Chapter 272 Ninety-Billion Balance
Now that everyone had agreed on the gameplay, Yvonne set up a group account and added Veronica into it. “Roni, you’ll have to add Young Master Xavier and President Kings into the group.”
Veronica had to be the one to add them, seeing as Yvonne did not have their contacts.
Left without a choice, Veronica did as she was told. By the time everyone had sent in their codes, Matthew, however, was the only one who had not done so.
How do I do this?
“Anytime now, President Kings,” Yvonne urged.
Matthew stared at his phone and scrolled through the various options on the platform, hoping that the link to send in his code would pop out and save him from embarrassment. He had never done this before, and Ruka was equally confused as she mumbled, “Matthew and I have no need for such apps, so…”
Veronica rolled her eyes at the girl. “Save your excuses; you just don’t know how to use the app.”
“You—” Ruka was close to snapping, but she held back to keep herself from ruining the atmosphere and said instead, “Could you help Matthew with it, then?”
“Fine.” Veronica sighed, then agreed reluctantly, “I guess I’ll do him the favor.”
The wedding banquet had set things off between Matthew and Xavier, who happened to be sitting side by side at the table. They were both businessmen who observed social etiquette, and they would not air their dirty laundry out in public. Besides, the Crawfords were the ones at fault. Having Xavier help Matthew now with the money pool app would only aggravate things, Veronica presumed.
As such, she leaned close to him and pointed at his phone. “See that ‘My Account’ button over there? Tap it.’
The sudden proximity made Matthew hyper-aware of her familiar scent. It hit him like a ton of bricks which instantly transported him to two months ago, when things were not quite as tense between them.
His heart raced at the thought of this. He swallowed, and an odd, imperceptible look flashed across his features.
“Are you even listening to me?” Veronica barked. He was so overwhelmed by how close she was to him that he was almost in a trance.
Almost immediately, he snapped out of his daze and clicked into ‘My Account’.
Veronica then went on to explain, “Right, then tap on the ‘Pay’ button over there.”
He did not say anything, but he obediently followed her instructions.
Veronica was staring at his phone screen, but just as she was about to guide him on finding the code, she noticed the balance displayed in the app. There was a long series of numbers, and once she realized how much there was in his bank account, she began to count the zeroes. Tens, hundreds, thousands… ten millions, one hundred million, a billion, ten billion! Holy crap, this guy has ninety billion in his bank account!
The corner of her mouth twitched like she was about to get a stroke just from looking at the numbers. As it turned out, there truly was no wallet limit when it came to cash apps like these.
“What do I do next?” Matthew asked when he did not get a response from her.
She blinked out of her reverie and said weakly, “J-Just click into the ‘Receive and Transfer’ button. Wait, is there a cap for the bet?”
It was only then that she remembered she was playing poker against the big wigs of the business circle.
Matthew, for example, was the richest man of Bloomstead, and he was quite possibly the richest man in the country as well; Xavier, on the other hand, was the young master of the affluent Crawford Family; lastly, although her background was vague, Yvonne likely had a net worth of over ten billion.
Am I just making a fool out of myself right now? Veronica asked herself as she re-evaluated the amount of money she had in her bank account.
Just then, she heard Xavier say, “I’m fine with any betting amount.”
This was followed by a casual chime by Yvonne, “Whatever limit you think is fine, I guess.”
“You call the shots,” Matthew added unhelpfully.
She pursed her lips, rendered speechless by how agreeable they were. Damn it, guys, just because you’re fine with anything, it doesn’t mean I have money to spare!
She thought about how she had braced the icy weather for two hours, risking hypothermia along the way, by agreeing to work at an autoshow for two hours. She had only earned about four thousand from that gig alone, but that was nothing compared to the amount her present company had in their accounts. She wondered where she had gotten the nerve to agree to play poker with these billionaire bigshots. I’m an idiot, she chided herself. I wonder if I can pull out of the game now.
She wanted to slap herself in the face for being so impulsive.
At that moment, five pairs of eyes swiveled in her direction. She was not one to wear her heart out on her sleeve, but right now, there was no hiding the embarrassment on her face.
“Roni, if you’re short of money, we can always start out with a small bet, like five hundred,” Yvonne suggested.
The amount might seem small at first, but as Veronica pondered on it, she decided that it was still a huge pot of money to bet on. Thankfully, there was no law against gambling in Destor, otherwise this would be considered an illegal enterprise.
“Five hundred it is. Let’s play,” she finally said after taking a deep breath. Nothing to worry about. Just shake off the nerves! If I play well enough, I might just win enough down payment for a new house.
Emboldened by this, she helped Matthew send in his ‘Receive and Transfer’ code into the group account. Destor had capped the electronic cash platforms at a maximum of one million per day. However, the cap did not really mattered much.
The opening round started, and Matthew was the first one to make the bet.
Veronica glanced at the cards in her hand. Not too bad, she mused. I could call at this point.
However, after a round of bets, cards were discarded and drawn from the deck. At that point, Matthew decided to raise the stakes. Upon hearing this, Veronica pursed her lips and called.
“Raise,” Xavier declared as he added money into the pot.
“Hah! You seem confident,” Veronica pointed out, her eyes glittering. The game continued on until the last round of betting ended. When the time came for them to show their hands, she laid her cards down happily and said, “Yes! Three of a kind!”
Though the game ended quite quickly, Veronica was very pleased with her hand. She actually wanted to raise the stakes a few times but the others were just increasing the bet like maniacs so she resisted.
“Straight,” she declared this round. “I’m taking the winnings!”
“Straight,” Matthew interjected coolly just as she was about to take the money from the group account while slowly turning his cards over. “Flush.”
He had raised the stakes to three thousand earlier, and it was all his now.
“What? And here I am just checking and folding,” Yvonne grumbled.
Xavier did not say anything as he shot Matthew a meaningful look, then his gaze flickered over to Veronica. The grin had slipped off her face, and she winced as if regretting to play. “Damn it,” she muttered under her breath, then tapped on her phone to transfer the winnings to Matthew.
‘Ding! You have received a payment of three thousand.’
The message popped up on Matthew’s phone several times, preceded by the chime that resembled coins dropping.
In the next few rounds, Xavier won with an astounding royal flush, following by Yvonne winning with a full house while Matthew won another two rounds later with a flush and a straight. Nevertheless, Veronica remained the loser of the group.
She was starting to lean toward diabolical plans. Chuckling, she looked at Conrad and asked, “Uncle Conrad, how about a sponsor? If I win, then you’d be entitled to half the share of my earnings. What do you think?”
“Nah, luck avoids you like you are the plague. I’d be much better off sponsoring Yvie,” Conrad teased from where he sat next to Yvonne and his words stabbed through Veronica like a knife.
She smiled at him nonetheless and focused back on her cards. Obsessed with winning the pot, she was starting to take this game seriously, but not once did she ever notice Matthew’s gaze flickering over in her direction every now and then. She was oblivious to how he was drawn to her every little reaction.
He registered how much she had lost weight over the last two months.
“Raise!” Yvonne declared.
Matthew looked down at his cards. He could actually win since he already had a good hand, but he chose to remain quiet instead as he folded.
“Hah! I won! I won the round! Thank you, Lady Luck!”
