Down Five Million, Heaven Sent Me Back

The moment the words left my mouth, Lawrence immediately sat back down, the three of them trading looks of excitement.

"My bad," he said, feigning an apologetic tone. "I should've known better. We've been friends for a long time. I knew you weren't a coward."

I waved a hand with feigned bravado and casually toyed with the chips I had just won. "Actually, two bucks a chip is pocket change. How about 100 dollars a chip with no limit?"

Lawrence froze.

In my previous life, they were the ones who had pushed for this.

His face broke into a wide grin, flashing a row of yellowed teeth. "Not bad, Sebastian. It looks like your luck has turned. You're feeling brave tonight, aren't you?"

"It's just a game," I said, casually swirling the dice in my cup. "Win or lose, it doesn't matter as long as everyone's having fun."

Lawrence rubbed his hands together. "We're still just comparing rolls, right? Since you're new to this, we won't make it hard for you."

I nodded.

That was exactly what I wanted. I needed to see how they were rigging the game.

I had won the last round, so I was the shooter this time. After I rolled the dice, I didn't rush to check my own numbers. Instead, I quietly looked up and watched the three of them.

I noticed Lawrence sniffing, then casually brushing the tip of his nose. Right after that, Peter Warner, who sat beside him, touched his earlobe.

They had often made these little gestures in my previous life, too. Each movement lasted a fraction of a second, so for now, I still couldn't tell what they meant.

Lawrence looked at me, urging, "Place your bet."

After a brief pause, I said, "100 dollars. No limit."

The others froze and immediately turned to me. "You're calling the limit right away? You haven't even looked at your dice yet! That's a blind call, and it plays double."

I nodded. "I know. I'm just testing my luck. All you have to do is tell me whether you're in."

A few of them frowned, but they ultimately tossed their hands up and folded. Only Lawrence and Peter stayed in.

Lawrence smiled and said, "I'm in."

When the dice were revealed, I had a pair of fours. Lawrence had a pair of sixes, and Peter had a pair of fives. Both of them happened to rank above me, so Lawrence won the round.

Because it was a blind call, I lost nearly a thousand dollars on that round alone.

Lawrence flashed me a sheepish grin. "Man, I was just trying to keep you company. I had no idea a pair of sixes would actually take it."

For the second round, I pretended to be nervous and set the dice cup down on the table before shaking it. Then, I made another blind bet.

Peter started to lose his patience. "Come on, man. You're blind calling every round. That's kind of disrespectful to the rest of us."

Lawrence waved him off. "He's still learning the ropes, alright? Cut the guy some slack and shut up."

I gave them a bashful nod and tilted my cup just enough to peek. To my surprise, I had three sixes and two fives. It was a full house.

But I was certain of one thing.

I hadn't actually shaken my dice cup just now. That meant that the problem was with the cup itself.

They were handing me a monster hand to bait me into staying in.

Just then, I caught Lawrence touching his nose again, while the other men casually touched their earlobes.

Lawrence looked at me, smiling. "I'll take a page from Sebastian's book, then. 100 dollars. Let's make it exciting."

The ones who had touched their ear followed suit.

By then, I roughly understood that those gestures were signals for whether to play or fold. The more people that stayed in the round, the higher the payout would climb.

When it was my turn, I played right into their trap and pretended to get cocky. "I'm in, too."

The cups went up, revealing that Lawrence had rolled four fives. His four of a kind beat me by a hair.

But how exactly were they doing it?