He trailed off uncertainly. I bestowed a kindly smile on him, then replied, “Sorry to disappoint you. There was a bit of a mix-up. Afterward, we decided not to make a fuss of things in the interest of my safety.”
Holden narrowed his eyes, a hint of suspicion still lurking in his gaze. I met his eyes without flinching, then said evenly, “Holden, you seem rather doubtful still. Why don’t you bet on it then? Let’s find out whether I’m speaking the truth.”
Having thus issued the challenge, I immediately picked up my phone and dialed Zachary. The phone rang a few times before he picked up. “Hey, Letty, how’re things?” Zachary inquired.
Holden’s pupils constricted; there was still a glimmer of skepticism in his manner.
After a while, I continued in an innocent tone, “Dad, I’m still at the casino. Anthony isn’t with me at the moment, but I’m with Holden.”
Zachary answered pleasantly, “All right. Send my greetings to Holden.”
I nodded, steadfastly gazing at Holden. “Sure!”
The phone had been on speaker mode, and Holden was naturally privy to the entire conversation. When he heard our conversation, he glanced at me, staggering slightly.
Ending the call, I then punched in another number. This time, the recipient answered the call almost instantly. “Miss, we’re all prepared! We can make a move anytime.”
I looked at Holden. At that moment, his face had grown thunderous. Through gritted teeth, he said, “Let’s go and meet Anthony then.”
At that, I smiled winningly at him, then instructed over the phone, “All right, wait out for a moment. If Anthony and I haven’t left this place within half an hour, don’t wait for me to call. Proceed immediately as we originally planned.”
My orders were readily received. “All right!”
After I’d hung up, Holden looked at me and begrudgingly admitted, “You’ve really planned everything out, I suppose.”
I flashed him a sunny smile. “I don’t have a choice. Besides, isn’t it better to nip things in the bud? We can’t go about placing our lives in the hands of strangers, can we?”
Holden snorted at my remark. He then brought me to another spot on the second floor, past multiple private rooms. At the last room in the back, Holden keyed in the password to unlock the door.
When the door slid open, I carefully assessed my surroundings. Nothing seemed particularly surprising as I had been in far more pressing situations than this.
This room was very much the same as any of the others. The typical furniture was present in its usual arrangement, with a poker table and surrounding sofas. The setting was made noteworthy by the fact that most of its occupants were people I knew.
I was mildly surprised to see Abe again. Oddly enough, he didn’t appear out of place here at all.
Around the table, Anthony and Abe both held cards in their hand, seemingly in the midst of negotiating. When I suddenly appeared, all eyes were riveted on me.
Obviously, Anthony was taken aback. He put his cards face down on the table, then walked towards me. “Why did you come over?”
As he spoke, he shot a glance at Holden, who merely shrugged in return. “I had no say in this.”
At the same time, Abe squinted at me, evidently bewildered. He didn’t seem able to recall who I was. That wasn’t shocking. However, considering the multiple women he’d encountered over the years, the women Abe had met probably numbered in their hundreds, even thousands. I was merely one among his many faceless victims. The only conceivable difference that set me apart from the rest was probably the fact that I’d managed to escape. I was lucky that he’d never gotten to torture me.
Abe’s eyes flickered with recognition. However, as he saw Anthony and me standing side by side, Abe gazed at me, then intoned in a low voice, “Is it you?”
I smiled at him brightly. “Long time no see, Mr. Abe.”
Abe glanced at Anthony, then sniggered.
“What were you planning to do, Holden? Why did you bring her in?” Abe asked menacingly.
Holden, however, turned to Anthony. “Mr. Featherstone, it’s getting late. Mrs. Featherstone looks a little tired. Perhaps you should be heading home to rest,” he suggested matter-of-factly.
“Holden Taylor, what exactly do you take me for?” Abe roared. With one swift motion, he furiously swept the cards off the table.
Holden, however, remained looking steadily in Anthony’s direction. “You’ll have to meet Dad tomorrow. You should get some rest tonight,” the man urged, a note of warning in his voice.
Indignant at having been ignored multiple times, Abe flew into a rage. He suddenly drew out a pistol and pointed it straight at Holden. “Taylor, let me ask you again, what do you take me for?” Abe bellowed.
