Sex and the City Contract

The next day, the art pages of major newspapers reported that Antique's quarterly auction would bid for a Canova work with no reserve price, which had attracted the attention of collectors and museums from all over the world.According to the report, it is a life-size "Announcement Angel Gabriel", which was ordered by a wealthy Burgundy businessman at the end of the 20th century from this neoclassical art master. It has been kept in the family winery until it was first exposed more than [-] years ago. , Depositing this valuable work of art in a Swiss bank.

No need to read reports, Gabriel is also very clear about the origin of the statue: it is a family heirloom of his grandmother's family.When he was born, his grandmother was very happy to give the statue as a gift and deposit it in a Swiss bank with a fund, which can be used after he turns 22.

"Lawyer Mel, I thought my father only transferred the fund to Jin Jie's name, but I didn't expect to include the statue..." Gabriel said into the microphone in a very frustrated tone: "How could she do this? I really Is there no way to get the statue legally? The fund can be ignored, but the statue...is given to me after all.”

"Gabriel, your father transferred the fund and the statue to Jin Jie in accordance with legal procedures." Isaac took a deep breath, "The only way to get that statue is to 'buy' it."

Purchasing, seemingly simple but actually difficult, is exactly Jin Jie's wishful thinking.He knew very well that Ginger was doing this in revenge for his sale of the painting to James Rayleigh.

"Gabriel, I hope you won't blame your father..."

Gabriel gave a wry smile.complain?More than complaining, he even felt betrayed.But so what?He can't even complain, should he go to the cemetery and cry?

"Gabriel, are you listening?" Gabriel was silent, and Isaac said again, "...Your father loves you very much, you know that?"

Gabriel could answer politely, but he didn't want to.He was less and less sure of that.

"Buy...Lawyer Mel, do you know what it means to buy back something that originally belonged to you?" Gabriel finally said, "It means $200 million."

Now it was Isaac's turn to be silent.Gabriel said helplessly in a self-deprecating tone: "The problem is that I don't have $200 million."

"Gabriel, I'm sorry."

No, you don't know what regret is, Gabriel thought.If it was before, he would not have taken this amount seriously; now it is different, he even has to pay for this call to Isaac, and the lawyer charges by the hour.He didn't think Isaac could solve the 200 million problem for him.

"What's wrong? Is the coffee not good today? You didn't even take a sip."

Noticing that Gabriel was lying on the table with a slumped face like an abandoned Shar Pei, Andre walked to the table and asked while there were not many people in the cafe.

"Andre, can you lend me $200 million?"

"200 million?" Andrei's eyes widened exaggeratedly, as if he had heard a fairy tale, and he answered him with a smile: "If I had 200 million, I wouldn't be a barista here."

"I think so." Gabriel was still lying on his stomach, with no expectant expression on his face.

Andre raised his eyebrows, Gabriel's directness seemed to have slightly hurt his self-esteem. "Why do you need 200 million?" He pulled out his chair and sat down.

"I have to buy something very important to me." Gabriel said simply and concisely, "I need it within half a month."

"Although I don't have 200 million, I may have a way for you to earn 200 million." Andre looked around to make sure no one was paying attention, then lowered his voice and said to him, "The question is...do you have the guts to earn it?"

This sentence aroused Gabriel's interest.He asked immediately, and Andre told him that there was a way to earn 200 million: "Casino."

Gabriel was dumbfounded, thinking that Andre was deliberately making fun of him, "If I can make a steady profit of 200 million by relying on slot machines, I might as well buy the lottery, the chance of winning is even higher."

"I mean find a professional gambler to help you gamble." Andre was very serious, "Do you have some capital?"

Gabriel nodded, thanks to the previous auction, he had a small savings.

"I know a professional gambler: Nick, who accepts entrusted gambling and charges [-]% to [-]% depending on the risk." Andre explained, "But...it's a very messy circle, what you want to buy Is it worth taking such a big risk? Think it through."

Gabriel agreed without thinking too much.In the evening, Andre introduced him to Nick: a medium-sized, bearded Latino man with a slippery demeanor that felt like a snake.

Andre briefly explained their purpose. After hearing this, Nick thought about it for a while and asked Gabriel, "How much money do you want to make?"

Gabriel glanced at Andre.Earlier, Andre reminded him that he must never tell the gamblers the bottom line, he must control the gamblers and not be controlled by the gamblers. "Of course, the more the better."

"Without a range of dollars, it's hard for me to take risks," Nick said.

"I didn't presuppose an exact number, at least a few million."

"Ha, what a joke!" Nick sarcastically said, "Need to raise so much money in such a short time, buddy, you got into a lot of trouble?"

