The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 72: Cards Around the Table
Around a small round table sat five well-dressed gentlemen, all focused intently on the cards in their hands.
Gambling had always been one of the fastest ways to build relationships.
When William, newly settled into the community, suggested hosting a small friendly card gathering during one of the neighborhood events, it quickly attracted attention.
Thanks to his frequent appearances in the newspapers recently, and especially his role in bringing down the head of the Sabine City IRS Investigation Unit, reactions toward him tended to split into two camps.
Some people instinctively avoided getting too close to him.
Others were eager to make his acquaintance.
The IRS was the natural enemy of every high-income earner. Watching someone make the IRS stumble was deeply satisfying for people who spent every month inventing new ways to reduce their tax burden.
Besides, moving into this community meant William now possessed enough financial standing to speak with them as an equal.
Few people objected to expanding their network.
Under those circumstances, the first gathering, organized around cards and conversation, proceeded smoothly.
The game itself was unlike anything William had known in his previous world.
Five players.
Ten cards each.
Simple rules.
At its core, it was a game of exchange.
After trading concluded, players compared hands.
Before the game began, each participant declared the final hand they intended to build. Once trading ended, their cards had to satisfy that declaration. Points were then awarded or deducted based on the relative strength of everyone’s completed hand.
Exchanges involved not only cards but points as well.
Before the first round, each player contributed two hundred dollars.
One hundred dollars became their starting score, one hundred points.
The other hundred dollars went into the communal pool, creating a total reserve of five hundred points.
When the game ended, each point a player possessed could be redeemed for an equivalent amount of money.
It was an enormously popular game, played throughout the world.
Many believed it captured the essence of commerce itself.
Every match was a trade war.
Each player represented a company, a merchant guild, or an interest group.
The communal pool represented the bank.
Victory was not simply about winning hands.
Since points frequently changed hands during negotiations, every exchange became a strategic battle.
Sometimes the player who won the most rounds ultimately lost money.
Sometimes the player who seemed to lose constantly ended the night ahead.
The game’s name was Piva.
A word with several meanings.
It could refer to payment, the core mechanism of the game.
Or collection, the reward of victory.
Its appeal was undeniable.
No wonder it had conquered the world.
Not far from the gentlemen’s table, several ladies sat in wicker chairs beside the floor-to-ceiling windows.
They sipped premium floral tea while quietly competing with one another.
Naturally, their conversations revolved around fashionable topics.
Recent runway shows.
New jewelry exhibitions.
Freshly released films.
The latest developments involving celebrities and politicians.
Men were often surprised to discover how knowledgeable their wives became when gathered together.
The same women who sometimes seemed uninformed or naïve at home suddenly appeared cultured, articulate, and remarkably well-informed.
Just as women gathered to compete through vanity and elegance, men gathered to discuss things beyond the card table.
One gentleman spoke while arranging his cards.
“The economic growth index for the first half of the year fell another eleven percentage points compared to last year. The recession is becoming impossible to ignore.”
“How long do you think it’ll last?”
The speaker sat opposite William.
He wore a silver-trimmed shirt and had rolled his sleeves far above his elbows.
Dense hair covered his forearms.
The contrast created an oddly unsettling impression.
As though a gorilla had disguised itself as a human and slipped unnoticed into society.
He owned a manufacturing plant.
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