Chapter 65

“Gregory, a pleasant surprise,” Marc said, reaching out and shaking the older man’s hand. He was in his mid-sixties and Marc would never have thought he would catch the old financier at a poker game like this. Maybe at a VIP table where the buy-in was ten times the amount as Victor’s little game, surrounded by other men who had made their first millions during the Dot-Com boom and cashed in during the 2008 financial crisis by sheer luck of not being in the harder hit industries.

“What’s a man like you doing in a place like this?” Gregory asked.

“I was invited by a recent acquaintance,” Marc said truthfully. “And I am being joined by a much better friend this evening. Gregory, this is my dear friend Sinead. Sinead, my dear, this is Gregory Stanhope - a titan of industry.”

“Oh, lay off it, Marc,” Gregory chuckled, smiling slickly as he took Sinead’s hand lightly in a shake. “Charmed, dear.”

“The pleasure is mine,” Sinead answered, her smile saying one thing but the glint in her eye telling Marc that she was filing away every little fact for later perusal.

“Speaking of men finding themselves in places like this,” Marc said. “I’m here more as a courtesy to said acquaintance. What are you doing here, Gregory?”

“Well, I’m a guest,” the older man said. “My youngest daughter fancies herself as something of a poker player; wants to get herself into the big tournaments in Las Vegas and such. Turns out she was secretly using the allowance I was giving her to play. When she asked me to help her stake for one of those big games, I told her I needed to see her play when the stakes were real before I’d put up cash for that. She knew some people who knew some people, and got herself an invite to this game.”

“Ah,” Marc said, looking around the room. They had shifted a little way from the door and towards the bar. “This would be ... Andrea? Wendy’s daughter?”

“Right, right,” Gregory nodded. He’d been divorced three times, having a kid or two with each wife. “She’s over ... a, it looks like she’s making friends.”

Marc and Sinead both looked across the room to where a young brunette woman, maybe only nineteen at best, was talking with a couple of ladies who were in their mid-twenties and were likely strippers. All three of them were gorgeous, but where the strippers were dressed up, Andrea was dressed a little down compared to the other women in the room. She was wearing a button-down blouse and slacks, had minimal makeup and sunglasses up on her forehead. It looked like she was planning on giving away as little as possible during the game.

“Greg,” Marc said, lowering his voice a little as the main doors opened and Rachel ushered in a trio of men and a woman, all with dark skin and severe looks to them even if they were smiling. By their accents, he could tell they were Jamaicans. “I’m not looking to question your judgement here, but ... this game seems like it’s a bit of a volatile crowd.”

“It’s about eighty per cent criminal,” Sinead added in.

“That’s exactly what she needs to prove herself capable of handling,” Gregory said. “If my daughter wants to be a professional gambler, of all things, I told her she should just go into the Stock Market, but no - she wants to play cards for a living. If that’s the case, this is the sort of element she’ll be rubbing shoulders with. Better that happen with me here than not, I say.”