55. TURMOIL
They arrived at the casino a few minutes later. Darian and Lena got out of the car. She grabbed his arms, looking up at him. "The diary is somewhere in my closet," she whispered slowly, but he was lucky to catch her words.
"I will keep that in mind. I wonder what you wrote about me." He wore dark glasses on his face.
"Too many nasty things," she wriggled her head in front of him. "I have to go now," she said sadly when they got to the entryway of the casino.
"Be good," he bent a little to kiss her lips. "And cheer me up while playing, okay? I want everyone to know that you are mine."
"They know I am your wife," she slapped his chest gently.
"Then I will see you later. Go change into your uniform." He let go of her.
"And don't miss me too much," she said, walking away from him. His eyes were on her as she swayed her hips in front of him.
Jay cleared his throat and Darian turned to him,
"Is there something that I should know?" He glared at Jay.
"I just got a call from one of the men that's out there searching for your mother."
"What did he say?" He moved closer to Jay, closing the distance between them. "Did they find her?" His voice was shaky, he looked so nervous.
"Yes, they found something about her." Jay showed a picture on his phone to Darian. "You might not like it, but this is what they got."
Darian's jaw clenched as he stared at the picture,
"I will see to this after the game." He pushed the phone aside, his heart shredding into a million pieces. He didn't want to believe that the wretched-looking woman he saw was his mother. She looked nothing like what he had envisioned her to be.
He walked straight into the game room, and one of the hostesses in uniform drew out a chair for him. He perched on the chair, scanning the room for Lena but didn't get a glimpse of her.
All the women who worked at the casino were seated on a side of the room that had been reserved for them, and the men were also seated on the opposite side, all anticipating the game. They were always eager to watch the game between the men and the Don.
Darian was seated on the highest chair, everyone's eyes were on him. He was sure they expected him to beat them all and that was what he was going to do. He had been trained very well by Gaius, he always watched him play and beat everyone while he was acting as the Don of the casino before Darian presided over him.
Amy walked elegantly to the middle of the game room, her heels slapping the floor as she moved. Her hostess uniform looked just perfect on her. She ambled over to where Darian was seated and stood directly in front of him, he scoffed, turning his eyes away from her. He knew she purposely did that.
"I welcome you all to the family's game day. You all know the rules, the Don is to play with all the men of the family." She clasped her hands together, her lips quirking into an alluring smile that could melt the hearts of a thousand men.
Some of the men had their eyes on her exposed thighs, some were captivated by her extraordinary beauty while some just wanted to listen to what she had to tell them. "To cut the story short, the last game will be between the Don and the mafia's godfather, Gaius. And a bet would be placed by each of them before the game starts. The winner gets it all," she clapped her hands. "Let's get to the game."
The game table was set by the other hostesses, some of them surrounded Darian before Lena could show up. Judson, who was the first opponent to play, came out to the table, he gave Darian an intimidating look before settling on the seat that had been reserved for him.
The hostesses shuffled the cards for the blackjack game, dropping the cards on the table, Darian and Judson picked some at the same time, they stared at the cards and smiled.
"And the game begins!" Amy announced, and the room became silent, they all watched Darian and Judson as they went on different rounds against each other.
When the time came for Lena to start serving drinks to the men, she poured from the wine bottle and went over to serve Darian the first glass. He was her husband and Don.
She dropped the glass in front of him and winked at him. "I trust you to beat him," she whispered into his ears.
Darian chuckled, "He's a baby, I will teach him a lesson." Lena nodded, and she straightened up to serve the other men.
Darian finally won over Judson, Amy announced the winner, and a defeated look assaulted Darian's face as he wobbled back to sit with the other men.
As Lena served the other men, she wished she could leave what she was doing to stay by Darian's side. His eyes were focused on the game anytime she turned around to take a look at him. She trusted that he would overthrow them all.
Darian won over all the men, a proud smile on his lips as he locked eyes with Lena who was now sitting among the women. She was done serving the wine to all the men.
"Our Don is great, isn't he?" Amy smiled. "He won over all the men, but there is a final game."
Darian's heart palpitated, Gaius was a beast. He was the only one who could beat him hands down, but he didn't want to give up, he wanted to try. The encouraging look Lena gave him made him want to try for her sake.
"Let's welcome Gaius to the table." Amy hollered, and everyone clapped as Gaius stood tall among the men. He waved at them to keep their hands low.
"You go, man, I love you," Talia yelled from where she was seated among the women. Lena smiled, the woman was crazily in love with her husband, and she didn't hesitate to show him that she loved him. She admired their relationship, and she hoped she and Darian could work out that way too.
Gaius left his seat and was walking over to the seat he was meant to play with Darian. He was a few steps toward the table when he felt his insides burning, he clutched his tummy with his hand and winced in pain. He shut his eyes and missed a step, before he opened his eyes, he was down on the floor, struggling to stand up, he started to spit out white foamy liquid from his mouth.
Talia and everyone ran over to where he had collapsed, Darian got out of his seat, and he bent down to hold Gaius.
"We have to rush him to the hospital right now," he said, heaving Gaius up. He carried him with the help of the other men around.
"Gaius' drink was poisoned," someone yelled from across the room, lifting the Gaius' glass that was now foaming to everyone in the room. "Gaius has been poisoned," he wailed again.
Darian and the men stopped in their tracks. His heart was beating hard against its ribcage.
Lena stood in the throng, confused.
"Who served his wine!" Talia cried out.
"Lena did, she served all the men wine today." Amy pointed at Lena. All eyes moved toward the direction of her finger and they rested on Lena.
Lena gulped hard, her whole body was trembling as she looked into Darian's eyes that read no emotions.
"She poisoned Gaius," Judson howled. "Arrest her," he ordered the soldiers at once.
The soldiers surrounded Lena, forcefully grabbing her tiny arms, she winced, struggling to break free from their tight hold.
"I didn't do it," she screamed, her head was spinning, and everything was happening too fast.
"Take her to the Dark Room, she needs to be tortured," Judson commanded.
Darian's heart dropped, and Gaius was still unconscious in his arms. He had to save him, his wife just got accused of a huge crime.
He was helpless at this point, he couldn't reverse Judson's order of throwing Lena into the dark room.
He angrily carried Gaius out of the game room, he had to save his life first.
Faithy💓