Cairo

chapter 1

It was June the 6th 2006 when I first met my guardian angel, in a casino, in Las Vegas.

My name is Eden Gomez-Ricardo, the leader of the notorious spanish gang, Marbella's Aces, or simply known around the world as the Aces. My father, Pablo Ricardo, was the founder of our gang, but he was shot dead by a rival gang member in front of me when I was only 14.

10 years later, and now the most feared gang in Spain, my crew and I travelled around the world, taking whatever pleased us and living up to my father's legacy.

It was during a heist that I met him.

The Aces had been planning it for a few months now, and everything was going to plan.
I sat at a gambling table, cards in my hand. Opposite me was Archie Karas, possibly one of the most fortunate and famous gamblers in America, along with two other older white men, who sat with an heir of smugness. They automatically assumed they would win, me being a woman instantly meant they thought they had the higher ground.

We were playing Chinchón, a game that originated in Spain. A game Karas and his egotistical friends had no chance of winning.

All I had to do was keep bluffing them, whilst Kai, one of my closest friends in the gang, made his way to the safe downstairs.

The game was thrilling.

Ten minutes in, and I had already summoned a crowd of people, who watched as Karas slowly but surely lost to a girl half his age.

As the game came to a close, I signalled Matteo, Kai's older brother, who made his way to the elevator, ready to greet Kai and the others, who by now had opened the safe, and were waiting in the elevator with the money.

I left the table, considerably richer than I was before I sat down, and took a seat at the bar, where I was served by a blonde woman. I ordered a drink, as to not arouse suspicion by any of the heavily armed security guards around me.

Surveying my situation, I realised I could easily defend myself if anything went wrong. Sure, the security looked menacing with their firearms, but there were only five of them, two at the entrance and three guarding the doors that lead to the downstairs vaults.

Little did they know the extra guards downstairs where currently knocked unconscious, and my men had already cleared out the vault.

If anyone noticed the guards were missing, or if things went to shit, I had a handgun strapped to my leg, under my dress. Compared to five AK-47's, my small pistol may seem like nothing, but I never miss. There were 8 of us on the mission and only 5 guards in the casino, outnumbering them.

Interrupting my thoughts, a man dressed in a black and white waiters suit approached me from behind the bar.
'I'm already being served, thank you.' I told him.
'I know.' He replied, making me question why he was still standing infront of me.

Leaning in slightly, he whispered, "I can get you more money than you could ever imagine. More than this heist is getting you." ...how did he know about the heist??!

"How does €2.4 billion sound to you, Miss Ricardo?"