"The purpose of my need for money has nothing to do with you. In short, do you accept the entrustment?"

Nick stared at Gabriel for a while, suddenly smiled, and touched his face deliberately, "You actually have other ways to make money, don't you? Your type... I know people who are willing to spend a lot of money to raise..."

The derogatory tone of Nick made Gabriel very sick to his stomach. Before he finished speaking, Gabriel grabbed his collar and pushed him against the wall, "Fuck, are you a professional gambler or a pimp?"

Nick raised his hands in surrender, "Calm down!" Gabriel let go of his hand, and at this moment Nick took the opportunity to grab his left hand, "Ha, Patek Philippe, the real thing..." Nick's eyes suddenly became defensive, "A man wearing a Patek Philippe watch needs a lot of money? Brother, your question is terrible! Warning, my principle is not to touch the mafia, not to touch the drug lord! I am not interested in your question, don't hurt me! "

"Nick, I guarantee he's 'clean'," Andre interjected quickly. "It's nothing to do with gangs or drugs, Ann."

"I have to pay credit card fees and mortgage." Gabriel made up an excuse.

"Oh." Nick looked at Gabriel dubiously, and finally agreed to accept the commission: starting from the next night, a [-]% commission will be drawn each time.

After Nick left, Andre said with some concern that Gabriel revealed too much information, "gamblers are not known for their honesty. Good gamblers will say they won only seven dollars if they won ten dollars; bad gamblers won Money loses money; evil gamblers take their money and never show up in front of you again. Nick belongs to the third category."

Gabriel froze for a moment, and began to feel that something was wrong, "...why do you still entrust him?"

"Because of the third type, you will win money." Andre said.

Gabriel became anxious.Andre went on to say that at this point, Gabriel had better go to the scene to monitor, grasp the daily wins and losses, and try not to let Nick have the opportunity to deceive him.

"Casinos don't let people watch, so you either end up as a gambler—which is probably not a good idea. Or you end up as an employee."

So, Gabriel had no choice but to work as a waiter in the casino through a friend of Andre's friend.

For the next few days, Gabriel didn't return home until three or four in the morning, smelling of tobacco and alcohol and looking tired.His late return made Nelson quite worried. When he asked him, the answer was always "work overtime."

Nelson hinted to Lawrence intentionally or unintentionally, hoping that he could pay a little attention to Gabriel's strange behavior.But Lawrence was indifferent and didn't care at all.

Gabriel looked at his watch, it was 45:[-] in the morning, the appointed time.He was wearing a thin windbreaker, covering his uniform of white clothes, black trousers, black vest and black bow tie, standing at the entrance of the dark alley, waiting impatiently.After a while, I finally saw a figure in a leather jacket stumbling from the other end of the dark alley.

"Hi." Gabriel greeted first, and the other half raised his hand to signal.When he came to Gabriel, the man took out a roll of banknotes from his pocket without saying a word, counted a number face to face, and handed it to Gabriel.

"Too few today." Gabriel glanced at the banknotes and questioned unceremoniously.

The man shrugged, "You can't tell if you're lucky." Then, he lit a cigarette lazily, "Besides, you said you don't like too high a risk, didn't you?"

"I know." Gabriel hesitated for a moment, before deciding to be a little threatening, "But at your pace...or does that mean I should find another professional gambler, Nick?"

The man named Nick flicked the cigarette butt aside, "...wait a minute, maybe tomorrow my luck will improve."

Gabriel looked at Nick, although his rationality told him that he could never trust this person, but at this point, he had no choice.

As predicted in advance, Nick lost and won from time to time, which finally allowed Gabriel's funds to increase slightly.Gabriel didn't sneak into the house until the early hours of the morning, like a nocturnal cat, but Gabriel discovered that he was not the only one who sacrificed sleep to make money.When he looked up when he got home, he could always see the light in Lawrence's study; he guessed that the guy was probably tracking the stock market or exchange rate in some corner of the world.

After changing his clothes and lying on the bed, Gabriel roughly settled the results so far: the quarterly auction is already in the countdown stage, but his funds are still far from 200 million.After thinking about it for a long time, he decided to go all out: he entrusted Nick with half of the money as a gamble, hoping to speed up the speed of making money.

The result was very good, so Gabriel came up with an idea: treat all the money as the principal, once and for all.

"Gabriel, that's a dangerous decision." Andre reminded him.

"I know." Gabriel thought for a while, but still made up his mind, "but there is no time."

Casino Premium Club often gives people the illusion of entering a high-end Victorian gaming salon. The live jazz orchestra plays soft music professionally. All guests entering the venue must wear formal clothes, but no matter how elegant the packaging is, they cannot Change the nature of the bones: the casino.

