Chapter 1.3 - Valentina
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I didn't post the Tuesday chapter (I just realized), so I will be posting a double chapter today!
Happy Friday and enjoy reading :)
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“I was just taking out my cigar.” He sounds scared, but I know he’s lying because there’s a half smoked cigarette between his lips that’s been leaving ash all over his side of the table.
“Alright.” Matteo says and sits back down without taking his eyes off Yuri.
I take the nearly $6000 in chips and start sorting them based on their value while the next round is being dealt.
“Where’s your cigar?” Matteo asks, and I frown at him.
“Watch your mouth.” Yuri warns as he takes out a cigar from his left chest pocket.
“Three are left, so the small blind will be a thousand, big blind two.”
I notice that I have around $40.000 now, my father has approximately $30.000, and the rest belong to Matteo.
Four rounds later, he goes all in against me after my dad folds.
“Four of a kind.” I say as I lay out my cards. He has a Full House, so I take all the chips and neatly arrange them into piles once again.
“Two are left, small is five thousand, big is ten.”
My dad wins the next two rounds with two of a kind and the highest card.
The cards are dealt again, and I get a King and an Ace of Diamonds. The first three cards are a Jack of Diamonds, a 10 of Hearts, and a 10 of Diamonds.
“Raise you eight thousand.” My dad says, daring me to match his bid. He’s always been very competitive, but not in a childish way like Yuri; purely because it’s fun for him to win.
I push eight chips into the pile, leaving me with $2000.
If I lose this round it’s game over because I can’t even afford the small blind.
The fourth card laid out is the Queen of Diamonds, and that’s when I know I just won.
Everyone at the table is focused on the game, including Luca and the bartender. All the faces in the room look surprised with a hint of impressed, including Yuri’s. The only ones who don’t look surprised are Matteo and my dad.
Neither of us raises the bid, so the dealer lays the last card on the table. It’s the 10 of Spades.
“All in.” my dad says, and I know he probably has four of a kind, a Straight Flush, or a Full House. Either way, my Royal Flush trumps all of the options. I watch his face as he looks at the cards, and I can’t bring myself to take all of his money and beat him in front of his business partners.
“I fold.” I say, throwing my cards faced-down on the table.
My father happily grins as he reveals his straight flush of diamonds, going from 8 to the Queen.
“Good match.” He tells me and I smile, nodding.
“I’m happy I got two thousand out of it.”
The mood shifts when another round of drinks is brought to the table.
“Should we takes this to the conference room and continue our discussion?” one of the men asks my dad.
“Sure, you go ahead, I need to talk to Valentina about something.”
Matteo takes this as his que to stand up with the rest of the men, joining Luca at the bar. They talk amongst themselves while the dealer clears the table and the bartender takes the empty glasses to the sink.
“Bring some ashtrays to the conference room.” Yuri tells Matteo and Luca.
“We’re not part of the service personnel.”
Yuri points at him. “One day that smart mouth of yours will get you killed.”
My eyes widen, but Matteo looks unimpressed by his threat.
“And today can be the day where too much alcohol will get you kicked out and banned from the hotel.”
“Do you know who I am?”
Matteo smirks. “Fortunately, no.”
“I’m going to talk to whoever made the bad decision to hire you.”
“Do you need the number of my supervisor or can you figure it out?” Matteo grins, and I mirror him.
Luca coughs and asks Yuri whether he knows where the conference room. Yuri huffs and turns around to follow the rest of the men out of the room without bothering to answer.
“You played very well.” My dad says in Russian and walks over to the bar.
“Thank you.”
I follow him with my gaze, feeling extremely aware of the fact that Matteo and Luca are still in the room.
“What did you think?” he asks once he’s behind the bar.
“About what?”
“My business partners.”
He’s never asked for my opinion before.
“I don’t like Yuri.”
He smirks in a boyish way that lets me know he agrees. “Why?”
“Are you serious? Did you not see how he acted? He’s a whole grown ass man. I don’t trust him at all, something’s off with him. Who is he anyway, and why do you get into business with people like these?”
He pours himself a Vodka Tonic instead of a glass of whiskey.
“He didn’t expect you to be here.” He answers, ignoring my second question. “We usually talk about business during our poker games. You’ve gotten a lot better by the way.”
I smile. “Thank you. Why did you ask me to join?”
“I thought it would be fun for you.” He says, not looking at me as he does so.
“It was, thanks.”
His eyes drift in Matteo and Luca’s direction. “How do you know him?”
“Who?” I force myself not to look at Matteo.
“The guy who played with us.”
“Why do you assume I know him?”
I don’t think Matteo and I have even exchanged a word since I stepped into the room.
“You look like you know each other.”
“He went to the same school as me, and now he’s at the same university. Why?”
My dad shrugs and makes his way to the door. I follow him without looking back.
“I’m going into a meeting now. One more hour and we can leave.”
“Thank God.” I joke, and he c***s his head, feigning disapproval.
“Thank you.” He says to the four people left in the room.
“No problem.” Luca answers.
Matteo and I make eye contact for a few seconds before I finally follow my dad out of the room.
The conference room is right down the hall, and once my dad closes the door, I take out my phone for the first time since I sat down at the table.
Raisa had texted me asking me where I am, so I text her back saying I’m on my way.
“You had the hand.”
I turn around to see Matteo walking down the hallway towards me.
“How did you know?” I ask.
He stops when he’s right next to me, way closer than an average person would deem acceptable. He leans against the wall next to a painting and pulls out a cigarette pack out of his trousers. “You just told me.”
I roll my eyes, smiling. “How did you really know?”
“I counted the cards.”
For some reason, the answer makes me very happy.
“Of course you did.”
“So, why did you do it?”
“One of the games we play together is poker. I know I’m better than my father at a limited number of things, and winning at most games I play is one of them. Winning against him makes him appear…human. I’m not sure if I want to stop seeing him as my dad just yet. And I know he hates losing to his daughter because I can read it on his face. Plus, I didn’t want to embarrass him by making him lose against his daughter.”
“How uncharacteristically nice of you.”
I grimace. “I am nice.”
“You looked like you were about to punch that Yuri guy every time he opened his mouth.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
We laugh as he nods, offering me a cigarette.
“Are you allowed to smoke in here?”
“Everything is allowed.” His tone isn’t entitled like Yuri’s had been.
He lights the cigarette when I place it between my lips.
“If you know how to count cards, why didn’t you win?” I provoke him just for the fun of it, before taking the glass from his hand to take a sip. Of course, it’s Gin and Tonic.
“I didn’t need another Russian mad at me in that room.” He jokes, but the way he says the word ‘Russian’ makes me feel weird.
“My dad doesn’t get mad if he loses. I’ve rarely ever seen him angry.” I hand him the glass back just as my phone rings, and I already know it’s Raisa. “I need to go back to my table now.”
“Okay, have fun.” He says when I turn around to walk away.
“I think I just had the most fun I’ll have tonight.” I jokingly say over my shoulder.
Twenty minutes is all I can take once I’m back at the table until I start yawning. I decide to go up to my room to sleep off my jetlag.
***
When I go down for breakfast the next morning, Raisa is the only one missing. Luca and Matteo are nowhere to be seen because the event had ended.
“Where is Raisa?” I ask Valerya.
“She went out with some friends last night and hasn’t come back yet.”
That’s when I know she cheated on ‘the love of her life’ with Matteo last night.
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