Brian grinned wickedly as he enjoyed watching Molly trying to put a restraint on her anger. He said in a
brash tone,"To never let you be free. That is what I want."
Molly was desperate and defeated by his extremely cruel and scornful words. Her eyes were filled with
tears again, which she stubbornly tried to hold back. She bit her quivering lips and glared at Brian
wishing she could just kill him and get it over with.
Steven's heart hurt as he watched his daughter suffer under Brian's tyranny. He felt guilty, and there
was a deep sense of helplessness in him, as if he was trying to say that whatever had happened was
unavoidable and it had happened against his will.
The VIP room was in a deadly silence; nobody dared to speak a word, and their breathing went quiet
too. Everybody looked at Brian and Molly and wondered what was going on between them, but they
had no way to find it out.
Shirley was anxious to help Molly, but she knew that even if she did step in and help her now, she was
not always going to be able to help them, because love is the most complex emotion in the world. It
was the same when she had knelt down to Richie and got to know who Wing was. She could have
never imagined at the time that she would marry him one day and would end up loving him so much.
"Brian..." Shirley sighed, looking at him. It was as if she was looking at a young Richie. Brian was even
more hardhearted and more possessive than Richie was at that time.
"Shirley, the casino has its own rules," Brian said gently to Shirley. Even though he was the boss, that
did not mean that he could destroy the rules which every casino in the world followed.
Shirley turned towards Molly. She pulled Molly towards her and moved a few steps away from the
table. She said,"Let's just wait until they finish the game."
Molly's eyes glistened with tears, together with an obvious look of anger and helplessness. She could
do nothing but swallow her saliva silently. Realizing that there was nothing she could do, she nodded.
Jason saw the interaction among them and it confirmed his suspicion of who Shirley was. The lady was
certainly very familiar with Brian. And as for the slam in the slot machine, it was probably arranged by
Brian himself!.
Brian's eyes shifted to Molly once again and saw that she was still looking very angrily at him. He
grinned with an elusive and evil look, which passed on a clear message to her- 'you can never escape
from me'.
The game proceeded under Jason's order. It was only then that Molly saw the person gambling against
Steven. When she saw the person's calm and collected face, she was so shocked that her eye
widened.
Shane sat at the table without saying a word. His fingers were slender and fair. A mild shine came from
his eyes. He had not paid too much attention to Molly or Shirley since they had barged in. He was the
most famous croupier in the world, but very few people knew that he was also very good at BlackJack,
probably one of the best.
BlackJack, also known as Twenty-one(21), was Steven's favorite gambling game.
"During the game, nobody is allowed to interrupt unless there is an emergency," Jason's calm voice
came through to her. He ran his eyes across the people in the room and then nodded to the dealer,
asking him to distribute the cards.
Molly stood at the viewing stand and watched the game. She almost gave up hope when she saw the
transparent square chips stacked by Steven's side. Even with the minimal face value, so many chips
could add up to more than one million. But how could all the chips have a minimal face value at the
same time?
Shirley could not help but feel sorry. She lightly tapped on Molly's hand and said,"Don't worry. If your
father loses, I will pay the money."
Molly bit her lips and looked at Shirley. If she had to owe the money to someone, she would rather owe
it to Aunt Shirley. At least Shirley would never force her to do anything she did not want to. But would
Brian allow Aunt Shirley to help her? Would he let her?
She laughed at herself. It was more than evident that everything that was happening now was no more
than a punishment Brian was imposing on her. He was taking drastic actions to tell her that she could
never escape from him unless he let her go by his own wish.
However, she did not want to give up without trying; she did not want to lose hope. Just as Aunt Shirley
had said, as long as she moved forward, perhaps there would be a different view waiting for her.
The game started officially. Shane acted as the dealer, while Steven played.
Shane dealt two cards. He placed one card face up on the table, which was a King, and the other card
face down, which he himself did not see. Thus, of course, nobody in the room knew what card it was.
Steven was dealt two Aces. An Ace can have a value of either 1 or 11 depending upon the situation.
He said,"Split!"
The croupier split the two Aces into individual bets and he continued to deal. The split cards received
one extra card each, one of which was another A, while the other was a 9.
Steven looked at the cards and thought for a while before he said,"Split the Aces again."
Shane continued to split cards for Steven. Brian sat at the viewing stand, watching the game unfold.
His handsome face was like a fine sculpture with no expression. His eyes were as black as ink and as
quiet as the windless sea.
The cards dealt under the split Aces were a 5 and a 3.
Steven frowned and thought for a while, and then said,"Hit!"
The croupier continued to deal him cards- a 10 and a Queen.
If A was valued at 11, the sum would exceed 21 and Steven would lose. So the Ace could only make 1,
which was unlucky. With the sum of the first split being 16 and that of the second split being 14, if he
continued to 'hit', the total was very likely to exceed 21. But if he did not 'hit', the dealer was very likely
to beat him and win the game.
Steven silently looked at the three pairs of cards in front of him. Meanwhile, at the viewing stand,
Molly's palms were beginning to sweat. Although she couldn't decide whether Steven should 'hit' or not
in such a case, she knew clearly that he was in a dire situation at the moment.
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