Page 3 of Skins Game

In the world of venture capital, where pirate tactics were the norm and mass layoffs were standard, Gabriel Fish gave VCs a bad name.

Jericho asked, “Who was stupid enough to make a bet with The Shark?”

Match whispered,“All of us.”

Jericho leaped to his feet and bobbled, catching himself as he almost fell over, and then wrenched himself around to stare at Match.“What?”

Match sucked in a deep breath and said, “Weallsigned this,all four of us,plus Gabriel Fish. It’sa five-way bet.”

So Kingston was on the hook.

And so were Mitchell, Jericho, and Morrissey.

He spun his legs off the couch, the sick in his mouth and knitting needles rammed through his temples less important now that his entire life was on the line.

He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and Morrissey and Jericho did the same as they watched Match sift through the contract he held.

Morrissey said, “Well, it can’t be that bad. How much could we have bet?” His shoulders were hunched, and he wasn’t smiling as he whistled in the dark.

Match shook the paper he held. “A hundred million dollars each.”

Holy shit.Kingston’s fingernails bit into his knees through his blue suit slacks.

Match continued, “Winner take all. Whoever wins, the other four saps have to pay him a hundred million dollarseach.”

Jericho staggered off the couch like an earthquake had shaken him off. “Are you serious?”

Though Kingston was usually solid as hell, he slapped his hands on the old wood of the coffee table. The empty bottles rattled their glass shoulders against each other. “If the four of us lose, we’ll owe Gabriel Fish four hundred million dollars. That would bankrupt Last Chance, Inc.”

And break up the only friends he had in his life.

The only brothers he had in his life.

The onlyfamilyhe had.

Morrissey shook his head, and his breath rasped in his throat. “We were drunk. We were not of sound mind when we signed that contract. It’s not enforceable.”

The rays of sunlight slicing through the windows high above the long lounging room turned to glimmers of hope. Morrissey had graduated tip-top of his class in law school and been admitted to the New York State bar. He could get them out of this stupid sucker bet.

Except that Match shook the paper at them. “It’s gottwonotarized sections. One is us agreeing to the contract. The other one states that we were of sound mind and body.Ten witnessesco-signed and attested to it, includingJustice Marissa Otis.”

Morrissey grabbed another copy of the contract from the stack on the coffee table and started going through it.

Jericho raised his hands as if they were being held up, which they were. “Gabriel gota Supreme Court justiceto witness the document stating that we were of sound mind and body when I can’t even remember what happened?”

At least Kingston wasn’t the only one who’d drunk himself stupid the night before, though that was cold comfort in the light of them ruining their lives with one night of sordid inebriation.

Morrissey stared at the document and finger-combed the dark waves of his hair away from his face. “It’ll take years in litigation to break this contract, and I don’t know if we couldever do it withOtisas one of the signatories.” He flipped to the last page. “Who else?”

Match said, “AG Lydia Dickman witnessed it, and so did Senator Harkness.”

Jericho sat back down on the couch like his knees had given out.

Kingston leaned back on the couch and stared at the dark beams of the white plaster ceiling three stories above, daring it to cave in and bury them in rubble and snow.

Jericho asked, “The Shark got a Supreme Court justice, a sitting senator, andthe Attorney General of the United Statesto witness his contract with us?”

He’d tied it up like a fucking Christmas present, ribbons and all.