Fair Trade

Lily, who insisted on having dinner together, went down to the site of the event again. Sei stepped out onto the balcony and observed her surroundings.

Her earrings had already been put in a case and tucked inside her backpack. As the dry wind kept blowing against her body, Sei fell into deep thought.

Lily said she had handed everything over to the FBI.

Her father was charged with murder without evidence.

Uncle Albert left a keepsake that was very similar to the pistol Yuri mentioned.

They all pointed to one answer, but she was somehow confused and scared.

If Valentin was indeed Gavin Smith, he should have stolen Yuri’s things to hand them over to Guilio, hoping that the two organizations would come crashing down. Due to their comparable strength, the outcome of their impact was predictable.

But what if… What if an unexpected person appeared and messed things up? What if a naive petty thief stole the thing Guilio had and ran away?

She groaned and rubbed her hands over her face. She felt as if the entire planet’s gravity was pressing down on her as if it wanted to crush her.

Back in her room, Sei lay down on the soft sofa and turned on the TV. In addition to local broadcasts of Las Vegas news, she had her pick of renowned television programmes and other films. However, her mind was so preoccupied that she could hardly concentrate on any one thing.

Is the meet-up supposed to be at 8 p.m. tomorrow?

If Valentine shows up at Uncle Joe’s hamburger store tomorrow, there would be no more room for doubt.

No, rather, she might be able to use the situation to come up with a faster solution.

To do so, she needed someone to disassemble the pistol she had kept in her safe.

She also needed a weapons expert with the best skills.

Her hand, which had been meaninglessly flipping through the channels, came to a halt at last. It was a public CCTV feed that allowed guests to see the casino from the comfort of their own rooms.

When viewed from a distance, human life appeared to be a farce. When examined closely, it was believed to be nothing more than a tragedy — much like that of a casino.

As she flipped through the channels while staring at the TV with dull eyes, her hands jerked and stiffened.

Sei cocked her head and turned the channel back.

There were familiar faces all over the screen. There was Kirill at the poker table and Stefan at the blackjack table. Besides that, people she knew kept popping up whenever she changed the channel.

But there was no Yuri anywhere. She wondered uf her eyes were deceiving her, so she flipped through the channels many times to double-check, but as it turned out, her eyes weren’t betraying her either.

Though I can’t see him now, it definitely means that he’s in the same hotel.

For him, finding out her location would have been as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.

Thinking like that irritated her once more.

That day, it was the first time since the gunfight in Milan. The incident that occurred while Sei was asleep resulted in the Parenti organization’s unilateral defeat. The Red Mafia, who had been caught off guard by the success of their contract, showed no mercy to them.

Although she was not invited to the memorial service, she heard that Giulio had organized a funeral for his subordinates.

However, only a few details were released about the Parenti organization.

The extent of damage sustained by the Red Mafia was still unknown.

Standing up, she went outside without any hesitation and got into the elevator connected to the casino. Unlike on the cruise, there was no restriction upon entry except for age, so she was able to easily go inside while wearing jeans and a shirt.

Sei debated whether to approach Kirill or Stefan and eventually chose Stefan because he was less problematic than his brother.

Everyone sat at tables regardless of their social standing, from inebriated individuals to homeless people who appeared to have been out for days, from old to young, beggars to rich people.

However, it was not easy to search for them among all these people. Sei got hold of a security guard nearby and asked, “Which direction is the R6 channel I saw in my hotel room?”

At her question, the man smiled rather embarrassedly and radioed somewhere. Then, when he got the response, he smiled and gestured to the northern balcony.

“This way, miss.”

“Thank you.”

Sei strode to where the security guard had pointed. Then she spotted Stefan’s head from a distance. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw him unharmed even after betraying Giulio.

She could not help herself. Yuri had advised her not to sympathize with them, but she didn’t want to see the funeral of another person she knew.

It was then…

“Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy! … Hey! Let me go!”

She heard a familiar cry from nearby. Sei found Lily being dragged by a strange man into the red curtain.

The man who dragged Lily in was named Jimmy. Sei struggled to recall his identity.

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy… No way, is it really Jimmy, the arms dealer?

The place where Lily had just been dragged into was the club lounge inside the casino. A place where no one could enter.

As she approached that area, as expected, a huge man blocked her path and shook his head.

“You can’t get in unless you have a VIP card.”

“Then call my friend from inside. It’s Lily White. She was in front of the casino as a Rolls Royce model.”

The words twisted the eyebrows of the bodyguard. He must have spotted Lily as well.

Was this what Lily meant when she said she wanted to be famous? Of course not, but Sei felt like laughing because the scenario was really absurd.