It was nighttime, and Rudy was about to leave for the VIP club tournament at the casino. However, it wasn't 9 PM yet, and Lucy was awake, watching television downstairs.
Rebecca had already left for her work after eating dinner, but Lucy wanted to watch her favorite show. She invited Rudy, and he would have loved to join her, but he had more important things to do.
Rudy quietly walked down the stairs and peeked from the corner to see Lucy was immersed in watching the television. Normally, he would have teleported directly near the casino, but he couldn't with Lucy in the house.
If she needed something and went to his room only to find it empty, things could get messy, so he had to inform her that he was going out.
After reaching the living room, Rudy cleared his throat to make his presence known.
Lucy muted the volume and glanced at Rudy with a mixed expression on her face.
"What?" she asked. She tapped her hand on the couch beside her and said, "Come. Sit."
"I am not. I am going out and will be back by the morning."
"Wait, what? Where are you going at night?"
"I have things to do." Rudy could have just lied and said that he was going to Eric's house, but he didn't want to lie when there was no need to.
"Well, I don't want to pry much, so… good luck, I guess?" she shrugged.
"Thanks."
"Wait, does your mom know about it?"
"She probably does but not mentioning it."
"Okay."
"Lock the doors after I leave and call—"
Lucy interrupted Rudy and said, "Call you if anything happens. Got it."
"Heh." Rudy chuckled and left the house.
Angelica came out of his body and asked, "Your mom knows that you are sneaking out at night?"
"She has to know. You noticed that she always tries to dodge or avoid the topic whenever I try to tell her about my powers and stuff. And she didn't even ask where I was when I was in the vampire world."
"It's like… she doesn't care…" Angelica muttered.
"Or maybe the contrary. She cares, and that's why she doesn't ask."
Rudy teleported near the casino and called Maria.
After a few rings, she picked up the call and said. [I will be there in five minutes. Wait for me in the lobby.]
After saying that, she hung up the call and didn't even listen to what Rudy had to say.
"What are you going to do about your hair?" Angelica asked curiously. "You are pretending to be a girl, right?"
"I can just wear a hoodie like I did in the bank," Rudy shrugged.
He walked past the guards while waving his casino pass and went straight to the counter.
"Hey there, how are you doing?" he asked the man at the counter.
SIGH!
"You again. What do you want? The matches are on the other side, not here," the staff uttered in an annoyed tone.
"I wanted to ask about something."
"What?"
"Do you know anything about the VVIP underworld tournament?"
The man's face turned pale after hearing that. He gulped down nervously and said, "We don't talk about it."
"That's why I am asking."
"I don't know anything about it." The man turned around and walked away to the other side of the counter after saying, "You should ask the ones who have been in the underworld."
'Well, I didn't expect an answer in the first place, so I can't say I am disappointed. I was just trying to pass some time while Maria arrived.'
SIGH!
He let out a short sigh and watched the game of the other gamblers. For Rudy, watching was a part of learning. He was memorizing their way of playing and the pattern of bidding.
Of course, he heard their thoughts, too, but his telepathic ability was still unreliable. He always used mind reading whenever he wanted to read someone's mind, but he had to touch the said person to do that, and he wouldn't want to touch strangers.
Rudy waited for two minutes, and Maria arrived earlier than the promised time. She rushed to Rudy and said, "Sorry I am late."
"It's okay. The tournament hasn't started yet. And I am sure you were doing something important that you arrived late," Rudy said calmly.
"Yea…h…" Maria said while averting her gaze.
'Oh… well, well. Looks like it wasn't an important thing,' Rudy uttered inwardly and then asked, "What were you doing, by the way?"
"I was… er… handing some crucial stuff about the future of the syndicate," she replied awkwardly.
"Oh. I see."
"Fine, I was lying." Maria looked into Rudy's eyes before breaking her eye contact and said, "I was watching television."
"Heh!" Rudy scoffed softly and patted Maria on the head. "You are just like a normal girl, after all."
"But it's not my fault! The show aired 10 minutes later than the usual time, and then I—"
"It's okay." Rudy smiled gently at Maria and said, "You don't have to explain everything. I am not your dad."
"But I am your sugar mama, right?" she asked with a knowing look on her face.
"Let's not talk about that."
Maria looked at the time and said, "The tournament has started. Let's go."
Rudy and Maria walked into the VIP club room with hundreds of other gamblers.
"How many participants are there today?" he asked curiously.
"More than a thousand. And there will only be one winner."
"And that's going to be us." Rudy paused for a second and said, "Once we have won this, we will enter the underground gambling tournaments."
'Just one more step! After tonight, I will have access to the underground! My plan will finally be in action, and it will take the entire underground by a storm!'
"Don't get too excited. And don't underestimate your opponents. They are more or less used to gambling, while you are… well, I can't really call you a newbie, but you don't know everything about gambling yet," Maria remarked.
Rudy sucked his teeth and made a 'tch!' noise before saying, "I bet to differ."
"That's supposed to be 'I beg to differ'," Maria corrected Rudy.
His sarcasm had failed to reach Maria.
