Is this destiny?

The walls of the lounge for gambling are decorated with purple velvet curtains, which are blocking the windows and are draped on the walls as well.

Next to the walls are several comfortable sofas for people to sit and relax, while tables for games are in the middle: one roulette table, one for craps, and three tables for poker.

Delectable snacks and drinks are coming in the room endlessly, and even the soft carpet is a giveaway that this is a private room for high-rollers.

An extra perk are several young ladies who are offering shoulder massages and hot towels. The management wants customers to be comfortable so that they can stay longer and spend more money.

Sarah was surprised that this is a non-smoking room. Every time she gambled in Vegas so far, it was through a tobacco haze, and the higher the bets, the thicker the cigars were. This is different.

Aiden explained to Sarah that this room opens at 3 PM, and people with invitations can join and freely choose between games available. There are no limits on bets. However, this is just an entry point to the real event.

Dealers are observing players, and their job is to recommend to the management who can join the next stage, which starts at 5 PM. That is in the adjacent room, and the game is blackjack with a minimum buy-in of $100,000.00 for the first round. The round resets every hour with increased buy-in.

In short: at 5 PM, a game of blackjack starts with every player using $100k chips. At 6 PM, everyone collects their winnings, and a new round begins with every player having $200k chips in front. And the game continues until the final round which starts at 2 AM, and at that time every player needs $1 million to play.

The casino honors players who qualified to play in the game starting from 5 PM, and unless they break casino's etiquette, they can join that game as many times as they want. This room is used to pick new players who can join that VVIP game (how Sarah calls it).

Of course, other than money, players often make private side-bets for each hand, and the casino does not oppose it because it brings extra excitement.

What all those players have in common is a lot of money and an adrenaline rush from the possibility of winning prized treasures. But the real rush is for a person who wins; there is a sense of accomplishment and power. Once a person gets a taste of that, he craves to feel it again. It is an addiction that is so thick that it can almost be touched.

Aiden told Sarah that he will start with poker and they wished each other good luck before parting ways.

As soon as Aiden took a seat at the table, one lady offered him her massaging services. He vigorously refused. It is just a shoulder massage, but Sarah is unpredictable, and he does not want to risk her wrath. And even if Sarah is not possessive of him, if those are handsome men offering massages, he would not be OK with Sarah accepting, so he is taking this as treating her as an equal.

Sarah took a seat at the roulette table and glanced around. She was surprised that each of the four walls has a large digital clock which is showing the time in a twenty-four hours format. Current time: 15:56.

Why are clocks in the room unusual? Because in casinos, the management does not want players to know for how long they are spending money. That is why rooms where people gamble don't have access to daylight. It is easy to sit in front of a slot machine that accepts quarters and by the time a person realizes what he is doing, he spent several hundreds of dollars and he skipped on the lunch as well. And if a slot machine where a person spends quarters can make him spend a few hundred dollars without noticing, imagine how much he can spend when the bets have several zeros included after the first digit.

But this room is different, and hosts want for the players to be aware of the time. With the main game starting at 5 PM, the management wants to urge players to hurry up with placing big bets in order to catch the eye of a dealer in time to join the VVIP game. But if someone fails to secure that invitation, it's not a problem. Players are encouraged to keep on spending because there is another game tomorrow.

A waitress brought a small suitcase with chips worth $100.000,00 to Sarah.

Sarah arranged chips in front of her slowly while observing the roulette dealer with the corner of her eye. Everyone has a style, and the longer person works at a certain role, the more habits develop. Sarah needs three to five rounds to be able to have about 80% accuracy in where the ball will land. With each next round, that percentage goes higher. She can use Eve-lens, but Sarah has a principle not to cheat while gambling. She is limiting herself to using her observation and analyzing skills, and her capability to spot patterns, and Aiden calls that cheating.

Time: 16:19

The pile of chips in front of Sarah visibly increased. Out of eleven players at the table, Sarah is the only female. Everyone is more-less focused on the game, but her attention is drawn to the middle-eastern man who seems to be in his mid-forties. Why is she looking at him? Because he is more upset that she is winning than because he is losing, and also, he looks familiar. 

Sarah is aware of her bad memory when it comes to people's faces and that is where Eve-lens helps her greatly. She forgot the last time she struggled with someone's identity.

To prevent them from succumbing to the temptation of cheating, the Eve-lens was set to display only emergency information. Sarah changed that because she wanted to know who that man is.

A few seconds later, she saw the information: 'Akmal Ajami; Born: March 21, 1977; Age: 43; Country of birth: Pakistan; Current citizenship: United States…'

Sarah read this and nothing seemed familiar. Maybe she just met someone who looks like him. Or maybe a number of faces got mixed up in her mind.

She brushed it off and returned her focus to the game. Just one glance toward Aiden is telling her that his pile of chips is bigger than hers. At this rate, he will win!

Time: 16:37

One of the server ladies approached Sarah and handed her a small envelope with a whisper: "The management hopes that you can join today."

Sarah checked the note inside, and there it is: her invitation to the VVIP game. Woohoo!

She did her best to stay cool and not show her glee.

"Hmph… since when do women deserve such a treatment?", Akmal's derisive grumble got Sarah's attention.

She met his eyes full of contempt and several blurry images flashed in her mind.

"Excuse me, have we met before?", Sarah asked.

"Even if we did, do you think I would remember a woman?", Akmal sneered and returned his gaze to the game in front of him.

Sarah was unable to remember his face or his name, but that misogynist attitude was impossible to forget.

Last year, she was in Vegas with Aiden. During that game, she met Jarred and Akmal was present as well! Akmal left with his men and his pride hurt.

A subtle smile sneaked at the edge of Sarah's lips. This evening is getting more interesting than she thought it will be. 

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