The Hidden Card Novels & Stories

His fingers lingered on the edge of the deck, eyes gleaming in the dim light. Jin inhaled slowly. “Who sent those thugs after us?” Vail drew again. Death. Kai let out a low breath. My grip on my arms tightened. The game, if it could even be called that, was slipping into something else—something dangerous, inevitable, like an unseen current pulling us further from shore. Jin’s voice was steady. “Who hired you?” Vail didn’t break eye contact as he pulled the last card. The Hanged Man. For a beat, no one spoke. The image on the card—the bound figure suspended upside down, expression eerily calm—felt like a quiet mockery of the question itself.

“I... yes. No. I don’t know.” My mind scrambled to find a way out of this awkward moment, but I couldn’t come up with a good excuse. I was still trying to get my bearings, my heart pounding in my chest. I glanced down at the book on the ground, trying to hide it with my body, but he saw right through me. He raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Don’t bother hiding it, Trinity. I know exactly where you got it from.” My cheeks flushed, and I stood quickly, reaching down to pick the book up. “I... I didn’t—”

I wince. Candace, Finn, and I used to play a game when we were too young to understand the suits and values on cards. We’d lean the tough little sheets against each other, one at a time, higher and higher, until we had a whole house of nothing more than paper. The slightest tap of the table sent the whole thing tumbling down. When I decided to hide Harper’s disappearance, I placed my first card. Now, I’m standing in a pile of paper I don’t understand, wondering who tapped the table.

Me. And he smiled. My fingers twitched around the knife under the table. He didn’t move closer, just ordered a drink and kept his eyes on me like we were playing a game of chicken. He wanted me to blink first. I didn’t. When thomas finally kicked everyone out, the man was gone. But not before slipping something under my glass. A card. No name or number. Just an emblem burned into the paper, the serpent of Base Two. By the time I got back to my apartment, the walls felt too thin. The city felt too loud. My skin was crawling, screaming you’re exposed.

I already think it is but I want to see it for myself. I pick a card and smirk at it. “First guess,” I say. “Um, No. 5 Red Hearts,” she hesitates slightly. I shake my head no. “Ace, Black Clover,” I shake my head no again. “One more guess.” Lyla frowns at me, eyeing me from the bottom of her lashes. A hidden temper, she's really trying to make sure it doesn't come out. “God. I don't even know much about cards much,” she is frustrated. “10 Red hearts.”

Eight-year-old Heidi could have anything she wanted. She was the apple of her father's eyes and his unseen treasure. If her mother was the hidden luna, she was the hidden gem. For three years, Heidi kept her relationship with Roman a secret, for two reasons specifically. One, Roman was a boy and her father was Venkat. Do you get it? Secondly, the ten-year-old boy was an omega, a lower one to be exact, and seeing as their social status and second gender were far from each other, they couldn't easily waltz around the pack.

Chaos says. I walk out of the bar and to the elevator. I reach into my purse and pull out my key card. I swipe it, and the elevator opens. I get on the elevator, swipe the key card, and select number 3. As the elevator door closes, a hand reaches into the elevator. "Ryan," I whisper.

the general uttered, he was as shocked as he is. “I suppose to look for you and the young man as well,” the general said with his voice stuttering. “The young man was with me, he’s beside me,” Therens answered, he sounded flat yet no one can identify how he is feeling from his voice if he was angry or just in a serious tone. General Malta look below and saw the young man covering his ears, he cannot tell if he was shaking from the darkness that surrounded them. Therens felt something moving in his back pocket where the dagger was hidden. It was bothering him, he quietly and secretly pull the dagger. He was right, it was the dagger moving on its own once again. He holds it tight and returns i

card, the next participant revealed his and it was written “Blank.” I made my reveal and lo and behold, beyond my wildest dreams, it was an “M & A” card.

Morgan looked up at me, her expression serious and focused. "If he can pull out a card linked to an account you've never seen just to pacify you, that means the assets he's hiding — whether under his name or through shell companies and trusts — are far from small. If we follow the trail from this card, there's a good chance we'll uncover much more." I looked down at the black card, suddenly remembering the way Adrian had held me last night — that belated flicker of guilt — and his soft voice saying, "You've been with me all these years. I shouldn't have let you suffer."