I had money now, and these three weren't about to let a payday slip through their fingers.
"Sure thing, Thaddeus! Since you're so eager to give your cash away, don't mind if we help ourselves!" Caspar shot a look at the other two.
From that moment on, the atmosphere at the table shifted.
The three of them started signaling each other nonstop, coordinating hands to bleed me dry.
On any other night, they'd have cleaned me out down to my underwear.
But tonight, I had Great-Grandpa in my head, and the old man could see every tile on the table.
"Don't take that five. Caspar's sitting on a flush. Wait for Humphrey to discard the eight. The second he does, you declare a kong!"
"Joe's hand is garbage. He's bluffing. Break your pair and hit him with a last-draw win!"
"Kong!"
"Match!"
"That's a win. Flush with a kong bonus. Thirty grand each. Pay up."
For the next two hours, the only sounds in that private room were me collecting money and the three of them breathing harder and harder.
First round, I cleaned out every dollar of cash they'd brought.
By the fifth round, they were sending payments by phone.
By the tenth, Humphrey slammed his car keys on the table, eyes bloodshot. "You're cheating, Thaddeus! How the hell are you winning every single hand?"
I let out a cold laugh, scooped up the keys, and dropped them into my pocket.
"Humphrey, there's no friendship at the card table. If you can't handle losing, don't play."
Humphrey ground his teeth so hard I could hear it.
That was when Great-Grandpa's voice came through, trembling with excitement:
"Yes! Yes! The first thread of fortune has shifted to you!"
"Boy, see that golden glow above their heads? It's turned dark gray. That's the mark of catastrophic luck. They're done for!"
"Last round. Go for the throat! Force them to put up their company shares and property as collateral!"
By five in the morning, even the parlor owner was nodding off.
Caspar's hand shook as he signed his name on a handwritten IOU. He'd wagered the entire profit share from that five-million-dollar construction contract he'd just landed. Every cent of it, pledged to me.
Humphrey lost his Audi and six hundred thousand in savings.
Joe got the worst of it. He signed over the deed to his building supply store.
"You played us hard tonight, Thaddeus."
Caspar slumped in his chair, face white as paper.
He clenched his jaw and added, "But you won this much. Beverly's going to grill you the second you walk in. You'd better head home and get your story straight."
I stood, tucked the thick stack of IOUs and transfer receipts into my jacket, and gave Caspar a light pat on the cheek.
"Relax, Caspar."
"My wife's probably too worn out to sleep right about now."
"I'll head back and give her a nice little surprise."
Outside the parlor, the predawn air carried a faint chill.
"Grandson, beautifully done! Your fortune is blazing now. Those three bastards will have blood on their hands within a week!"
Great-Grandpa roared with laughter.
I pulled my jacket tighter and spoke through gritted teeth. "So what do I do about Beverly? Do I go home and catch her in the act?"
"Catch her doing what? That little weasel pulled his pants up and slipped out the fire escape half an hour ago!"
Great-Grandpa's tone went cold.
"That woman is poison, and she's smarter than you think. If you go home and make a scene now, all she has to do is deny everything, flip it around on you for gambling all night, and use that as grounds to file for divorce. You'd walk away with nothing."
"Why do you think she had Caspar and the others keep you pinned down tonight? Because she just finished moving two million dollars out of your company account this evening!"
I'd just started the engine. The moment those words landed, my foot slammed the brake. A vein pulsed at my temple.
"Two million? That's the payment I owe my crew next week!"
Great-Grandpa let out a sharp, bitter scoff and continued:
"That's not all. She also took out an accidental death policy on you, and guess who the sole beneficiary is? Her. This woman never planned to build a life with you. She's been scheming to devour everything you have and leave you in the ground."
