Of Kings and Aces

49| Pusoy

Manolo stood by Beau, sparing neither Chino nor me a glance. His eyes were trained on Jaxx the entire time, only occasionally looking at Beau as the son of a bitch continued to gloat and claim power and influence over everyone.

Mad Villain speech. That is what's going to get him killed in the end. I just pray the end was coming soon.

"Oh, by the way, did you not know that the guy you exchanged for your pretty computer engineer used to work for me? He followed you, even bugged your office and that coat of yours. How convenient that he would suddenly be living in Makati close to you, right? You were too trusting and dense to notice, Ace. It was amusing how you let things slip under your nose!" Beau pointed out as I glared at Brigs.

I was indeed too trusting and too dense. But at least I'm doing something to rectify the situation the moment I found out!

I had to act surprised and angry even though this information wasn't new. I already figured this out earlier this week. Jaxx and Chino also knew about this theory of mine, and Beau was confirming it. Thanks to his power speech, all the clues and questions left hanging would finally be answered tonight.

Maybe even that damned ten of spades.

"I say 'used to' because somewhere along the way, he changed his mind, and instead of giving me information about Jacob and you, he gave your employee here information about us.

"It made me wonder why, but then I figured the common denominator: these two men here did not want to see you hurt. So when you got into an accident that was meant to be just a decoy, imagine how immediately Mr. Kingston was willing to work with me just to ensure your safety."

"A decoy?" I asked, even though what I wanted to do was ask Jacob why.

"Jacob here was following and protecting our dealer, Greggy. We all knew that that guy was a little cuckoo, and with his schizophrenia, it was easy to push him to the verge of, how shall I say this... self-destruction." The muscles on Manolo's jaw tensed, but he did not do anything else. Beau was mocking his cousin, mocking his mental illness callously. The way he clenched his fists and jaw told me he wanted to hit Beau, but then he would lose an ally, wouldn't he? He could not afford that.

"This man here, he has been a thorn on my side ever since that night at The Blitz," he looked at Jacob with distaste. He stepped closer and slapped Jacob's bare back roughly before pulling his hair back.

"You were supposed to win with a royal flush, weren't you? A royal flush of Spades. But you folded for god knows what reason. You stupid, stupid boy. Why did you do it? Because Carlo told you to? Were you in collusion with Mayor Gestuvo then?" he shoved Jacob away.

"I told you, I had no idea who they were. I went there to play fucking game of poker!" Jacob seethed.

"Then why did you fold when you could have won?" the admiral insisted, his snake-like eyes narrowing at Jacob.

"So you or the mayor could kill me? He had threatened Carlo at gunpoint because he obviously wanted to win. I value my life more than that money. It was obvious how the three of you had bad blood and could not wait to get rid of one another. Carlo and I were, unfortunately, at the wrong place at the wrong time!"

"Well, I am still going to kill you if it makes you feel better. At least you won't have to live with the pain of betrayal from your friends for long," he sniggered. I wanted to punch his rodent-like face at that instant.

Jaxx continued to stab Manolo with dagger looks, to which the guy breathed heavily and faced him. "Stop staring like you could kill me, Jaxx. It isn't like it's going to change your fate or your friends'."