I watched the understanding unfurl in his eyes as he matched mine, though could see his generosity wouldn’t increase any time soon. From behind me, I heard a grumpy harrumph and footsteps stomping off. I turned around and caught sight of a slightly stocky gentleman heading to the other bar. Presumably to get as far away from me and my ideals as possible. Watching the man stride off, all I could think about was that this was going to be a challenging day.
As I turned back to the other gentleman, he slapped my back and pointed at the other bar. “Don’t worry about Nicolai.”
I spun to face him and noticed, by the look on his face, he was in the middle of a strenuous mental debate. “It’s just that his wallet is tighter than an oyster’s shell. He also cannot abide people who freely share their wealth, even if you had a decent reason.”
With a chuckle, I looked into the man’s eyes. “He’s crazy. You know that, right?”
“Yes, he is, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a good person, mostly,” the man replied as he stared off toward the other bar. Before I could respond to this apparent contradiction, he moved off and chased Nicholai’s retreating form. Finally left alone, I turned my back on the bar and resumed studying the gathered players. When my eyes fell upon the mystery man speaking with Nicholai, I thought of something I should have thought of before.
Most of whoever came would be self-centered, spoiled millionaires, which made them entitled. And that entitlement certainly made them dangerous. Just like a shark in a feeding frenzy, these children would never see past their own entitlements if I stripped away their money. I was going to have to be even more cautious than I had thought. That or Dempsey had arrangements to keep their baser desires at bay—namely, his goons. While that certainly made sense, I wished there weren’t so many holes I’d ignored.
With the revelation in mind, I put a pause on studying the spoiled children and scattered professionals. I needed to know about the room I was in. Armed with the knowledge there had to be at least one door, if not a pair, I started walking along the wall, searching for the seam. As I walked along its edge, I thought about the way the room was shaped and filled out. There was another reason there had to be a door along this wall, and that was because the room was a lounge. There was no way to rearrange the tables here so we could play. Which left me asking a couple of questions. First, where were we going to play? And second, where was the door we’d end up using?
By the time I had given the wall a cursory examination, I had found nothing useful, so I could do one of two things. Either I could keep looking for the door and announce to everyone I was up to something. Or I could sit down at one of the tables and study my competition. So I quickly scanned the tables and found one positioned well enough for me to see most of the room, the occupants, and the entrance.
Within moments of claiming a seat at the empty table, a waitress came up and asked me if I needed anything. I looked down and found a mostly empty glass, so I told her I would need another martini. But before she could retreat, I told her to get it from Simon. It took me another moment to convince her it would be very beneficial for her to take the time to find my requested bartender.
As the last drops of Simon’s masterpiece tumbled down my throat, I resumed my examination of the attendees. As the seconds ticked by, I instantly spotted the professionals from the spoiled children. They were the ones drinking as little as possible, and what they were drinking was soda or water. They also blatantly didn’t care what the elite thought of them. In fact, the only thing they did care about was collecting the money from the rich patsies. I could tell a few of them lumped me into that category, and I didn’t want to separate them from the misconception. As far as I was concerned, it would just make it easier for me to take them out of the game.
The room was just large enough people wouldn’t feel cramped, even once all the players arrived. That feeling would encourage everyone, or most everyone, to spread out, which would keep me from getting a reliable read on them. Fortunately, I was a jack-of-all-trades. While I only had mastery of a couple of things, I sought to know something about most topics, especially if it had the potential to be useful. But just before I could start another trick, the waitress returned with my fresh martini. I plucked the fresh drink off her tray and flicked the rim of the glass.
I thanked her for her diligence with a fifty-dollar bill. It’s amazing how easily cash can win people over. The waitress left with a warm smile. With my drink in hand, the chair beside me dragged across the floor. I turned my head to examine the intruder. As far as intruders go, I could have done much worse. The woman standing above me was quite striking.
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Description | Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Click here to purchase the book.