Lost Love, High Stakes: Soccer King's Comeback

30 minutes into the match, Brondale United abruptly launched a counterattack. Felix managed to pull off the perfect fake, pushing past the Maran Leopards' defenders to launch a volley from mid-air.

"Goal! It's a goal!"

The atmosphere in the room instantly erupted, with Ian's lackeys waving their beer bottles around as they hollered in excitement.

"Ian's a god! You're screwed now, Craig!"

"Get ready to fall on your knees and lick Ian's shoes! Hahaha!"

I smirked and said nothing.

At the 53rd minute, Brondale United scored again. Ian's grin grew even cockier as he grabbed the keys to the Bentley from the table and spun them on his fingertip.

"See that, Craig? This is what you call real strength. Tell you what, as long as the Maran Leopards score a single goal, I'll let you hold the keys in your hands for just a minute. And if they score two goals, I'll let you take the car out for a spin."

I glanced at him. "The match isn't over yet."

Snorting, Ian cocked his head and eyed me. "Suit yourself. I love seeing you try to act tough when you've got nothing to stand on, Craig. Why don't we raise the stakes even more, huh? Got the guts to do it?"

Without even looking at him, I asked, "How do you want to raise them?"

One of Ian's lackeys sneered. "How is he going to raise the stakes? What does he even have besides the five grand you gave him? His life?"

With a malicious grin, Ian remarked, "He's got that shabby shoebox apartment, doesn't he? The one his parents left to him. Even though it's in a crappy part of town, it's still worth a few hundred grand.

"I've got a massive riverfront villa in the city myself. Why don't you use that rundown apartment of yours to bet against my villa, Craig?"

The room went dead silent, and Nina finally looked at me. "Stop embarrassing yourself, Craig. If you lose that apartment, you'll be forced to sleep on the streets. You were born poor, and you're going to die poor. Stop fantasizing about somehow making it rich."

I looked at Nina before glancing at Ian's smug expression. Chuckling, I replied, "Sure. I'm in."

There was no reason for me to turn down free money.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a black debit card. "Since we're raising the stakes, Ian, it's no fun if we're only going to bet on the houses. This is my debit card. I've got 30 million dollars in that account."

That was the money I made from the Northwest Aravian betting circuit. I never touched any of it.

After a few seconds of silence, a manic laughter exploded from every corner of the room.

Ian laughed so hard that he even teared up. "30 million dollars? Did someone drop a box on your head when you were working in the warehouse, Craig? What, you bought a phony debit card so that you could act like a big shot? If you really have 30 million dollars, I'll eat this table!"

His lackeys roared with laughter. "You don't have to pay tax on the money you pretend to have, so why not add a zero or two? Make it 300 million dollars!"

Smirking, I pulled up the bank application on my phone and raised it up in front of them. "I've got the money. If you don't believe me, see for yourself."

Ian narrowed his eyes and leaned in. His smile froze.

One of his lackeys huddled over. "Well, Ian? How much does he have? 500 dollars? Or 5,000 dollars?"

Ian didn't answer, so another guy leaned in close and studied the screen. "Ten, hundred, thousand… What the hell? He actually has 30 million dollars?"

They all came crowding around me at once. Even Nina lifted her head once more and stared at me in disbelief.

Ian's expression shifted several times before he suddenly laughed.

"That must be a fake app that lets you display whatever number you put in, right, Craig? 30 million dollars, you say? Why would you bother working for me, slaving away in the warehouse all day if you really had that kind of money?"

"Believe whatever you want," I replied with a smile.

With a few knowing nods, Ian lit up another cigarette and declared, "So be it. Guess you think you haven't made enough of a fool of yourself and insist on embarrassing yourself even further. Well, as your buddy, I'll just have to play along with you."

He pulled out his wallet and tossed a debit card onto the table as well.

"I've got three million dollars in this account. I'll use it to match that fake debit card of yours. Since you're dying to act like a big shot, I won't burst your bubble. If you win, I'll give you this card, too. Deal?"

Before I could answer, Nina protested, "Ian! Didn't you say you'd use the money to buy me a house? How can you gamble it away like that?"

Ian patted her hand. "Don't be silly, Nina. Do you really think he has that kind of money? Besides, Brondale United is winning 2-0 right now. Do you think he can win? I'll be getting his dump of an apartment for free while stomping him into the ground for good."

He pushed the card to the center of the table. "Come on, Craig. You in or not?"

Chuckling lightly, I pushed my card to the center as well. "You're on."