Page 5 of King of Players

In the stalls next to mine, I heard two men talking.

“No, I heard that her cousin was fighting for half.”

“Didn’t he move to London years ago?”

“He did, and he’s even wealthier than she is. But he’s still family and still feels entitled to some of that inheritance.”

“What I know is that he never approved of any of this. He thought his grandmother was insane for spending her time helping ignorant savages, who wouldn’t hesitate to kill her for her money if they had the chance to get away with it.”

The other man chuckled. “Are those your words or his?”

“Oh, his. I once sat through one of their heated conversations, and I gotta tell you… Kaira is no easy woman to beat in a debate.”

“I believe you.”

“She completely destroyed him without uttering a single word of insult. It was impressive to watch.”

“Scary. Imagine being married to that.”

I knew I was taking longer than I should have in there, but so were they.

“I wouldn’t mind a mentally stimulating debate with a woman.”

“Until you’re in the wrong, believe me.”

They both laughed before I heard running water splashing. A minute later, they were gone.

When I came out of the bathroom, sure enough, Miss Goldie was waiting for me near the bar with two drinks on ice. “I thought you escaped,” she said.

“How can I?” I picked up my drink. “Thank you for this. We’re going to need it for our next quest.”

“Are you seriously planning on spending the rest of the evening fundraising? I’m sure Kaira has people for that.”

“How do you know Kaira?”

“I don’t, really.” She flipped her hair and smiled. “She’s not my type.”

“Yet, here you are.”

“My boss is on the board of her NGO.” Her finger started floating about, as if pointing, until she fixed it in a specific direction. “That big man over there? I’m his assistant.”

“Ah, I see. You’re here on business.”

“Not really.” Her eyelashes fluttered. “It’s just that he bought a table for ten, but then his wife started showing signs of a flu this morning. Her seat was going to go to waste.”

“Well.” I reached for her hand, readying to step away from the bar. “Then I recommend that we make good use of your presence here.”

I didn’t need to force anything, since Miss Goldie was—once again—like putty in my hands.

And the evening hours melted into a medley of numbers.

“See that man over there?”

“Fifty-thousand.”

And more numbers…

“Let’s go talk to that couple over there.”

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