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"You signed it, Kane. You don't get to unsign it."
Silas's hand hit my chest and shoved me back against the wall. Hard. The back of my head bounced off concrete.
"I didn't sign shit," I spat. "You slipped me a black card and said it was luck. That's not a contract, that's a scam."
"Semantics." He didn't even blink. He was close. Too close. Cold came off his coat like he'd been standing in a freezer. "You touched the deck. You called the Void. You took the win. That is the signature."
His fingers were still on my sternum. Not pushing anymore. Just resting there. Like he could feel my heartbeat through my shirt. Like he owned it.
"Get your hand off me."
"No." He tilted his head. His eyes were gray. Not normal gray. Like ash. Like no light got out. "You think this is a negotiation? You think you get to walk away because you regret it?"
"I think you cheated," I said. "House always cheats. So what? I fold. I give the money back. We're done."
Silas laughed. Quiet. No humor in it at all.
"You don't have anything I want back," he said. "The money was never the point."
He finally pulled his hand away. My shirt was cold where he'd touched it. I looked down. The black veins were back. Thin lines crawling up from my chest, under my skin, pulsing. They hadn't been there five minutes ago.
"What the hell is that," I said.
"That's your debt showing," he said. "That's my mark. That's what happens when a Dealer tries to lie to his Collector."
"I'm not your Dealer."
"You are." He stepped back one pace and straightened his cuffs. Perfect. Pressed. Like he hadn't just slammed a guy into a wall. "You wanted to stop losing, Kane. Remember? You were washed. Broke. Nobody would stake you. Nobody would even let you sit at the table. You begged for an edge."
"I didn't beg you."
"You begged anything that would listen. I listened." He held out his palm. A card flickered into existence there. Black on black. No suit. No number. Just a void that sucked the light. "One deck. Unbeatable odds. Every hand you want. And all it costs is a little piece at a time."
"A little piece of what?"
"You know what."
My chest twinged. Sharp. Like a wire pulling tight inside.
"My soul," I said. It sounded stupid out loud. Like a bad movie line. But the veins pulsed when I said it.
"Correct," Silas said. "So smart when you try."
"Take it back then. I don't want it. I don't want your rigged deck."
"You can't give it back." He flicked his wrist and the card vanished. "You already played it. You won with it last night. Three tables. You remember? You felt it, didn't you? How the cards bent for you. How everyone else just... folded right when you needed them to."
I did remember. God, I remembered. It was the first time in two years I'd felt like I knew what I was doing. Like the game loved me again.
"That wasn't me," I said. My mouth was dry. "That was the deck."
"That was you dealing for the Void," he said. "That's the job. You don't play anymore, Kane. You deal. The Void plays through you. And it always collects."
"And if I say no? If I just... don't deal?"
"Then I take what's mine early." He said it flat. Like he was telling me the time. "The contract says I can take your heart the second you default. Not metaphorically. Physically. I reach in and I take it. You want to see how that works?"
He took a step forward again. I didn't move. Couldn't. My back was still against the wall and my legs felt like they'd been cut off.
"You're bluffing," I said. But my voice cracked.
"Am I?" He lifted his hand again. This time his fingers were longer. Sharper. The nails dark. "Feel that pull? That's me tugging the string. One yank and you drop."
The veins on my chest flared hot. I gasped. It was like ice and fire at once, crawling toward my throat.
"Stop," I choked out. "Stop it!"
He stopped. Just like that. The pressure vanished. I slid down the wall an inch, breathing hard.
"You see?" he said softly. "No way out. That's the point of a Void Pact. It's perfect."
I stared at him. At his perfect coat. His perfect face that didn't look human when the light hit it wrong. And something clicked. Something nasty and desperate in my gambler brain finally caught up.
"If it's so perfect," I said, "why are you still here talking to me?"
Silas frowned. Just a tiny twitch.
"What?"
"If you can just rip my heart out, do it. Why waste your breath? Why give me the whole villain speech?" I pushed off the wall. My knees shook but I got upright. "You need me."
"I don't need you."
"Bullshit." I jabbed a finger at him. My hand was shaking but I did it anyway. "You said you listened because I begged. How many other idiots begged before me? How many signed?"
His jaw tightened. He didn't answer.
"How many lasted a week?" I said. "A day? You need a Dealer who doesn't burn out in one night. You need someone who can actually win and keep winning so you get more than one little sip of soul. I'm right, aren't I?"
Silas looked at me for a long second. Then he smiled. And it was worse than the laugh.
"You're not as dumb as you look," he said.
"So you can't just kill me," I said. "If you kill me now, you get one heart. One soul. And then you're back to hunting for the next sucker who might die at the first table. That's inefficient. And you hate inefficient."
"Careful, Kane."
"No, you be careful." I was talking fast now. The way I do when I smell a tell. "You want me to work for you. You want me to deal. So you don't get to just threaten me. You gotta make it worth my while. That's how a contract works. Both sides get something."
"You already got your something. You got your winning streak."
"That was a free sample and you know it." I stepped forward this time. Into his space. He smelled like ozone and cold metal. "You want a real Dealer? Then we renegotiate. Right now."
Silas stared down at me. He was taller. He could have broken me in half. But he didn't move.
"You are in no position to renegotiate," he said, low.
"I'm in the only position," I said. "I'm the asshole stupid enough to survive your deck for one night. You said it yourself, you don't get many of me. So you put a leash on yourself. You want me to hunt for you, you play by rules."
"What rules?"
"You don't get to take my heart because you're annoyed. You don't get to yank the string because I mouthed off. You only collect when I actually default on a job. And you tell me what the job is. No vague Void bullshit."
Silas's eyes narrowed. The ash-gray flickered. For a second I swear I saw something move behind them. Something deep.
"You want to put a collar on a Collector," he said. "That's never happened."
"There's a first time for everything," I said. "You want a Dealer who lasts? Prove you can keep your hands to yourself. Bind yourself. Or kill me now and go find another loser. Your call."
We stood there. Chest to chest. His breath was cold on my face. Mine was coming fast and ragged.
Then he moved. Not to hit me. He grabbed my wrist. His grip was ice. He turned my palm up and pressed his thumb hard into the center.
"Ow! What—"
Heat shot up my arm. Black ink bled out from where he touched, forming lines. A circle. Symbols I didn't know but somehow understood. A pact mark.
"Fine," he whispered. His face was an inch from mine. "You want a leash? I'll give you a leash. But it goes both ways, Dealer."
The mark burned. I gritted my teeth to not scream.
"You work for me," he said, each word dropping like a stone. "You hunt who I tell you to hunt. You deal when I tell you to deal. And in return... I don't take your heart until you truly fail. Not before. That's my oath. Bound."
The burning stopped. The mark settled, dark and pulsing on my palm. Linked to the veins on my chest.
Silas let go. He looked... annoyed. Like I'd actually made him do paperwork he hated.
"There," he said. "You're collared. I'm collared. Happy?"
"Thrilled," I gasped, clutching my hand.
He reached into his coat and pulled out a thin file. Cheap paper. Real paper. He tossed it. It hit my chest and I fumbled it before it fell.
"Your first breaker," he said. His voice was back to flat and cold. Like the last minute hadn't happened. "He signed like you. Now he thinks he can run. He owes the Void three souls. You bring him in, or you pay his debt with yours."
I opened the file with my marked hand. Photo. Name. Address in the Neon District. My stomach dropped.
"You want me to—"
"Hunt the breaker," Silas said, stepping so close his coat brushed my knees, his eyes locked on mine, "or I take your heart right out of your chest and—"