All In No Regrets Except Losing Her Chapter 10
[Zane’s POV]
Ivy’s crying. Can barely get the words out.
After Zane left, nobody had the guts to make a call. So Ivy did.
She picked the two tables everyone agreed on.
$800K on one. $700K on another. Almost $1.5 million total between them.
Both wiped out.
One table — the “sure thing” — the guy everyone read as weak turned out to be a shark. Cleaned the whole table in under an hour. The other table fell apart after a bad river card turned a guaranteed pot into dust.
And that corner table. The dead one. The one Zane pointed at.
Some random kid nobody ever heard of sat down with a $30K buy-in. Played all night. Rode a streak nobody saw coming.
Walked out with a pot worth close to eight figures.
Ivy covers her face.
“I’m sorry. I made the call. We should’ve listened to you.”
Zane stares at the infirmary ceiling for a long time.
“I told you. That table. Why’d you change it?”
Keller pushes forward. Steps in front of Ivy.
“Don’t put this on her. Those two tables looked like locks. Anyone would’ve sat down.”
He pauses. Sets his jaw.
“And let’s be real — you’re always the one who picks. That night you were barely there. Pointed at something random and didn’t explain shit.”
“How were we supposed to know you weren’t just losing your mind over Quinn and Silas?”
Zane sits up. Fast.
“Say that again. I dare you.”
Ivy grabs his hand — the one with a fresh IV line.
“Stop! He didn’t mean it. Everyone’s just — we’re all messed up right now.”
Kai’s in the corner. Rubs his face. Takes a minute before he looks up.
“So what now. The game’s still running for two more days. Do we scrape together what’s left and go back?”
Everyone looks at Zane.
Zane lies back down. Slow.
All he sees is Quinn’s face. At the ceremony. Calm. Final. That flat look in her eyes when she said not everything can be gambled.
He thinks about freshman year. His first Circuit game. Nobody believed in him then either.
Only Quinn. She took everything she had — every dollar she’d saved — and slid it across to him without a second thought.
He always thought what he loved was The Circuit. The thrill. The read. That razor’s edge between winning everything and losing it all.
But right now he understands.
None of it matters compared to her.
He played The Circuit to build a future with Quinn.
And instead, he gambled Quinn away.
“Go home.”
A long silence before he opens his eyes again. His voice is drained. Hollow.
“I’ll handle it.”
That night, Zane liquidates everything.
His remaining trust allowance. The emergency fund his family set aside for his Circuit buy-ins. Every dollar he can access.
He transfers the money to Ivy, Kai, and Keller. Covers their losses. Down to the last cent.
Then he walks to the school registrar and withdraws his name from The Circuit roster.
Signs the form. Puts the pen down.
The sound of the paper sliding into the file drawer echoes in the empty hallway.
He walks out of the building. Doesn’t know where he’s going.
Ends up outside the school gallery.
It’s late. Lights off. Dark inside.
He sits down on the steps.
And stays there all night.