The Midnight Heir

DEALER

"Ah! I caught you!" Exclaimed a panting voice

Seeing Samuel getting shoved and falling towards the street, Anthony screamed out his name, reflexively reaching out with one of his hands even though the distance between them was too great that he wouldn't even be able to do anything.

The driver of the incoming truck panicked and smashed the brakes as hard as he could.

Unfortunately, the distance between them was so small that their impact was certain, but still, he tried. 

The truck's tires skid forward, about to hit Samuel while at the other side of the road Anthony watched, unable to do anything.

Suddenly, his eyes flicked to a few meters behind Samuel where he saw a man, an aged man in a carton brown pants suit, reaching out for Samuel.

Everything happened so fast that before Anthony knew it the aged man had grabbed onto Samuel's wrist, then pulled the preteen towards himself.

*VROOM*

The truck passed, nobody was hit and the person on the passenger seat, whose heart felt like it was about to explode looked out his window, to see Samuel and the aged man who had prevented the accident from happening.

"What the f*ck was that?!" The driver exclaimed.

"I don't know man but looks like we're in the clear. Better keep driving and let's get out of here!" the passenger replied, looking through the side mirror and seeing how they had almost caused an accident behind them with how abruptly they tried to break.

It would have been bad if by trying to avoid Samuel they ended up causing more damage to others, but fortunately, the drivers behind them were smart enough to give a good three seconds distance window between themselves and the truck so nothing bad happened.

This was a three-lane road and the lane where the accident almost happened seemed a bit chaotic and was trying to get back to normal but Anthony who was a bit relieved that Samuel was just saved still wanted to get to him.

Scatterbrained he didn't know when he dropped his phone on the pavement, causing its screen to crack and he rushed into the road, trying to get to the other side but…

*HONK*

"Hey, you crazy or what?!" The moment he stepped onto the road he was almost rammed into by a car.

He wasn't thinking or watching the road for oncoming cars when he stepped on so this brought him out of his trance.

The road was very busy so he had to be extra careful if he wanted to go through it and there was no traffic light around to help him safely do that either.

"Sorry" he apologized to the enraged series of drivers, especially the one that almost hit him who had his family in the back seat and they were all looking scared because of what Anthony had just done.

There was no way he could cross this road without causing a major problem for the other drivers. He also wasn't going to get the chance to do so either because Samuel started running away with a scared look while he covered his wrist.

"Samuel?" Anthony mumbled but then the car which almost ran into him honked its horn again

"Hey maniac, get off the road!" The driver yelled at him and Anthony did as asked, stepping back for the cars to drive past.

They were all furiously glaring at him while he watched Samuel until the boy turned the corner and vanished from his sight.

"Who was that person?" Anthony questioned himself, looking at the aged man who saved Samuel.

The man was talking to someone with an apron on and the both of them were walking in the opposite direction as Samuel, meanwhile, the aged man was stuffing something into his back pants pocket.

"Should I go thank him for his help?" Anthony mumbled before looking back at the road and realizing once again that because of how busy it is, he wouldn't be able to get to the man. 

Giving up, Anthony decided to return to his job but he stepped on something after taking the first step, only to look down and see that it was his phone with the screen even more cracked from stepping on it.

"F*ck," He said under his breath, picked it up, tried to see if it still worked, and even though a part of it had gone blind, the touchpad still worked, however barely.

"Now I gotta add a new phone to things I need, sh*t!" he smacked his tongue then went in to finish his shift. An hour later his shift ended and he went to his next job which was working as a poker game dealer in The Jade Casino 

.

.

("Favorite, today we'll be field testing you on one of our reserved VIP tables, and with the feedback we get, we'll have you working more jobs so make sure you don't fumble this. And remember, this arrangement you have with us is only temporary and depends on how well you do today so for your own sake, don't mess this up")

Anthony recalled what the manager of the casino had told him during his morning interview. A memory which was sparked by him merely standing in front of the poker table with empty seats meant to be sat in by the three VIPs

("Don't forget, these are very special guests so don't do anything stupid that will ruin our relationship or else there'll be consequences")

The door to this special VIP room was opened and the bodyguards of the VIPs walked in, followed by two out of the three VIPs behind them

They were some well refined-looking gentlemen and upon seeing them, the manager smiled hospitably.

"Good to have you here Sirs, as you can see everything is just as you like it," the manager said, clasping his hands and wearing a forced smile.

"And what about your guest?" He asked, noticing that the third person still hasn't come in yet

"He went to use the restroom but he'll be here any moment from now," said the VIP who sat at the right of the table from where Anthony stood.

The manager nodded his head and then called Anthony to come closer.

"Alright Sirs, we can wait but in the meantime lemme introduce you to our new dealer for today, this is Favorite Arthur and he'll be filling in for your usual dealer who unfortunately has some family issues to handle"

The two VIPs looked at Anthony skeptically and the one by the right who was clipping his cigar said "You know how uninterested I am when it comes to unexpected changes…." he frowned and the manager gulped nervously.

"But, I also understand the needs of one's family so I'll allow it just this once, but don't let it happen ever again"

"Okay Sir" the manager bowed, cleaning his nervous sweat with his pocket-handkerchief.

The other VIP by the left of Anthony had his sights fixed on Anthony and unlike the manager Anthony's face remained unchanged, unfazed and calm, staring right back at him.

The same VIP saw this and couldn't help but chuckle.

"It's been a while since I've seen a youngling with this amount of balls. Don't know how I would have felt about it in my younger days— no wait, I'm sure I would have felt disrespected but as I've gotten older all I can say is that… I like it! That's the fire that so many young men are missing these days!" the man grinned, reaching for the gold-plated box where his friend got his cigar from and got one for himself.

"Since you're replacing our usual dealer, just how skilled are you?" The VIP by the left asked Anthony, lighting his cigar, but Anthony not being allowed to speak when the manager jumped in to respond to the question.

"Very skilled sir, he's very skilled. Earlier during his interview I tested out his shuffling skills and he has extensive knowledge of how the game works, equal in every way to your usual dealer which is why I let him work your game confidently in the first place, Sir" he said and they both glared at Anthony with a glint of doubt in their eyes.