"Black 24!"
The dealer’s announcement was met with a wave of confusion around the table.
"Wait a minute. He staked thirty-six grand and got thirty-six grand back? What’s the point of that?"
Roxanne frowned as she studied Adrian.
On paper, he had broken even. Once the house edge was taken into account, the entire play seemed pointless.
Had his earlier performance at Mulligan’s just been a lucky fluke?
No.
She remembered the predatory calm in his eyes that night. Whatever he was doing, it wasn’t the work of an ordinary gambler.
Folding her arms, she decided to watch a little longer.
[DING!]
[Victory Detected!]
[Congratulations, Host! You have been rewarded with $20,000.]
A faint smirk tugged at Adrian’s lips.
"Let’s change things up. One thousand on every number except zero and twenty-four."
He moved the chips across the layout with practiced precision.
Murmurs spread among the spectators.
"Oh, come on. He’s falling for the gambler’s fallacy."
Behind his professional expression, the dealer sneered inwardly.
The kid actually believed a number wouldn’t come up twice in a row. Typical amateur superstition.
’Keep digging your own grave.’
He set the wheel in motion and released the ball.
[DING!]
[D-Grade Gamble Detected!]
[Fortune’s Edge Activated.]
The ivory sphere bounced across the brass dividers before settling into a pocket.
"Black 14!"
Roxanne’s eyes narrowed.
Adrian had removed both previous winning numbers from his coverage. That reduced the number of chips he needed to place while increasing the potential return relative to his remaining stake.
But what if the wheel repeated a number he’d already excluded?
[DING!]
[Victory Detected!]
[Congratulations, Host! You have been rewarded with a Freefly Alta X.]
Adrian’s grin widened.
"Let’s raise the stakes. Three thousand per number."
He began stacking three black chips on every numbered pocket except zero, twenty-four, and fourteen.
The crowd exchanged uncertain glances.
"Damn. Maybe he’s not as crazy as he looks," someone muttered.
The dealer’s jaw tightened.
He reset the rotor and sent the ball spinning with a sharp flick of his wrist.
Clack. Clack-clack.
The ball bounced over the dividers.
"Black 36!"
[DING!]
[C-Grade Gamble Won!]
[Congratulations, Host! You have been rewarded with an 80% Stamina Boost!]
Adrian let out a laugh.
"Keep it coming! At this rate, the house will be paying for my dinner!"
The dealer’s patience finally began to wear thin.
’Arrogant little bastard.’
He picked up the ball, studied the wheel for a moment, and released it with the practiced precision of a seasoned professional.
[DING!]
[Fortune’s Edge Deactivated.]
Adrian’s smile disappeared.
’Deactivated?’
Before he could make sense of the notification, the ball dropped into a pocket.
"Black 24!"
Adrian froze.
The dealer’s rake swept across the felt, collecting every chip from his $99,000 spread.
The table erupted in laughter.
"Bwahaha! Where’d all that confidence go?"
"Wiped out in one spin! That’s what happens when you get too cocky!"
The dealer allowed himself a faint, satisfied smile.
Lesson delivered.
Adrian stared at the empty layout, his expression carefully arranged to look like that of a man watching his fortune disappear.
"Hold on. I’m not out yet."
He dumped the remaining chips from his tray onto the table, then hurriedly exchanged additional funds for plaques to cover the shortfall.
"Again! One thousand on every number except zero and twenty-four!"
The dealer nearly laughed.
’What an idiot.’
The man had just lost ninety-nine thousand dollars because the wheel landed on a number he’d excluded. Now he was doubling down, convinced that the same number couldn’t appear a third time.
Some people simply couldn’t accept defeat.
Across the table, Roxanne’s breath caught.
Suddenly, the pieces began falling into place.
’Wait... He’s not losing control. He’s setting a trap!’
Adrian clenched his jaw, maintaining the appearance of a desperate gambler spiraling into ruin. His frantic movements and increasingly reckless wagers were exactly what a crooked dealer wanted to see.
And that was precisely the point.
In certain underground gambling establishments, experienced dealers didn’t always leave the outcome to chance. With enough practice, they could manipulate a roulette ball’s trajectory through subtle adjustments to their movements, using muscle memory to influence where it landed.
Adrian had noticed something during the previous player’s disastrous run.
The dealer’s hands weren’t moving randomly.
There had been tiny adjustments to his grip, slight changes in the timing of his release, and subtle movements that repeated whenever the ball approached a particular section of the wheel.
The man wasn’t simply spinning the wheel.
He was steering the outcome.
And Adrian had spent the last few rounds giving him every reason to target twenty-four.
’Get out of my sight, you clown.’
The dealer reset the wheel, his irritation buried beneath a professional smile. He had no intention of letting this arrogant newcomer walk away with another victory.
He adjusted his grip, lined up the rotor, and prepared to send the ball into twenty-four once more.
Snap.
Just as he completed the motion, a slender arm draped in luxurious fur reached across the table.
Four massive plaques slammed onto the felt.
All landed squarely on Black 24.
The dealer’s hand stopped in midair.
His smug expression vanished, replaced by naked panic.
Two hundred thousand dollars on the one number he intended to hit?
For a moment, he couldn’t even breathe.
Then the horrifying truth struck him.
Adrian had never been trying to beat the wheel.
He had been conditioning the dealer.
Every apparently foolish wager, every excluded number, every exaggerated display of frustration had been carefully arranged to provoke a predictable response. Adrian had sacrificed money to make the dealer believe he was an arrogant amateur who couldn’t handle losing.
And it had worked.
The dealer had become so determined to punish him that he was about to target the very number Adrian had prepared for him.
’That bastard played me from the start!’
Across the table, Adrian’s desperate expression disappeared.
The frustration was gone. So was the uncertainty.
In its place stood a cold, merciless calm.
[DING!]
[S-Grade Gamble Detected!]
The ball was already airborne.
There was no taking it back now. The dealer’s own practiced movements had set the outcome in motion, and the wheel was beyond his control.
The rotor began to slow.
The ivory sphere rattled across the deflectors, bouncing once, then twice.
The dealer watched in horror as it dropped cleanly into the pocket.
His face drained of color.
"BLACK 24!"