HardenVale5
The house always wins. Unless you're willing to cheat with the Devil.
Aaron thought he was playing the cards. He didn't know he was sleeping with the dealer.
Aaron Blake was a brilliant neurosurgeon until guilt and debt shattered his life. Desperate, he accepts a secretive, high-paying job with the international Castanides criminal syndicate, hoping to start over.
He believes he's reporting to the top. He's wrong.
Aaron is immediately thrown into the path of DAMIEN, the beautiful, cold, and utterly ruthless Chief Aide who enforces the organization's impossible rules. Damien treats Aaron like a weapon he owns and takes sadistic pleasure in their escalating rivalry.
Aaron is the unwilling Ace Card-being used in a deadly game to draw out a traitor. He thinks he's fighting the right-hand man for his dignity. He has no idea that Damien is the true Devil: the secret, calculating head of the entire syndicate.
Aaron was cleaning the wound Damien sustained in their library fight.
Aaron: "I tore your lip. I'll admit that."
Damien: "Your hands are shaking, doctor. How did you ever plan to operate? A trembling hand in the OR means someone dies."
With unnerving calm, Damien caught Aaron's hand, forcing his fingers to brush against the torn lip.
Damien: "This pain is mine - and you caused it. Now take your shaking hand and get to work, doctor."