me no choice but to consume her like an infectious disease.

Setting my phone down, I turned off all the lights in the apartment and waited in the shadows.

I heard the mechanical lock of my door turn. She stepped inside, careful not to make a sound.

“Only thieves and cheaters sneak up at night,” my voice boomed in the complete darkness of the living room. I wassprawled on the antique settee she had purchased. “Let’s hope for your sake you’re neither. I’d hate for your mother to lose her child during such…turbulenttimes.”

“Jesus.” She jumped back, dropping the brown paper bag and a pair of heels from her hands.