Beautiful Liar (9 page)

“What's the buy-in?” I said finally.

“What can you afford?”

Officially, nothing at all. But my pride wouldn't let me back down. I thought of the tip money in my pocket. It was fifty pounds, and I really couldn't afford to squander it on some silly game. But part of me was confident that I wouldn't. My dad had taught me how to play when I was very young, and I'd honed my skills over the years. It was the one benefit of my mum spending so much time in pubs. There had been little else to do other than play, and I'd picked up tips from the best.

I just hoped my skills would hold up now. Otherwise I was going to look really stupid.

Offering up a silent plea not to make a fool of myself, I said, “Fifty pounds is my limit.”

“Then that's what we'll play for.”

Jamie glared at me in disbelief. “Seriously? This isn't a game of snap, little girl.”

A retort sprang to my lips, but Alex beat me to it. “If she wants to play, then she can,” he said.

Jamie looked like he wanted to argue back, but didn't dare. “Fair enough,” he gave in, moving his eyes to me. “Just don't expect me to go easy on you.”

“Treat me like everyone else,” I told him.

He rolled his eyes.

I was about to head over to take my place, but Jas put her hand on my arm. “Nina, are you sure this is such a great idea?” she said in a low voice.

“Why wouldn't it be?”

“Because I've seen these guys play before. They're really good.”

“Oh.” I feigned a frown, as though that hadn't occurred to me. “Well . . . I'll just give it a go for a couple of hands. How hard can it be?”

Standing nearby, Tori snorted a laugh. I ignored her, and walked over to the table. But instead of taking the seat next to Alex, I chose the one opposite him. If I was going to win,
I needed to eliminate any distractions.

As everyone settled down to play, Giles appeared in the doorway. He must have been about the same age as most of the people in the room, but in his Italian wool suit and with his clean-cut looks, he appeared a lot older. He nodded a brief greeting to a couple of Alex's entourage, who I guess he knew as clients, but his attention was on his brother. And he didn't look happy.

“Alex?” he said. “What's going on here?”

“What does it look like? We're playing poker.” He held up his hand in a parody of the Scouts' honour sign. “Very low stakes. I swear.” He gestured at the seat. “You're welcome to join us, if you like.”

“I'm fine right here, thanks.” Giles folded his arms, making it clear he had no intention of leaving. I wasn't entirely sure what the tension was about, but he obviously planned to keep an eye on what was going on.

Jamie was acting as dealer. I handed him my fifty pounds, and he doled out my chips. I looked at my first hand. It was actually pretty decent. Getting a winning hand was all down to card ranking, and I knew I should be aiming to get cards of the same number, suit or in a consecutive series. If I'd been playing properly with the cards I had, I'd have aimed to build up my hand in the same suit. But for the time being, I wasn't looking to win.

I made a hash of the first hand, losing most of my chips. I didn't
play anywhere near as badly as Tori had, but my mistakes were still pretty basic. There were some derisory snorts from Jamie, and I pretended to look ashamed.

“Hey, you.” It was Tori who spoke, and I could tell she was talking to me. I thought about ignoring her, but I had a feeling she'd just keep going until she got my attention. So I looked up and saw her smiling smugly at me. “Looks like it's not as easy as you thought.”

It took all my willpower, but I swallowed hard and dropped my eyes, faking embarrassment.

I continued to lose for the next couple of hands.

At one point Jas came up to me. She looked worried.

“Come on, Nina. Don't you think it's time to bow out? You know you can't afford to lose this money. There's nothing to be ashamed of. These guys are good and you're just a beginner.”

I sighed. “Maybe you're right . . .” I pretended to think it over. “I'll just play this one last hand, and then I'm done.”

My friend gave me a resigned look—as if to say that she'd tried her best with me, so what more could she do?

It took just two hands for me to win back my chips, and decimate most of the other players. There was nothing like luring people into a false sense of security.

Jamie, who now had no chips left, swore loudly, and threw his cards onto the table. “Beginner's luck,” he muttered.

