Page 6 of Eternally Bound

“Your uncle,” he started, and inwardly, I groaned. I knew there’d be trouble when I saw him tonight. “I overheard your uncle and Callen McLeod agree to use a woman as a token to gamble if it comes down to Mr. McLeod losing his chips. The latter is using it as his emergency stash.”

Every single piece of hair on my body stood up straight at that name. Callen McLeod was the father of Ainslee’s child. I shot up from my seat and moved around the desk, striding towards the door in the direction of the poker room.

Fire flared inside me. That fucking worthless man was betting the mother of his child. How dare he bet a woman in my casino? My woman!

Rage swam through my bloodstream, making me see red. I wasn’t sure who was worse, Callen McLeod or my fucking uncle. I could fucking kill both with my bare hands.

Hadley followed behind me, and I only had one floor down the stairs to contain my rage and bring it under control. The door to the private poker room was closed, signaling that no more players could join the game. But it didn’t matter. Those rules didn’t apply to the owner. If Callen McLeod was gambling his woman, I’d fucking play. And I would win. There was no chance in hell I’d ever let my uncle win Ainslee. I didn’t want that sick bastard even knowing her name.

I opened the door and the guard intercepted me. The moment he recognized me, he stepped away from the opening. I walked through the door and scanned the room.

There were only five players, including my uncle and Callen McLeod. From the looks of it, the other three players were out of the game already.

“Gentlemen,” I greeted them all coolly, while my blood raged. The hot burn blazed from the pit of my gut and felt like a coil, but I shut it down. It was the only way to stop myself from killing Callen with my bare hands, right now. I wanted the motherfucker dead. You did not bet your wife, your mother, your woman, any fucking flesh, at my table.

Ainslee deserved so much better that this weak scumbag. He was about six foot tall, blonde hair and blue eyes probably making him eye candy for women. But all I saw was a weak man that would stoop so low to be willing to gamble the mother of his child for another fix of a card game.

I scoffed inwardly. There were faded remains of yellow around his eye. I knew firsthand it was from the punch in the face he earned himself. By Alexander Caldwell. Made me like the man all the more.

“Ah, Nephew,” my uncle grinned, a gleam of greed on his face. “Come to see your customer lose his possessions?”

I gave my uncle a fleeting glance. “No, actually I came to join in the game.”

I seated myself on the opposite side of the remaining two players.

Uncle glared at me, knowing that now he faced a possibility of losing the game. A ruthless smile tugged at my lips, studying both the men and the way they squirmed now. For different reasons.

Callen McLeod knew the rules of this house. Never bet what is not yours, and Ainslee was definitely not his. Even if she had his ring on her finger, she wasn’t his.

My uncle, on the other hand, squirmed because he really wanted to win. The question was why? And how did he hear about Ainslee to even begin scheming a way to bet on her?

I took a seat and leaned back in the chair. A tray of chips was placed in front of me.

“Cards, please.” I nodded at the dealer. Normally, I wouldn’t be able to jump in mid-game, but since they were betting on a woman, nobody had room to complain.

George shuffled and dealt the cards. I watched his movements, even though I trusted him. You never knew. My uncle had a knack for making people desperate to do stupid things. Just look at Callen bloody McLeod.

Fucking moron!

He slid each of us two cards across the green baize. The rest of the room was tense and charged with tension.

“Bets please,” the dealer announced.

Callen’s eyes darted to me, but I ignored him. He was nervous, losing his pants. That I could tolerate; but losing Ainslee in a card game, I could never tolerate.

What. A. Damn. Idiot.

He should know not to play if he had too much to lose. I knew firsthand Alexander Caldwell rammed into his publishing company for how he treated Liberty years ago. Fucking left her on her wedding day.

And Alexander was a possessive man. Callen was lucky Alexander’s wife found a way to convince her husband not to shred the man to pieces. He was definitely enroute to it. Once he was assured of Liberty’s love, Callen became a speck of dust in their story.

For what he has done today, Callen will be lucky if he is a speck of dust in this universe after I was done with him.

One by one, all three of us threw down our chips. We all showed our cards, and I won the first hand.

My uncle blew a frustrated breath, and his one cheek blotched red with frustration.

That’s right, uncle! You are not getting her!I wondered how he discovered Ainslee McLaren’s connection to me. There was no doubt in my mind that it wasn’t a coincidence my uncle wanted her, and it had nothing to do with Callen and everything to do with me. The question was whether he found out what I did to his son because that would put Ainslee in the crossfire of a power struggle that has been happening for years.

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