Master & Student (The Billionaire's Way 2)

My boss grabs a large bag and carries it himself out of the Presidential suite. This is odd since I have never seen him carry his own bag before. I think about asking about the bag. I don’t. If Mr. Peak wants me to know about the bag, he damn well will let me know at his convenience.

We walk down to the Hermitage lobby. People look at us like we are royalty. They know Mr. Peak is a billionaire and they know we are going to the Monte Carlo Casino. It feels good to be the center of attention.

We enter a chauffeured Rolls-Royce. When the doors close, Mr. Peak demands my full attention. “Sergey usually likes to play dice. But when he is in Monte Carlo, he plays Baccarat because that is where all the big shots play. The men sit at the table while their women stand behind them for good luck. That is where you will be situated. Sergey will notice you and immediately make his move to anger me. You will pretend to be attracted to him. He will want you to stand behind him for good luck. And that’s exactly what you will do. I will become upset and agitated. You will further anger me by submitting to Sergey. He will be seen as stealing you away from me. At that point, you will see me leave the table. That’s when I will rendezvous with General Zhukov at a secret location. You will keep Sergey, and his men, distracted for the next four hours. You will most likely be taken to Sergey’s docked mega-yacht along with a dozen other women. Keep an eye on him, especially if he begins to wonder on the whereabouts General Zhukov. After a few hours, Sergey and his men will become drunk and hostile. Many of the other girls will be throwing themselves on Sergey. Begin to slowly act uninterested in the young man and he will most likely ignore you. Then leave the ship. I will pick you up on Avenue J.F. Kenney at exactly 3 a.m. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sir.”

We pull up to the Monte Carlo Casino. The doors to the Rolls-Royce open and Mr. Peak takes my hand. A chill runs up my spine. We are not walking in there as boss and as**sistant. For this evening, I am his date.

We make our entrance and the casino is electric. I see some famous faces. I see people who look like royalty. The best thing is, people are looking at us like we are famous, like we are royalty.

A casino host escorts us to the VIP section. We walk past the masses in the Grand Casino and enter a more private area with a high ceiling, grand arches and a crowd of people right out of a James Bond movie. Every man is in his best suit. The women are covered in diamonds. In short, we fit right in.

My heart begins to race. Even though I don’t see him, I know that I am in the same room with Sergey Molidak. Mr. Peak leads me around to the back of the room. The first thing I see are four large men wearing sunglasses. They stick out right away because they seem to be about a foot taller than most of the men in the room. I look down at the table next to these gorillas. I see an animated man rocking back and forth yelling at the other gamblers - Sergey.

“I told you I was going to win that one, motherfucker!” Sergey yells as we approach the table. As Mr. Peak says, only men are gambling. The very well-dressed, beautiful and quiet women stand behind their men.

My boss takes his seat. He places his bag on the table. He says something in French. One of the casino execs opens the bag. Everyone looks inside. The bag is stuffed with 500 Euro notes. Oh my God! How much was Mr. Peak walking around with?

The casino man takes the bag from the table. A co**cktail waitress asks my boss for his order. She walks off. Sergey doesn’t seem to notice my boss just yet. The dictator’s son is still very much into his own game.

I look at the table. Every player is betting with ten thousand, tweny-five thousand and fifty thousand dollar chips. I see plaques with one hundred thousand and five hundred thousand denominations. Fuck, these guys are playing with some real money.

As the waitress comes back with the drinks, the casino exec - who took Mr. Peak’s bag - returns with a rack of 100,000 Euro betting plaques. Good grief. I count fifty bars. Yes, my boss just walked into the Monte Carlo Casino with 5 million Euros. That’s about six and half million dollars. Wow.

I look down at the Baccarat table. The men are betting on whether the “Banker” or the “Player” will have the highest hand. Each man is betting an average of 50,000 Euros per hand. My boss starts with a 100,000 bet.

I am so nervous, even though this is not my money and 100,000 Euros is not even a day’s pay for Mr. Peak. The first hand is dealt. Mr. Peak wins! I almost jump up and down for my man who barely moves an inch.

After the hand is dealt, Sergey looks up at me. He points at Mr. Peak. “Hey, you like young girls. I like young girls! We have something in common!” the brash young guy says as he tosses 200,000 Euros for his next bet. My boss decides to up the ante and bet 300,000.