The solid presence of the pistol immediately draped a dense cloak of tension over the room. Anthony silently shielded me with his body as he watched the situation unfold.
Holden, however, seemed accustomed to Abe’s behavior. He glared defiantly at Abe, then said coolly, “Mr. Abe, if you fire that pistol, I’m afraid neither of us will be walking out of Gold Star Casino tonight.”
Abe’s face had turned purple. He had evidently dedicated his full strength towards restraining his anger.
After what seemed like an eternity, Abe slowly lowered the pistol. He looked at Anthony and suddenly laughed harshly. “Mr. Featherstone, perhaps some other day then. Don’t worry. There’ll be plenty of opportunities for us to meet again. Off with you!”
Nonetheless, Anthony’s gaze never wavered. He remained expressionless even as he nodded politely. “I’ll be happy to meet for drinks. As for other activities, I still abide by the same principle that I won’t do anything to hurt anyone else.”
With that declaration, Anthony grabbed my hand and practically hauled me out of the private room. I was utterly bewildered by the entire event and had so many questions to ask. My curiosity died on my lips, however, as I saw the urgency with which Anthony dragged me through the corridors of the casino.
The first floor was bustling with its usual activity. Anthony weaved through the raucous crowd with me in tow until we finally arrived at the exit. Zachary’s appointed personnel were already waiting for us there. With that, we hurriedly linked up with them and got into the car.
Anthony had just started the car when a crowd of people swarmed out, forming a barricade on the road before us.
They weren’t there for us. A few burly men had thrown a man out of the casino and were now determinedly laying their fists and kicks into him.
Their chosen target was screaming for mercy, but his cries fell on deaf ears. Only when they’d observed that the man was half dead did his assailants consider their mission complete. They headed back inside, none the worse for the wear.
Anthony coldly watched as the man convulsed a few times as he lay on the ground. He struggled to get up but crumpled to the floor each time. At last, he lay flailing on the floor like a trampled earthworm.
I felt a sudden surge of sympathy for the man. “Anthony, can we help him?” I asked impulsively.
Anthony clenched his jaw and said nothing. I didn’t press the matter either. It was a casino, after all. It was not the place for kindness or pity.
The man, however, lay squarely in our path. Unable to drive away, we could only sit in the car watching him.
After a while, the man seemed to have exhausted all of his strength. He lay unmoving on the ground like a corpse. Anthony’s eyes narrowed. He then stepped onto the accelerator as hard as he could. The sound of the engine revving was accompanied by the sudden lurching forward of the car. I was convinced that Anthony had made up his mind to run the man over where he lay.
The man, however, reacted to the firing of the car’s engines as if he had been shot. He vehemently clawed his way up and sprawled onto the hood of our car. Blood still shone freshly on his face and from the corner of his mouth. The man then cracked a smile at Anthony and asked weakly, “Are you really going to stand by and let me die?”
Baffled, I turned to Anthony. Do they know each other? I wondered.
Despite that, Anthony continued looking straight ahead evenly.
The man laughed, but it came out as barely a wheeze. “You’re both witnesses to the whole incident. Pity me and give me a ride to the hospital, won’t you? My leg’s broken, and I can’t walk.”
I found the man’s utter nonchalance towards the danger he was in rather astounding.
Anthony, however, pressed his lips into a thin line. He barely spat out the command, “Get lost!”
Even so, the man shamelessly clung on. In fact, he’d almost clambered up onto the front of our car entirely. Lazily, he drawled, “If you aren’t willing to let me into your car, I’ll continue lying here then. I wouldn’t want to frighten that beautiful lady next to you, either.”
Anthony was already seething at that moment. Without hesitation, he stepped on the accelerator once again. The car surged forward, and the man lost his balance, rolling off the hood then landed with a heavy thud on the floor. Anthony, however, made no move to stop the car. He looked as if he fully intended to run the man over.
Fortunately, the man reacted with what would be lightning speed in his condition, narrowly avoiding being crushed by our car.
The man’s violent curses followed us as we drove off. “You’re insane! If you really ran me over, you’d have killed me!”
Yet Anthony paid no heed to him. After a while, his cries of abuse faded in the distance.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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