~~~~
The new casino downtown was undoubtedly a nice place. At least Adrian thought so. It was a fairly posh establishment, with a strange house rule that every game had the house involved more directly. Whether that was a dealer playing in each poker game or betting on the roulette, however that worked. But Adrian didn’t really care how rich the building was or odd the rules were. He was only there to gamble. He didn’t know much about the owners or the company running the place, no one had ever heard of them, and they kind of came out of nowhere. However, that fact brought a smile to the man’s face. A new casino run by a bunch of nobodies was the perfect place to employ his craft.
There was no getting around it; Adrian was a scam artist and a cheater. He’d been banned from more than a couple establishments for his schemes. However, no one had quite been able to pin him with anything accusations that stuck. Despite his good fortune, Adrian’s few friends urged him to stop pressing his luck. It was only a matter of time before he got in serious trouble and wouldn’t be able to slip out. Adrian would have heeded their warnings, but then this new casino opened, and again the man threw caution to the wind. After all, these new people wouldn’t know who he was; it was easy money…or at least, it should have been…
“Counting cards again, sir?” The dealer accused him in a surprisingly calm voice but with a piercing stare. Admittedly, Adrian was probably paying more attention to her cleavage and revealing outfit than the cards, but he was good at multitasking.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Adrian brushed her off, but her stare remained. There was no anger in the dealer’s gaze, just pressure. A chill went up Adrian’s spine, and he decided he had enough blackjack for today. Maybe a quick game of poker would be better.
“Feeling okay, sir?” The poker game’s dealer inquired. Adrian got his wish; it was a quick game of poker indeed. It felt like the muscular dealer had cleaned out the entire table in an instant. Of the five people who started the game, only Adrian and the dealer remained, and he was on his last rope.
“I’m fine,” Adrian assured as he slipped a few cards into his hand. With a four of a kind, consisting of kings, he felt pretty confident in his hand. “All in, not that I have a choice.”
“Very well, let’s lay them on the table,” the dealer smiled, his pearly white teeth seemingly to glint. “Four kings, same as you, I believe?”
“W-what?” Adrian was taken off guard.
“Forgive me, sir,” the dealer said in an even tone, “we don’t take kindly to cheating.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the scam artist shook his head and threw his cards on the table. He stood up from the table and walked away, abandoning his chips, eyes on the exit. However, he never saw security approach him. In fact, now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen any security since he entered.
‘This is strange; they call me out for cheating and just let me go?’ Adrian thought. ‘Well, I still have a little bit of cash left. I’ll just stick to the slot machines or something. Should make some money back.’ Despite his confidence, within the hour, Adrian was flat broke. With a blow to his ego, Adrian slumped his shoulders as he trudged his way out of the building. However, as he passed the front desk, the receptionist stopped him.
“We hope you’ve enjoyed your time at Mystical Waters Casino,” she bowed her head. “Before you leave, please make sure your debts are in order, or we will be forced to take action.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Adrian ignored her, only for a couple more of the buff dealers to stand in his way. “Move it.”
“Please make sure your debts are in order, or we will be forced to take action,” the receptionist repeated in a chipper, customer service voice.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t spend more than I had,” Adrian pointed out.
“I’m sorry, sir, but you still have a debt to repay to the casino,” the receptionist stated and handed him a printout.
“What are you talking abou-?” Adrian took one look at the paper, and his eyes bulged out. It was a receipt of all the money he spent at the casino. It was already a fairly concerning number, but at the bottom was something more alarming. Several “cheating” fines, which when added up, numbered far more than what he had spent. It would take him at least a year of extreme belt-tightening to pay off this kind of money. “This is outrageous. I didn’t cheat!”
“I’m sorry, sir, but you did, we saw, everyone saw,” the receptionist gave him the same stare that the first dealer did.
“Fine, fine,” Adrian tried to brush off the chill in his spine. “Just let me go to an ATM and-” He bolted past the two buff dealers, who quickly gave chase. His first goal was to go straight for the entrance, but a number of the staff had suddenly formed a human wall in that direction. Instead, he was forced to cut through a small art gallery the casino had set up. If he was lucky, there’d be an emergency exit.
Luck seemed to smile on the scam artist as he saw a fire exit on the far side of the gallery. However, in his rush, he crashed into a vase on display, which fell and shattered. Thrown off by the crash, he was tackled by the buff dealers and dragged away.
