2 - I'm Anna

Las Vegas, Nevada.
March 2017
Inayo Casino at 09.45 PM

_____________________

Lyla waved her hand softly. "You're going to lose tonight." The top of her lips lifted into a small grin. "At least for the night," Lyla thought.

"How can a lizard win against a crocodile? There is never a predator that is preyed on," said the girl in the tight red skirt dress. Her two fingers were ready to insert the morphine that had been spinning between her index and middle fingers, now between the sexy lips wrapped in red lipstick.

"Remember well, Lyla, if I win again tonight, you must be willing to sell it at the price I put up." She continued, pointing at the face of her interlocutor.

Lyla chuckled again. "Never mind ... I can guess your card. Open it," said Lyla. She had been nervous since earlier.

"Lyla, are you so nervous that you forget it's your turn now?" said the woman casually. She put the cigar back in her sexy lips.

"Who ... who? Oh, fine." Lyla looked stiff when her eyes glanced back at the five cards in it. After feeling so confident that she would win, Lyla began to confidently place and arrange her cards on the table.

"Straight flush five high. Wow ...," muttered the people around them, amazed.

"Looks like it's your day, Lyla."

Lyla again received praise from people who had only watched two women playing poker at one of the largest casinos in Vegas. The flickering of spotlights and disorganized music plus the cocktails they had been consuming didn't necessarily erase the fierce tension between the two women.

"Tsk ... tsk ... tsk!" Lyla's opponent is still holding her card and she keeps on chuckling. I don't know what kind of card was in her hand. Lyla just hopes tonight is the woman's unlucky night. It was enough that she had been the queen of this gambling empire over the years. Tonight, only tonight, Lyla wanted to undermine the arrogance of the woman who was sitting holding one leg. Just look at her face, she looks very relaxed.  Even though in her place, Lyla felt like she was going to die.

"Lyla ...," called the woman. She leaned forward. Her eyes stared straight ahead, at Lyla who was watching her, and then her hands began to arrange the cards on the table.

A, K, Q. Three cards have been placed on the table and all of the same suit and color. Lyla's heart started beating fast. Her eyes watched the woman's hand in front of her.

"J, 10. Straight flush ace high," muttered the woman. At the end of her sentence, she smiled with satisfaction.

"Wow ... looks like the goddess of fortune continues to side with you, madam," said a dealer who had been watching them. The woman just replied with a wry smile then she slowly pulled back herself, folding her arms across her chest.

"No way ..." muttered Lyla. She couldn't believe that the card she thought was the highest could be defeated by the royal flush of the woman in front of her. "How could it be?!" Lyla shook her head in disbelief.

"As per the bet, you will be willing to strip with any man tonight," said the woman.

Suddenly, Lyla shuddered in horror. She made the wrong decision. She was wrong for playing with the devil.

"Miss Anna," called Lyla. Her voice began to vibrate there.

"Yes, Lyla," said Anna casually.

"Can you forget what I said before, I was just playing around. I'm not serious, really," begged the girl.

Anna, the name of the woman, she chuckled again, shaking her head.

"Vic," called the woman. Then a large man who had been standing behind her approached her. Anna shook her index and middle finger at Lyla. Vic who knows the code just walked over to Anna.

"No ... Miss Anna, please," Lyla whispered. She threw Vic's hand away and quickly ran towards Anna. She fell there, right at Anna's feet. "Miss Anna, please spare me," She pleaded.

Anna chuckled. "You should have thought about that from the start of Lyla. I don't play with compassion. This place, this city of sin, all of this —is not— made to pity someone like you." Anna glanced down and then lifted her chin high.

"Learn from experience Lyla, that you shouldn't want something that doesn't belong to you. You only play with your emotions but don't use your brain. You're only ambitious but don't have enough courage to fulfill your desires. So, once you've finished your bet, you'll get out of this place and you'll learn more how to play your game," said Anna.

In the slightest, Lyla couldn't understand what Anna said.

"What are you waiting for, Vic? you want to take her or I can take her?!"

"Yes, Ms. Anna."

"No ... no, Ms. Anna ...." Lyla continued to scream however, Anna only lifted her chin high without even glancing at the girl who was still calling her name.

"Anna Smith, you are a bitch. Go to the hell!" cursed Lyla in a loud voice.

