Three-card Monte Novels & Stories

I had always been a little dizzy by nature. My head was often muddled. Three years ago, in that same haze, I picked up a drunk woman and brought her home. She woke up and stared at me for a while before suddenly saying, “Let’s get married.” I did not think much about it. I just nodded and thus became the rich husband of a powerful family. They gave me a credit card that I could use however I liked, and I could live in a luxury house without any limits. We had a son, but alas, he was kidnapped. It took me two years, but I managed to find him again. I was about to tell my wife when she handed me a divorce agreement. “I’m bankrupt. This is my last sum of money. Take it and leave.” At that moment, a few chat messages suddenly appeared in front of me. [Wow! The female lead’s crush, the male lead, has returned to the country!] [She is probably pretending to be bankrupt. She wants to get rid of the male supporting character to go back to the male lead!] [She got drunk back then because the male lead left. The male supporting character was just a stand-in!] What? So I was a replacement? I nodded slowly. “Oh. Then let’s get a divorce.” The light in her eyes went out at once. I looked at her and felt that I had forgotten to say something. Whatever. I would say it when I remembered.

Josh Anderson is the untouchable "King" of his high school. He is a perfectionist driven by the terrifying expectations of his abusive father. As Council President, Josh lives by a rigid script of straight A’s and flawless conduct until Tristan Boyle arrives. Tristan is a chaotic, talented "wild card" who shatters Josh’s world with a single grin and a tied test score. Between a secret admirer and a mysterious new rival, Josh’s "System" begins to glitch. To survive his home life and keep his throne, Josh must face a dangerous truth: his perfect life is a lie.

After I succeed in helping my wife, Claire Gibson, establish her company, I decide to become a full-time stay-at-home dad without a worry in the world. Since my daughter, Nancy Davidson's 10th birthday is coming soon, I want to make the event fancy. So, I decide to place an order on Hill Hotel's birthday banquet services, where one full table of food costs 18 thousand dollars. When I'm swiping my card, the hotel employee shoots me a look. "Mr. Davidson, your card can barely foot for a 500-dollar bill." Embarrassed, I go home and question Claire about the family's finances. She looks at me apologetically instead. "My company has been participating in a bidding process lately. The newly-appointed governmental senior official is a greedy one, you see. I've spent quite a lot of money in bribing him just to get things done. "Once my cash flow is back, I'll definitely throw Nancy a fancy birthday banquet!" In a considerate manner, I tell Claire that I completely understand her situation. But soon, I start calculating the assets I still have. After all, my dad is the newly-appointed official. There aren't any bidding processes going on in the government at all. I'd like to see where on earth Claire has spent all of her money.

Sandra was a mistress: a temporary escape for billionaire David Kingsley. But in the shadows of his study, “temporary” turned into a dangerous addiction. When David brutally casts her back into the poverty she fought to escape, Sandra plays her final card: a lie about a pregnancy to keep him tied to her. The lie becomes a terrifying reality just as David announces his “perfect” life is expanding with a child of his own. Now, Sandra isn’t just a discarded mistress; she’s a woman with a secret that could topple an empire. How far will a woman go when she has nothing left to lose but the life growing inside her?

My life is terrible enough. My dad died robbing a jewelry store. My sister hates my guts. An enforcer shows up out of nowhere and tells us we owe a shit ton of money. My mom? Ran off with my credit card and all her fancy jewelry at her first opportunity. So that leaves me... With no cash and a pissed-off crime boss. Raoul gives me a choice: pay up or belong to him. Now, I’m stuck in his world, living in a fancy apartment, clashing with his bossy rules, and realizing he might not be all that bad, after all.

"Bless me daddy, for I have sinned." Geoff Vasily was a sick bastard. He was depraved. I knew something was off about him the moment I saw his slicked golden hair and stony gray eyes. I used to live a cheap, albeit independent life supporting myself and my mother, despite my eighteen years of existence. The day he walked into the cafè, I knew the Devil had just walked into our lives. I told her not to take the card, but she didn't listen. Now, he doesn't even look at my mother. He's fixated on me. My stepfather. My doom.

Birthdays were never Summer’s favorite. She particularly despised them when her best friend gifted her a tarot card reading. Skeptical of the warnings about encountering a dangerous wolf who would alter her life, she couldn't help but laugh out of it. Romance was the furthest thing from her mind. Yet, the young woman’s prediction turned out to be eerily accurate. Julian Wolf radiated an aura of danger and allure. With his suave demeanor and distant charm, his gaze seemed to pierce through to Summer’s very core, igniting a fire within her.

After winning 800 thousand dollars, the first thing I did was rush to the hospital to pay for my daughter's surgery and treatment. Then, out of nowhere, a colleague called. "There's an extremely urgent situation at the company. You need to come back and handle it right now!" My husband took the bank card from my hand and, with thoughtful understanding, said, "Tell me the PIN. I'll go pay for Alicia's surgery. You head back to the company and focus on work." In my past life, I trusted him without hesitation and hurried back to the office. Before my daughter could even make it into surgery, I received a police summons instead. It turned out my husband had conspired with my colleague to file a report against me, pinning the crime of embezzling company funds—money my colleague had actually stolen—on me. With no money for treatment, my daughter died in the hospital. My parents, shattered by grief, suffered heart attacks and passed away. I ended my own life in prison, consumed by bitterness and regret. After death, my soul drifted to where my husband was vacationing abroad. I heard him say to my colleague with my own ears, "That stupid woman wins such a huge jackpot and only knows how to waste it on that worthless daughter's medical bills, dragging me into a life of hardship! "Now their whole family's deaths have bought us endless wealth and luxury. Consider it that idiot woman's compensation to me. Hahaha!" When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the very moment my husband took the bank card from my hand. This time, I still told him the transfer PIN.

According to the Winslow family's rules that are passed down for generations, anyone who wants to marry into the family must draw a tarot card. But I have drawn 99 times, and every single card is a bad one. Before the 100th draw, I see Clara Winslow replace all the Lovers cards in the deck. She says, "No matter how many times he tries, he will only draw the worst cards." I finally realize that she does not love me at all. That is fine because I no longer want to marry her either. I toss the cards aside and call my parents. "I accept the arranged marriage with the Shaws."

In the underground casino, my ex-fiancé Don Dante Castellano threw the card in my face. His arm was around Sabrina—his first love—and his eyes were ice as they shoved me toward the table. "Your father owed mine a life. The thing in your belly isn't mine." He pressed the card flat against my cheek. "The daughter pays the father's debt. Tonight you're the living chip on that table." The paternity test was fake. The child was his. I knew. He didn't believe me. That night, with a gun pointed at my head, I took off all my clothes in front of everyone. Two years passed. Two years later, in Vegas, he saw me again. I was in a red silk dress with a gold chain around my neck, the other end of the chain held by a yellow-toothed gambler. "This bitch is cheap. Bark for me, and all these chips are yours." I picked up the chips, practiced. "Woof. Woof." Sabrina pressed her face into his chest, covering her nose. "Dante. This is disgusting. Let's go." He didn't go. The veins rose along his temple. He was staring at the bruises on my knees. Then he kicked the gambler across the room. He bent down and took hold of my chin. Hard. "Sienna. Money, and you'll do anything at all?" He was close enough that I could smell him. Soap. Two years, and still the same soap. I closed my eyes, opened them, pulled my mouth into a smile for him. "That's right, boss. Pay up and I'll cooperate with whatever position you want. Care to buy a round?"