“Hey, not so rough. I’ll sue your asses!” Adrian threatened, but the dealers ignored him. “Haven’t you ever heard of liability? Once I talk to your boss, you’ll be lucky to have jobs by the end of today!” He shouted and screamed as the dealers dragged him into an employee-only room.
~--~
Adrian was thrown on the floor of a dark room; cigarette smoke hung in the air like a fog. Surrounding him were more of the buff dealers. On a huge leather sofa before him was a tall, striking woman, flanked by a couple of the scantily clad female dealers.
“So, you’re the little cheater making a fuss in my casino,” the woman took a puff of a cigarette. Her long blonde hair draped her like an ethereal veil, obscuring the feature of her face. A feather boa and white fur coat completely covered her upper body. Adrian couldn’t tell whether she was thin or shapely, just that she was likely very tall.
“I ain’t no-!” Adrian tried to say.
“Shut it,” the woman commanded. If the dealer’s stares sent a chill up his spine, this woman’s voice made Adrian’s blood run cold. “You’ve done more than cheat. You’ve ruined a very expensive piece of fine China in your rush to escape your debts.”
“Your thugs are the one who-!” Adrian attempted to retort.
“Hush, I’m not done speaking,” the woman’s voice made Adrian freeze. “I’d show you how much money you owe for breaking the vase, but I fear you’d have a heart attack from seeing the number. Let’s just say you’d be working it off for the rest of your miserable life. And that’s if I don’t have you prosecuted and thrown in jail.”
“So, what, that’s it? You’re going to ring me for every penny I’m worth for the rest of my life?” Adrian asked.
“Alas, no, I have little faith you’d manage to pay off the debt,” the woman admitted. “I have a different plan in mind. You’ll work for me at this very casino, and we’ll brush this whole thing under the rug.”
“That’s surprisingly kind of you,” Adrian commented. ‘This will be easy. I play nice for a couple months, and then I can hightail it when they start to trust me.’
“I assure you, it’s not,” the woman snapped her fingers. The buff dealers shuffled around for a moment before a couple of them brought forth a contract on a rough-looking piece of parchment and a knife.
“What’s that for?” Adrian paled.
“Sign here, in blood, please,” the woman commanded as the contract was brought before Adrian. The wording of the contract didn’t read like the usual legal-speak Adrian was used to. It sounded far more sinister.
“What exactly am I signing off?” Adrian asked.
“Nothing of value,” the woman chuckled. Against his better judgment, Adrian allowed the dealer to cut his finger and signed the contract in blood. “Excellent, the contract is sealed, and you work for me now.”
“Wonderful,” Adrian scoffed. “Mind if I go home and sleep this night before reporting to my first day?”
“I think not,” the woman giggled.
“Well, I ain’t starting tonight, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Adrian turned to leave. Surprisingly, the buff dealers didn’t block his way out. The scam artist rushed down the hall and found the first door to the outside he could see. Yet, no matter how hard he pushed, he could force the door open. “Damn, locked.”
“You’re not leaving,” the woman appeared behind him. “Why don’t you put on your uniform and get to work?”
“How about no? You can’t keep me here. That’s illegal,” Adrian shouted.
“Did you even read the contract?” The woman inquired.
“I skimmed the damn thing, but I don’t remember a ‘you can’t leave here’ clause,” Adrian snapped.
“Stop being difficult and get to work,” the woman snapped right back, “or should I give you an attitude adjustment, like my other employees?”
“What’re you…?” Adrian paused. Now that he thought about it, the men and women who worked at this place were a little eerie. Those women with their pressure-filled stares and hollow smiles. The muscular men who seemed to move with an impossible level of coordination. Whatever this woman was talking about, Adrian didn’t want to be a victim of it. “Fine… I’ll…whatever.”
“That’s the spirit,” the woman walked past him, pushing open the door effortlessly, “don’t forget to pick up your uniform.”
“How long do you intend to keep me working for you?” Adrian inquired.
“Oh, about ten years or so, at least,” the woman laughed as she disappeared into the night. Adrian’s heart sank as he slumped to the ground. Hopefully, he wouldn’t become a permanent fixture in this casino. But, at this point, his fate was solely in the hands of that mysterious woman.
~~~~
Don't carelessly gamble what you can't afford to lose, especially when you don't know the odds.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
~~~~
Support me on Patreon: [link]
No comments:
Post a Comment