Heist Royale (Thieves’ Gambit #2)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Twenty-Five

11:01pm, 360 of 2,000 victor chips accumulated.

Where are you?

I tried to respond to Taiyō’s message as stealthily as I could. He sent another before I could even get mine off. I hadn’t even noticed the dots dancing. How fast did this guy type?

You were supposed to be at baccarat two minutes ago.

Caught up in a thing.

Quite the annoying thing. Kiah just had to poke around and ask what game I’d won my chips in. I replied that I had only played the slot machines, because I really didn’t need him asking around and finding out that I hadn’t actually won these chips at any tables, so then that gave him the perfect opening to invite me to play a game with him. Great.

Dots danced across the screen. Maybe Taiyō would have an out for me—

“Kennedy.” My head snapped up. Kiah’s line of sight flicked to my phone. I slid it into my jacket pocket, ignoring the string of vibrations. “What game do you want to play?”

“Are you sure you want to play with me? It might make it harder to catch me in the act if you’re trying to win too.”

“You don’t get a better view than when you’re at the table. And I don’t mind multitasking.”

At least he was letting me pick where we went. I might be screwed, but I could make sure he stayed away from Taiyō and Mom.

Actually, maybe this was perfect. If Kiah wanted a cheater to catch, I had two I could deliver right to him. Noelia and Mylo’s whole shtick tonight was drawing in suspicion. If I could redirect Kiah’s attention to them, it might just be my salvation. Or at least, the assignment’s.

“A card game,” I decided, glancing up at the tables that I knew Mylo and Noelia were at. “Something high stakes.”

Kiah seemed pleased. “As you wish.”

Instead of the glass elevators, he opted for the curving glass staircase, much to the woe of my feet, dying inside these heeled boots. The bastard probably did so on purpose.

I scanned the first floor as we climbed the steps, looking over the black-and-green floor, pool tables, blinking neon machines, and sea of people. It reminded me of Wonderland, but with more gambling addicts. Guess I forgot the part of that story in which Wonderland was just as deadly as it was magical.

It took a moment, but I finally spotted Taiyō, and subsequently Mom coming up to meet him. Both were looking at me. Taiyō was as still as a corpse, probably trying to figure out how I managed to ruin his plan before we even got to the halfway mark. Something told me he knew exactly who I was walking behind.

No matter what, it was going to be hard for me to go back to being an inconspicuous rando, so me racking up more little thefts was probably over.

My stomach knotted. Even if I wasn’t officially busted yet, I might have really screwed us.

A sense of polite quiet enveloped the second level of the casino. There was a clear divide between up here and down there. A preppier general dress code, softer music, more tastefully dressed cocktail waitresses, and a lot more bouncers. Various game tables were organized around the space. Small lights glowed along the edges, setting the rest of the floor in a shadowy dimness reminiscent of a club.

Two bouncers stood sentinel in front of a velvet rope, keeping out anyone who hadn’t paid for their two-hundred-dollar exclusive entrance chip. For me and Kiah, however, the bouncers stepped aside.

“Which game?” Kiah asked.

“Which do you want me to pick?” It might seem too obvious if I picked Hart’s Bluff myself. I was trying to distract him with Mylo and Noelia, but I couldn’t have him thinking I was in on anything with them. It’d be better if he thought he picked the game himself, and my gut told me he’d go for the one with his name in the title.

“Hm…” He started nudging me in a certain direction. “Ever played Hart’s Bluff?”

Typical narcissist.

“Nope.”

He was practically shaking suddenly. Not a nervous kind of shiver, but an excited, anticipatory shake.

“It’s a house original.”

“I could tell by the name.”

“My favorite game in the whole casino. We’re going to have such fun playing together,” he said, an unspoken threat in his words. I hadn’t even said I wanted to play.

“Not like I had much of a choice,” I mumbled.

With his annoying hand on my back, Kiah guided me toward the Hart’s Bluff table. There was only one on this floor, and it was flocked with people. One of the bouncers stepped in to nudge a path for us. We arrived just after the latest hand, in time to watch an older Black man with graying dreads slam his fist against the table and throw his cards down before storming away. Mylo raked in a new collection of chips to add to his obscenely growing pile.

“I’m on fire,” Mylo announced, eliciting a scowl from the pair of security guards lurking at the edges of the crowd. Noelia should have just been starting to make her signaling a touch more obvious too.

I caught her mingling with the crowd, wearing a gleaming smile and whispering with a man I’d never seen before.

Her smile faltered when she noticed me. I pinched my lips, wondering if I could convey all the things in just one inconspicuous look.

“Mr.Hart, we were just about to call you.” A man in a too-tight-for-comfort jacket with an earpiece spindling from his ear leaned into Kiah, whispering. The angle wasn’t in my favor, so I couldn’t read his lips, but I assumed he was filling Kiah in on the possible suspicious activity going on up here.