Anna doesn't care what that girl says. She prefers to straighten her jacket before her legs get ready to stand.

"Josh," she called again.

A man walked over to her. "Yes, Ca-" he stopped when Anna lifted her head and gave Josh a murderous look. "Anna," Josh continued.

"Take all the money," She said. Josh then nodded and immediately did his employer's orders.

"Anna, Mr. Smith called me-,"

"Josh!" Snapped Anna. Josh was silent. Slowly he turned his face back and started filling in the bills in front of him.

"Excuse me, Ms. Anna ...." The other men came back to him. This time he brought Anna's cell phone. "Miss Mijung called and said there were important things she wanted to talk about," said the man.

Anna took a deep breath and lazily accepted the cell phone.

"Kim Mijung, can you not bother me? Just one day," grumbled Anna.

"Anna, gosh ... damn you! I called you a long time ago and your servant seemed to be making a shield and didn't let me talk to my own best friend. Gosh, tell me do I deserve such that?" Complained the girl on the other side of the phone.

Anna chuckled in annoyance and rolled her eyes lazily. "You're just convoluted, Mijung. I swear if this doesn't matter I'll put you in a brothel," said Anna casually. "Jack, pour the martini," Anna ordered a staff member who had been handing her a cocktail.

"Anna Smith, you have to come back today. Oh my God ... I am so happy Anna, our endeavor is finally subs-"

"Mijung, can you talk about the gist of it? Since my mood is already damaged."

"Okay, okay. Wait ...." A deep sigh from the other side of the phone made Anna chuckle again. "OK, Miss Anna Smith, The Ace Technology accepts your application for cooperation with your company."

"Pfuuught ...." Anna spat out the cocktail she had just drunk. "Are you serious?" She shouted.

"I'm so fucking serious, Anna Smith. You were invited to attend a meeting with the CEO of Ace Technology."

"What ?!" Anna shrieked in a loud voice.

"Yes, Anna. Oh ... I think I'll be crazy in a moment." Mijung didn't want to lose. She shouted too until her voice could be heard clearly from Anna's place.

"Oh my ... Mijung Kim, I love you," said Anna.

"Then come back asap."

"When is the meeting?" asked Anna enthusiastically. She stood up and tidied her clothes while gesturing to her men.

"Tomorrow, nine in the morning, at The Ace's office."

"What?!" Anna shrieked.

"Why? Don't tell me you're at the gambling place."

"I'm in the casino. But calm down, I won a lot tonight. I think that's enough to rent a private jet," said Anna casually.

"Huh ... I told you to stop gambling. Why-"

"Okay Mijung, see you at The Ace's office tomorrow morning, I love you," said Anna and then hung up unilaterally.

The red lips continued to smile. "Josh," she called. Josh immediately visited his employer. "Quickly booking a private jet now. Bring all the money in your hands," ordered Anna. "And oh, yeah ...." Josh turned back when he knew his mistress was going to say something else. "Tell Vic to clean up the girl immediately, and hurry over to the airport."

"You mean, fix it?" Josh asked with a curious face.

"I mean, get lost."

Josh shuddered in horror as he caught his employer's meaning. He doesn't know what made the master like that. He has been with his employer, Anna for more than ten years, but, He never imagined that Anna would have come this far.

"She's just a pretty stupid girl trying to knock me out in this casino. I know, she's been trying to beat me for a long time. She wants to knock me down?"

Anna stopped right beside Josh's body. She folded her arms while facing straight ahead then she continued, "Something that has been destroyed cannot be destroyed anymore. It has frozen and is invulnerable then slowly becomes a crusher."

After saying that, Anna smiled with satisfaction. She grabbed her sunglasses and while smoking her last cigar, she walked away from her favorite casino.

"Good evening, Miss Anna." Someone greeted Anna again. He's one of the casino staff and he willingly opened the car door for Anna.

"Anna Smith, 28-years-old president of The Ace Company, what do you think about that, Josh?" Anna asks Josh after Josh comes in and starts the Smith family's black limousine engine.

Josh was silent, the man was too unwilling to answer his employer.

"Of course, Miss Anna, you deserve it. I knew you would say that Josh." Anna laughed at the end of her sentence. "Remember Josh, when I'm successful you have to call me Ms. Anna, remember that? M-S-A-N-N-A." Anna spelled the sentence with great emphasis.

"The countdown is starting."