He said he spoke to your brother about me, but I had no idea why he wanted to see me until he put a stack of cash on the table and told me he doesn’t gamble. He wanted me to play poker at his party with his money. Three hundred for the night. He said the odds would be in my favor, and I’d win.
I asked what happened if I lost. He just said, “You won’t. ” I took the deal. I was supposed to be helping out at the club later, but when I mentioned it, I got put in my place.
I was told I’d be needed late, so I said I couldn’t. All I got back was a cold remark about how I’m always too busy. I figured he was just in a bad mood. I didn’t think much more of it until I called my dad’s place and found out he wasn’t even there.
My brother came by to tell me the social worker was coming tomorrow. They were taking Lucy to new foster parents. I told him they couldn’t. She’s seen her dad murder her mom.
We’re the only family she’s got left. He said she barely knows us, and there’s no room since the girls are coming home. So I told him I’d move out. I’d stay with a mate for a while so Lucy could have my room.
He said I didn’t have to, but I’d already made up my mind. I rang around trying to find somewhere to crash. My brother wasn’t having it. He said it wasn’t a good time.
I told him I’d already agreed to move out, and I didn’t have anywhere else to go. He still said no. Told me to ask someone else. So I did.
I ended up at the bar where I work. Idris was running a private poker night at the club, and he needed someone to fetch drinks. He said he’d pay me. I didn’t think anything of it at first.
Then one of the girls mentioned it to my nan. I told her to keep it quiet. I walked in and saw a bloke I didn’t recognize sitting at the table. Young, flashy, confident.
He had money to burn, everyone said so. A startup fortune. More money than sense. He joined the game and started throwing chips around like it was nothing.
Idris had told me to mark the cards, the aces, the kings, the queens. Start off slow. Lose a few hands. Then pick my moment.
I did exactly what he said. The game got tense. The new lad raised the stakes, doubled them. Idris called him out, said he knew when people were lying, said he was bluffing.
He was wrong. The lad laid down a full house. Then the next hand, he flipped over four of a kind. He took almost everything on that table.
Eleven grand of my money gone. I lost it. I stood up, told him to watch his mouth. I didn’t care who he was.
He just smirked at me. I wanted to wipe it off his face. Idris told everyone to take their winnings and leave. The lad did.
I stayed behind to clean up. Idris paid me my wages, a little extra for putting up with the other woman. I told him I could have won that game easy, that I wouldn’t have let his mate take me for everything. He told me he didn’t pick me to play because I’m sloppy and a bad liar.
Then he finished clearing up and left. I found out later that the person I lost all that money to wasn’t some startup kid. He was the son of the woman Idris had been courting. The one who came in asking about a funeral for a mate.
None of it was a coincidence. Idris set the whole thing up. He gave me marked cards and told me I couldn’t lose, but he never told me his own guy would take me for everything I had. He said he got the money back for me, the five grand I owed.
He said he had a deal with the bloke, that I shouldn’t come around tonight. He told me not to bother coming home. I rang him later to apologize, said I was angry and wasn’t thinking. He wasn’t having it.
He told me not to cross him again, or I’d regret it. I told him I understood. Then he told me to get out. I left my house that night, but I didn’t know who I was walking away from.
I didn’t know if I’d ever be welcomed back. And I still didn’t know the truth about the man I owed everything to.