“Really?” Alex arched an eyebrow. “Because I was going
to say sore loser. What was it you said before about girls not being able to play poker? It seems that was just Tori.”

There was a tittering from around the table, and Jamie's glare deepened. Tori looked like she'd swallowed glass, and I bit back a smile. I shot Alex a grateful look. Our gaze held for a second, and then I forced myself to look away. This was no time to lose focus.

Alex was one of the better players. I'd used my time when I was deliberately losing to study my opponents, looking for tells. Out of everyone, Alex was the most guarded—his naturally cool demeanour meant he gave little away. But no one could keep their body totally still—and over the course of the game I'd noticed that when he was bluffing his breathing would slow just a fraction, as though he was deliberately trying to keep himself calm and give nothing away. I was sure that information would come in handy.

Three hands later, we were the only two left at the table. Everyone else was out.

“Well?” Alex said, his wolf eyes on me, an unmistakable challenge there. “Your move.”

I studied him for a long moment. He'd been upping the stakes throughout this game, as though he had a strong hand. But I suspected he was bluffing. I'd noticed his breathing slow when he was first dealt his cards.

I'd already increased my stakes twice, borrowing money from Jas. I wouldn't have done it if the players had been staff,
but I had no problem taking Alex's money.

Without a word, I tossed the last of my chips in. Then I placed my cards faceup on the table. I had a full house—three jacks and two sevens.

“Good,” I heard Jas murmur, obviously assuming my cards were unbeatable.

I looked to Alex. He gazed coolly back at me for a moment. I saw the faintest smile cross his lips, and a feeling of unease crept over me. I knew in that moment that I'd been played.

In his usual cool, detached way, he spread his cards across the table. There was a moment of stunned silence as everyone took in what his hand showed—the ten, jack, queen, king and ace of hearts. A royal flush.

“Oh my God!” It was Jas who spoke, the shock evident in her voice. She looked from the cards up at me, mouthing, “I'm sorry.”

“Oh, shame.” Tori sounded positively gleeful to have witnessed my misfortune.

I was aware of everyone's eyes on me, gauging my reaction to being beaten. It took all my willpower, but I managed to just shrug.

“That's the way it goes.” I tried to look nonchalant, not wanting anyone to realise how upset I was. It wasn't really about the money—although I could have done without losing that—but I hated being played. It was my own fault, though—my
arrogance had cost me dearly.

I forced myself to face Alex. “Good game.” I offered my hand to him across the table.

“You too.”

I felt Alex's cool fingers close around mine, and a jolt of electricity shot through me, taking me by surprise. I pulled my hand away quickly and stood up. Jas rushed over to console me.

“I can't believe you lost!” Jas's eyes were sympathetic. “I really thought you had him!” She shot a dirty look in Alex's direction. “I can't believe he played you like that. It's not as if he doesn't have enough money as it is. You'd think he'd have some shame about taking it from you.”

“Well, he won it fair and square,” I forced myself to say. But there was a hollow pit forming in my stomach as I thought of the money I couldn't afford to lose. I'd been so stupid.

Right then, Alex came over. Jas instinctively drew in front of me—as though she was trying to protect me.

“Give us a second, will you?” Alex's words were clearly addressed to Jas, but his blue eyes were on me.

Jas looked at me to check that was what I wanted, and I just shrugged.

“I don't want the money back,” I said as soon as she'd gone, imagining that was why he wanted to speak to me.

He grinned. “That's good to know. Because I wasn't in
tending to give it to you.”

That stumped me. “Then what do you want?”

“I want to know where you learnt to play like that.”

I shrugged, unsure why he cared. “In pubs growing up. One of my mum's boyfriends thought it was hilarious to see a thirteen-year-old girl take money from grown men.”

I could see him frown a little at that.

I wanted to ask why he was interested, but before I could he drew a business card from his wallet and handed it to me. “You should come to this location on Sunday evening. Sometime after eleven should be good.”

I studied the card. It was plain white and glossy, with an address printed in black on one side. It took a moment to digest what he was asking of me.

I looked from the card to him. “What is this?”

