Chapter 32 · The Joker

"Put the card down, Mercer." Silas Quinn pressed the gun under Cole's jaw. "You have three seconds before the table takes your hand."

Cole stared at the card between them.

The Joker lay faceup on black felt. No face. No number. No symbol. Just a blank white field that made his eyes hurt if he looked at it too long.

Eve stood across the table with one hand locked around the edge. Her knuckles had gone pale. A thin red mark circled her wrist where the Council's brand had burned through her skin.

Cole knew her name.

He knew it the way a man knew a song he'd heard too many times. The sound was there. The shape of it. But every time he reached for the memory behind it, his mind slid away.

"You said the Joker was a wild card," Cole said.

Silas's mouth barely moved. "I said it could be."

"You left out the part where it eats the player."

"You didn't ask."

"I asked what happens if I win."

"And I answered. You get your sister's debt cleared."

Cole laughed once. It came out rough. "That's not an answer. That's bait.