Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The chubby man had a look of certainty on his face, and he even tried to reach out to pull Cheyenne toward him so that he could grope her.
With his understanding of William’s gambling habits, coupled with the fact that William had lost all his money, the fat man felt that William definitely wouldn’t turn his offer down. So after speaking, he treated Cheyenne as his property and reached out to violate her.
“Get lost! Who gave you permission to touch my daughter with that dirty hand of yours?” William sprung up and hollered furiously before smacking the chubby man’s hand away. He then moved Cheyenne behind him to shield her.
“She’s my daughter, not a promiscuous plaything. If anyone dares to touch my daughter, I’ll go all out!”
Not only was the chubby man bewildered by William’s actions, but even Lucas, who was standing near them and observing, was surprised. He even changed his impression of William.
It seemed that although William was incompetent and a huge scumbag, he at least still regarded Cheyenne as his daughter.
But Lucas wondered if William would still be able to stay firm in his position as Cheyenne’s father and value their kinship. If he still protected Cheyenne like he was doing now, Lucas would have to change his plan.
After the initial surprise, the chubby man reacted to William, a penniless man now down and out, actually having the audacity to berate him in public. He was enraged and grabbed William by his collar. “Damn it, William Carter. How dare you scold me in public? You must be tired of living.”
Only then did William recall that the chubby man didn’t have a simple identity. He was from a powerful family in Orange County, and he definitely wasn’t someone William could afford to provoke. William immediately started shuddering.
“I… I… I did it in a moment of pique!” William stammered and explained, much less confident than he was moments ago.
At this moment, someone reached their hand over and pressed it on the chubby man’s hand. The chubby man felt a sudden soreness in his wrist and involuntarily let go of William’s collar.
The chubby man cocked his head toward the side and saw a masked man standing right beside him. The hand that pressed against his just now belonged to this man.
“W-who are you…” the chubby man asked apprehensively in shock as he stared at the mask Lucas was wearing.
The patrons of Little Atlantis City were all wealthy, especially those who wore masks—they were usually powerful figures of status whose identities couldn’t be revealed indiscriminately.
So although the chubby man was infuriated that Lucas had interrupted him, he didn’t dare to lose his temper on the spot, for fear that he might offend a distinguished figure.
Lucas stared at the chubby man indifferently with his eyes full of disdain as though he was staring at a piece of garbage. “Do you think you’re qualified to ask about my identity? Get lost!”
Then he pushed the chubby man away and sat on his seat.
The chubby man was so furious that his face and neck flushed red. The moment he was about to curse, he immediately curbed the urge to do so.
Since he dares to speak in such an arrogant tone, he must be a powerful bigwig I can’t afford to trifle with!
Despite being overwhelmed with fury, the chubby man could only force himself to bear with it.
The man who sounded extremely arrogant was naturally Lucas.
He was wearing a mask, and he had also made his voice sound different than usual. Even William, his father-in-law, who was now sitting right in front of him, was stunned and couldn’t recognize his son-in-law.
“This gentleman, would you like to join this game? Our stakes are high.”
A few other poker players at the same table couldn’t help but be excited after seeing how domineering Lucas was.
This person seemed to be a big shot, and this was a good thing because it meant that he was rich enough to pay even if he lost a lot of money during the game. Such people were the type of players that experienced players like them, who spent loads of time on poker and even made a living off it, liked playing with the most.
“Is that so?” Lucas casually took out a gold and black Dubai First Royale Card from his pocket and handed it to the service attendant beside him. “Get me three million dollars worth of chips.”
“Wow!”
“He’s starting with a capital of three million dollars. What a baller!”
The poker players gathered around the table couldn’t help but gasp in shock as they stared at Lucas like they were looking at a whale.
He was definitely a whale with a ton of money!
William also had excitement written all over her face. Although he didn’t have much money left—only around a few hundred thousand—he would be able to recoup his capital as long as he won a few rounds against this young baller. He thought that he might even win several to dozens of times the amount of his capital!
Soon, the service attendant carried Lucas’s chips to him, and the game officially began.
“Hey brother, how do you want to play?” A ginger sitting at the poker table stared at Lucas with a zealous gaze and asked roguishly.
Lucas calmly leaned back in his chair and said indifferently, “Let’s play a simple game where the biggest hand wins. Four cards facing up and one facing down. How does that sound?”
The few poker players at the table exchanged glances with each other gleefully.
This was indeed a simple game, as it required little technical skills and was mostly dependent on luck. Each game would end quickly too, so the amount of money won or lost would be quite large.
But it happened to be just what they wanted.
“Okay, we’ll go ahead with that. Dealer, begin!”
The beautiful woman wearing the dealer’s uniform and standing at the side smiled and nodded. She extended her slender fingers to shuffle and deal the cards.
Soon, the few players each had a few cards in front of them.
“I’ll raise the stakes eight grand!”
“Call!”
“Call!”
…
They raised the stakes by eight thousand in one go. The stakes of the game were undoubtedly high.
William hesitated for a moment before gritting his teeth and saying, “Call!”
Soon, all the people at the poker table called the bet. Lucas was the only one who hadn’t.
Everyone turned to look at Lucas, waiting to hear his answer.
“I’ll raise the bet by a million dollars.” Lucas’s voice was calm, but his words were like a drop of water added to hot oil and instantly led to an uproar.
“What?! He raised the bet by a million dollars?! That’s outrageous!”
“This is so exciting! Who can call this bet? It’s a million dollars!”
“Damn, that’s too much! The stakes are going to be millions of dollars!”
…
The people at the card table and the spectators around the table all gasped in amazement.
Actually, the simplicity of the game was precisely the reason that there was a greater degree of freedom in choice in terms of raising the bet.
After the dealer had placed the basic bet, everyone was free to raise the bet. Those who were willing to continue playing could call, while those who felt that the risk was too high could choose not to call. Those who didn’t call would be considered to have folded and would thus be kicked out of the game automatically. All of the chips they placed would also be given to the winner.
However, no one dared to call with Lucas’s raise of a million dollars. Of course, greater risks also meant greater returns. If they called the bet and won, they would win more than a million dollars at once, which was simply more than the lifetime earnings of an average person!
This was what gambling was all about!
You could either strike a fortune overnight or lose everything in a single night. It was brutal and harsh.
The people at the table were all obviously hesitant. But after weighing the cards they had in their hands, they finally gave up calling the bet.
William was the only one who repeatedly looked at the cards in his hand and finally gritted his teeth before saying reluctantly, “I… call!”