Take My Breath Away

Carlos kept losing to the other three men. His mood went from bad to worse faster than a cat lapping chain lightning.

His face contorted in displeasure as he finished up his red wine with one gulp and tossed the chips on the table.

Niles looked at him in utter disbelief. "Carlos, this is at least three hundred thousand dollars. Are you out of your mind?"

Carlos cast a cold glance at him and said, "What are you—a chicken?"

He tried to goad Niles into playing, and it worked. Without wasting another second, Niles tossed the chips on the table and said, "Count me in."

Damon rolled his eyes at them and complained, "Are you guys out of your minds? Carlos, you better be careful. What if Pepper Nian reports you to the authorities again for organizing a gambling session?"

Wesley kicked Damon's leg hard under the table almost immediately. Shrugging his shoulders, Damon gave him an embarrassed smile and shut his mouth.

"Wait! Debbie reported that I organized a gambling session before?" Carlos asked curiously.

Damon put on a fake smile and answered, "Yeah! We were just hanging about like this, but then your ex-wife called the police on us for gambling."

"Wow! Debbie seems great! At least she was brave enough to treat the four richest young men in Y City with disrespect!" Niles exclaimed.

Wesley kicked him as well, and Niles fell silent unwillingly.

Carlos' eyes darkened, his disdainful expression frozen in place. Suddenly, he stood up from his seat and threw his glass to the wall with all his might as if trying to vent his frustration.

As soon as the glass hit the wall, it was shattered to pieces, scattering shards across the floor. No one dared to utter another word after that.

Niles stroked his hair to conceal his nervousness. He had known Carlos for many years, but this was the first time he had seen him like this.

Carlos had a long face even before he entered the private booth. And now, he looked like a ferocious lion about to tear its prey apart.

Wesley got off the phone and stopped Carlos from kicking the table in anger. "Carlos, calm down!"

Carlos shook off his arm, pulled out his tie and threw it onto the sofa. He then grabbed Curtis' glass and gulped it down in one go.

Curtis looked at his empty glass in Carlos' hand and thought, 'Carlos, aren't you a germophobe?'

He grabbed a bottle of liquor and waved it before Carlos

He shook his head at Curtis and said, "I don't know. Why are you asking me?"

"I'll call her and see. Just hold on," Curtis said.

No one responded to that.

Curtis pulled out his phone from his pocket and asked Niles, "Should I call her or send her a video-call request?"

Niles looked at the others as he felt even more confused. 'How am I supposed to know?' "Send a video-call request?" he stammered.

"I better call her. Maybe she's asleep," said Curtis as he scrolled down his contact list.

Niles suddenly noticed that Carlos' eyes were fixated on Curtis' phone this whole time, and he immediately understood where Curtis was going with this. "Why not call her first? If she's awake, you can send her a video-call request," he said.

Curtis nodded in agreement.

He dialed Debbie's number and put his phone on speaker mode. "Hi, Uncle Curtis!" Debbie greeted him from the other end of the line.

It was around 11 p.m., and she was still at work.

"Debbie, did you go to bed already?" Curtis stole a glance at Carlos, who wasn't drinking anymore.

"Not yet. I'm still at work. Why? What's up?" Curtis seldom called her at this hour.

"Do you mind if we have a video chat? I feel like I haven't seen you in ages. The guys are drinking. Niles and I are very bored."

Niles' jaw dropped to the floor faster than he could say Jack Robinson. 'Seriously? I can't believe he's using me as an excuse, ' he thought to himself.

'A video chat? Uncle Curtis is really strange!' Debbie thought. However, she was too embarrassed to turn him down, so she agreed reluctantly. "Okay."