“I can't tell you that. But if you come on Sunday, everything will be explained.”

“Are you serious?” I gave a laugh of disbelief. “You want me to go alone at night to a strange address on your say-so?”

“That's right.”

“And why on earth would I do that?”

“Because from the way you were eyeing that petty cash box the other night, I got the feeling you need money, right? And I suspect you need it badly.”

I didn't say anything, which was obviously answer enough, because he gave a small nod.

“Well,
put it this way—Sunday night is the solution to all your money troubles. So trust me when I say you
are
going to want to come along.”

He turned away, signalling the end of our conversation. But then he looked back over his shoulder, as though something had occurred to him.

“Oh, and this needs to be our little secret. So don't go spilling your guts to anyone.” His eyes flicked over to Giles. He'd been cornered by one of the gold-diggers Jas had pointed out the other night, but his attention was clearly on us. “Especially not my brother. I'm trusting you to keep it to yourself.”

After he'd gone, Giles managed to extricate himself from the gold-digger, and came over to me. I quickly tucked the card into my pocket before he could see it.

“So what did Alex want?” Giles looked concerned.

I hesitated before answering. Part of me longed to tell him. He seemed to have my best interests at heart, and it didn't feel right to keep information from him. But then I thought about what Alex had said—that this could solve my money problems.

“Nina?” Giles prompted. “What was that all about?”

I looked over at him and shrugged. “I have absolutely no idea.” In that moment, it was the most honest answer I could give.

Sunday evening, just before midnight, I stood across the street from the Manor Hotel, wondering what to do. The Manor Hotel was one of London's premier five-star hotels, and part of Noble Enterprises. Conveniently located on one of the elegant squares off Old Bond Street, it had an old-fashioned grandeur to it. Outside, two liveried porters greeted guests as they came and went—hailing black cabs, and opening doors of chauffeur-driven cars.

I'd been debating all day about whether to go there. I'd tried to come up with ideas as to why Alex Noble would want me to, but I'd drawn a blank. All I knew was that I didn't trust him, and that was reason enough not to be there. But his invitation had intrigued me, as he'd known it would. And when he'd said that it would give me the opportunity to earn money, I could hardly walk away.

But now, standing there and watching all the wealthy
people coming in and out of the plush hotel, I was beginning to wonder if I was making a huge mistake. What business could I possibly have somewhere like this? But I'd come this far—I couldn't turn back now.

I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what was about to happen, and crossed the street to the hotel entrance. One of the porters held the door open for me, and I slipped inside, feeling like a fraud. In my jeans and biker boots, I stood out a mile.

The hotel was known for its opulence. The lobby was all dark mahogany wood and plush sofas. I crossed the marble floor to the reception desk, and asked to be directed to the Empire Suite. I could feel the smartly dressed receptionist looking me up and down. I could sense her suspicion as she politely asked for my name and called up to the suite to check that I was expected. Her demeanour changed once she'd received confirmation that I was meant to be there. She was all smiles when she came off the phone, and directed me to the lifts that would take me up to the top floor.

“Mr Noble said to go right up,” she said.

Despite the old-style elegance, the newly refurbished hotel was all mod cons. There was a separate lift for the suites, and it whizzed straight up to the top floor. I stepped out and walked along the corridor to the Empire Suite. A huge man in a dark suit stood outside. It took me a minute to work out that he was a security guard.

I felt a prickle of trepidation. What the hell was this? I'd grown up on one of the roughest estates in London, but somehow being among the rich and entitled felt more dangerous than anything I'd ever experienced there. But it was too late to turn back now. I gave him my name, he checked it through an earpiece, and then he opened the double doors and I stepped inside.

I wasn't much of a connoisseur of hotel rooms, but I'd sensed that the Empire Suite was going to be plush. It didn't disappoint—it must have been bigger than most flats in London. I stepped into a huge marbled entrance hall, where a pretty brunette took my coat and directed me through to another room. I could hear voices coming from farther inside, so I followed them. I rounded the corner into a huge living area. There wasn't a bed in sight, so I presumed the bedroom was elsewhere.