Great. Just what I needed.

“Feel free to back off some,” Kiah interrupted, putting a dismissive hand up. “My new friend and I are on the case.” He slapped my shoulder, and I really, really had to refrain from twisting his hand into a wrist-shattering lock.

“What a coincidence,” Kiah said, to me this time. “I’ve just heard that there’s some uneasy antics going on up here too.”

“Sounds like a dream come true for you,” I said.

Another couple of people left the table, and a convenient two chairs opened up, with only one pantsuited woman between the new seats and Mylo. The dealer shooed away an incoming pair, who might have been waiting for their shot at the table for who knew how long before Kiah and I stole their seats. Kiah held mine out for me, the one farthest from Mylo but closer to where Noelia was standing with the rest of the curious onlookers.

As I sat down, I made eye contact with Mylo. Bow tie unraveled, he played with one of his chips and gave me a what’s-up sort of nod, as casually as he might have any new player. But past that, I couldn’t help but read what he was actually thinking.

“Whenever you’re ready, Mr.Hart,” the dealer said.

“Did he say Hart?” Mylo asked as Kiah took the seat next to mine. Whispers brewed around us. “As in, this Hart?” Mylo held up one of the chips, flashing the Hart’s logo in the center.

“And if I am?”

Mylo shrugged, dropping the chip with a delightful clatter. “Just want to know who’s financing my next vacation.” He slapped the top of his pile of chips, drawing just as much laughter from the crowd as skepticism.

The dealer eyed Kiah, a little flinch in his eyes. Kiah nodded at him, and he started to deal.

“Vacation? Won’t you be missing a semester of school?” Kiah teased.

“You’re one to talk,” I sneered. “Are you taking a gap year, or is inheriting a major casino empire, being a skeptic, and having a haughty attitude all you want to do in life?”

“Yes, actually,” he said. “And tell me, did you skip out on college to pursue the con thing?”

I didn’t say anything.

“I feel like I’m missing out on the joke,” Mylo interjected.

“It’s nothing,” Kiah assured him. “I’m just so amazed to see so many people my age in the house tonight.” His steepled his fingers, looking between the two of us. “Isn’t that bizarre?”

We all took our first set of cards. Mylo and the other woman at the table eyed theirs, but I was far more interested in keeping an eye on Kiah.

“You’re not even paying attention to me,” I said to him. “How are you gonna catch me cheating like that?”

“Cheating?” Mylo repeated. “That’s what you’re doing here, trying to weasel out hacks?” He laid down a card. “Can’t you just accept that some people are luckier than others? Maybe I brought my rabbit’s foot with me.”

“The only rabbit’s feet I like to see are the ones in the gift shop. They come with a little Hart’s logo clipped to the side.”

“Classy,” I said, folding.

Maybe this wasn’t so bad. Well, not as bad as it could be. Perhaps if Mylo stole enough of Kiah’s suspicion, he’d let me go. We’d be behind schedule, but I could get back to my side of things, even if I had to deal with Kiah’s hawk eyes on me.

That had to be what Mylo was doing. But would it work?

Mylo pressed some more, reeling in another win, and another, each time making Kiah’s stare linger longer on him.

Quietly, I stood while the woman across the table filtered out as well. He wanted his thief to catch? He could have him. That was what Mylo was here for—

A hand grabbed my wrist. I froze.

“Where are you going?” Kiah asked.

“She’s quitting,” Mylo said, as loudly as possible. “I’d quit if I had to play next to me too. I’m just so infuriatingly lucky, am I right?”

“I’m done playing with you,” I said. “Just because someone slipped me a forged chip doesn’t mean you get to label me a con. I’m out.”

“Only one?” He laughed and let me go, but lifted a handful of chips in his other hand. My purse. I’d set it on the ground between us. When had he gotten his hand in it?

“Fake, fake, fake.” He thumbed through them one by one, letting them fall to the floor. “So many forgeries in one stockpile. Where’d you get ’em?”

“Your tellers gave them to me. Guess they’re not as good at recognizing frauds as you are.”

“Few people are.” He let the last chip fall to the floor. “You know, my uncle isn’t very good at identifying frauds himself. Back in his heyday, he says he used to just chuck anyone he thought might be conning him over the rocks.” He let the implication sit. I swallowed. If he was trying to intimidate me, it was working.

Kiah stood and leaned in, whispering to me and me alone, “I only do that when I know someone’s screwing us over. It’s not fun otherwise. So no, you’re not going anywhere, Kennedy . Not until I can decide whether you’re guilty or not.” He pulled back, a soft smile on.

I wasn’t getting away from this. And when he found what he was looking for…

I shuddered.

This wasn’t good.