Gabriel leaned against the bar, trying not to yawn.In one area of ​​the casino, the eyes of the gamblers bounced with the balls on the roulette wheel and rolled with the dice on the green velvet mat, interspersed with excited chatter and laughter from time to time; in the other area, people dressed in dark full suits The gentlemen with chic and conceited expressions quietly watched the Dealer deal out the cards, as if the card table was another battlefield for fighting.

Nick is also in this area, and Gabriel wanders around to check around Nick from time to time under the guise of delivering wine, so far the progress is good.He kept praying in his heart, hoping that the god of luck would be more generous tonight.

"Frank, don't stay here." The bartender called Gabriel angrily - he used the pseudonym "Frank" here to save trouble. "Send these to table five."

"..." Gabriel put several martini, bourbon, and unnamed cocktails on the tray, and took them away listlessly.

"This is your drink." Gabriel said blankly, "Martini, bourbon, Long Island iced tea..."

"Thanks, just in time!" said a guy who was playing cards with a smile. "This round of wine is my treat!" He put the bills in the tray. "Wait!" When Gabriel was about to leave, he was called back again, "I'll eat red for you."

That guy casually stuffed a stack of chips into Gabriel's trouser pocket, and pinched Gabriel's buttocks twice.

"..." Gabriel almost threw the tray in his hand on the man's head.He was not made to be a waiter in the first place, how could he obediently endure being bossed around by others, let alone expect him to submit to some difficulties.

After returning the tray to the bar, Gabriel immediately went to the bathroom to wash his hands to get rid of the nausea.

"Hey!" A half-drunk gambler came out of the bathroom, and as soon as he saw him, he came over and put his arms around his shoulders, touching the name tag on his uniform, "Your name is...Frank, isn't it? Anything after get off work?"

After working during this period, Gabriel encountered too many similar harassments: people who pretended to be crazy by drinking, and people who thought they were uncles after winning money. This was one of the reasons why he hoped to end it soon.

"I already have an appointment." Gabriel pushed the man away with a livid face, turned on the hot water again, squeezed soap and washed his hands vigorously.

After a while, he came out with a pair of red hands.

"Ha! It turned out to be you, a work-study doctor!"

Gabriel was startled, and turned to see Tommy.

"...It seems that the treatment at the auction is not good enough. If you need money, you should come to me. Investing in our company is more profitable than being a waiter."

Gabriel smiled awkwardly. What he was most afraid of was meeting acquaintances, "You...why did you come to the casino?" At such a time, it was too late to hide, so Gabriel could only pretend nothing happened.

"I meet more high-class people in this club than on Wall Street, and of course it's the best place for PR." Tommy's face is taken for granted, as if Gabriel asked knowingly, "To be honest, you come here to pretend Waiter, the real purpose is to collect buyer information, right? You have a good brain." He said in a low voice.

Gabriel laughed dryly. He was indeed pretending to be a waiter, but he had other purposes.

"All in all, I'm going back to the poker table, wish me luck." As Tommy said, he suddenly hooked Gabriel's neck and forced a kiss on his mouth, "I'll give you red." A chip was stuffed into his pocket, and he walked away with a smile.

Gabriel had goose bumps all over his body, and rushed back to the bathroom without thinking.

"Hey! Walk and watch the road!"

Accidentally, he bumped into someone's shoulder.

"I'm sorry..." Gabriel covered his mouth and apologized quickly, but when he turned his head, he almost fell to the ground. "Mr. Owen?"

Fuck, what shit luck!Gabriel thought to himself, keep meeting people you know!

Seeing Gabriel, Archer's frowning expression of disgust was immediately replaced by a smile, "What a coincidence, Mr. Gusman, you too..." Then he noticed that Gabriel was wearing a waiter uniform, and he couldn't help but wonder , "Aren't you here to play?"

"No, I...I..." Gabriel didn't know how to explain, he hesitated for a long time, and sighed, "Are you coming to the casino too? Are you lucky today?"

"I'd say I'm lucky... got a straight flush."

Suddenly, a voice spoke coldly in his ear.

Gabriel gritted his teeth, and closed his eyes in embarrassment. He didn't want to, and didn't dare to look back.

"I came with Mr. Brodys." Archer said with a smile, "But I only play roulette, and I'm lucky."

Gabriel took a deep breath, summoned up the courage to raise his head, and Lawrence came to Archer, looking at him with a half-smile. "It seems that we shouldn't disturb the work of Mr. 'Frank'." Lawrence glanced at his name tag, and said sarcastically, "Frank, please send a glass of Krug Rose to Archer and Dom Pérignon to me. "

"Come right away." After Gabriel agreed in a low voice, he escaped with an excuse.

He secretly looked back at Lawrence, who was wearing a well-tailored Armani, accompanying Archer thoughtfully to the roulette table, and then walked back to the card table; Lawrence looked at Archer with tender eyes, and Gabriel thought, They absolutely More than a bedmate, Lawrence lied.

Looking at those two people, Gabriel felt even more embarrassed, as humble as a reptile.

"Where have you been, Frank?" Back at the bar, before Gabriel could speak, the bartender asked him, "Don't be too messy, be careful—" He took a glass of bartending, "The one at that table The guest pleases you."

"Who?" Gabriel asked with a frown, thinking that this bastard Lawrence must be playing tricks on him.

"That's the table." The bartender pointed impatiently in a direction, "The new concoction, what is it called 'Serpent of Eden'..."

Gabriel froze instantly, his mind went blank.

"Frank, what's wrong with you?"

Gabriel's face was pale, "It's okay..." He leaned on the bar, dizzy for a while, and felt palpitations so much that he almost passed out.In my mind, some fragments flashed vaguely, some blurred faces, heavy panting, excited roars, and the sound of physical impact...

"Did you drink something?" The bartender asked suspiciously, "Do you want me to talk to the manager?"

Gabriel shook his head, forcing himself to be calm.He wasn't at that HomeParty, he kept telling himself, there was no danger anymore...

A few minutes later, the bartender mixed a few more cocktails, "Send these to Table Eleven."

Gabriel mechanically carried the tray and delivered the wine slowly. "This is your drink." Gabriel looked at the wine list, "Bloody Mary, Long Island Iced Tea, Cognac..."Snake of Eden"..."

"The person who clicked on "Snake of Eden" is not here." One of them pointed to an empty seat, "Just leave it there."

The words "Edenton's Serpent" thundered continuously from the eardrum to the nerves, filling Gabriel's brain, and he began to feel difficult to breathe.Suddenly, his eyes rolled white, his knees gave way and he fell backwards.

"Oh!" Gabriel just fell on a gambler at the next table and overturned his hand, "I played straight..." The man jumped up anxiously, with an unprecedented rage on his face, " What are you doing! The banker is playing tricks!"

"Someone cheating?"

I don't know where this sentence came from, so everyone in the seat stood up.The gambler whose cards were knocked over grabbed Gabriel by the collar and threw him against the wall to beat him.

The whole casino was in chaos, some people tried to break up the fight, and some people took the opportunity to make a big fuss. Seeing that the situation was wrong, the Dealer immediately winked to the side, and several tough men rushed over and pulled the gamblers away, one of them grabbed Gabriel's arm, "Hey, don't play dead, don't come with me! "

Gabriel didn't quite remember exactly what happened.Before he could figure it out, he had already been pulled into the dark alley at the back door of the casino. An arm pressed him against the wall, lifted him off the ground, and strangled his throat, "Damn, how dare you stay here with us?" Play tricks?"

"I didn't..." Gabriel hadn't finished speaking, and the arm that was strangling his throat pressed hard, which not only interrupted his rebuttal, but also made him almost suffocate.

"Don't try to lie! You and that Nick teamed up to play tricks!" Buzz, the casino bouncer, asked fiercely, "Say, where did Nick hide?"

"Buzz...ne..." Gabriel was even more shocked now, "Nick slipped away?"

"Stop that fucking bullshit, little man!" Buzz yelled, "You better remember where Nick is!" Buzz then punched Gabriel in the stomach several times.

Gabriel felt a surge of stomach acid rushing up his throat in an instant, and he almost vomited, and his legs became sore and limp.But Buzz held his collar like an iron hoop, made him stand, and then raised his right fist, aiming at Gabriel's face, ready to hit Gabriel hard.Gabriel narrowed his eyes subconsciously.

"Wait." A voice stopped Buzz.

Gabriel opened his eyes and saw that it was the manager of the casino.

The casino manager beckoned Buzz to come over, but Buzz let go of his hand, allowing Gabriel to fall to the ground holding his stomach and retching.The casino manager whispered a few words in Buzz's ear, Buzz raised his eyebrows in an unexpected look, and then walked up to Gabriel with another bodyguard, and put Gabriel's shoulders on his shoulders, Roughly dragged all the way to a car in the parking lot.He opened the rear door, stuffed Gabriel casually into the back seat, locked the door and left.

Lying on the backseat, Gabriel put his arms around his head, he felt stomach ache, dizzy, what's more miserable, he clearly knew that everything was ruined, the game was lost, it was over, his money was stolen by the cunning Nick Go, Canova will always sell to someone else.What's even sadder is that the nightmare he thought had faded has been following him.

Who the hell ordered that damn bartending?