Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN THEY MOCKED FOR HER BODY RETURNED TO THE SAME $10 MILLION POKER TABLE—AND BY MIDNIGHT, THE MAFIA QUEEN WHO HUMILIATED HER HAD LOST EVERYTHING
Regina Sako laughed when Giana entered the Onyx Club.
“Look who learned to dress.”
Giana wore emerald.
Not to impress Tomaso.
Not to prove Regina wrong.
Because she liked the dress.
That distinction mattered.
Regina sat at the same table.
Anthony Bellini beside her.
Marco opposite.
Her father looked terrible.
No expensive confidence.
No theatrical charm.
Just fear.
Tomaso entered behind Giana.
Regina smiled.
“Did you bring your pet?”
Giana pulled out a chair.
“No.”
Then sat.
“He brought his financial adviser.”
Silence.
Marco laughed.
“You?”
“Yes.”
Regina studied her.
“What do you want?”
Giana placed a folder on the table.
“Meridian Civic Development.”
Regina’s expression changed.
“Never heard of it.”
“Of course.”
Giana continued.
“Neither have the banks that unknowingly financed twelve properties using the same collateral.”
Anthony stood.
Tomaso said:
“Sit.”
Anthony looked at him.
Something painful passed through Tomaso’s expression.
“Please.”
Anthony sat.
Giana placed another document.
“Three casinos.”
Another.
“Seven construction companies.”
Another.
“Four shipping entities.”
Then:
“All insolvent if the banks call their loans tomorrow.”
Regina’s smile vanished.
“What do you want?”
“Poker.”
Tomaso stared at Giana.
This part had not been discussed.
Regina laughed.
“You?”
Giana nodded.
“What are we wagering?”
Regina asked.
“Information.”
“What information?”
“If I lose, I give you the location of the original Bellini archive backup.”
Tomaso went completely still.
Regina smiled.
“And if I lose?”
“You give me my father.”
Marco stared.
“What?”
Giana looked at him.
“You’ve been working under Regina’s protection.”
Regina shrugged.
“Fine.”
Marco stood.
“You can’t wager me!”
Giana smiled.
“No?”
The irony landed.
Marco slowly sat.
But Giana was not finished.
“And Anthony.”
Tomaso looked at her.
Regina frowned.
“What would you do with Anthony?”
“Nothing.”
Giana glanced toward the hidden federal cameras.
“I want him to explain himself.”
Cards were dealt.
Texas Hold’em.
Giana had learned probability before she understood fractions.
Isabella taught her that poker was not primarily about cards.
It was about incomplete information.
The person who best understood uncertainty controlled the table.
Regina believed intimidation created uncertainty.
Giana knew arrogance did.
First hand.
Regina won.
Second.
Giana folded.
Third.
Anthony became restless.
Fourth.
Marco drank.
Tomaso watched Giana.
She appeared calm.
Inside, her heart hammered.
Fifth hand.
Giana began attacking.
Not recklessly.
Precisely.
Regina’s tell was her tongue.
When bluffing, she pressed it behind her upper lip.
Marco’s was his left shoulder.
Anthony rubbed his wedding ring when afraid.
Giana accumulated chips.
Regina’s confidence cracked.
“You think you’re clever.”
“No.”
Giana smiled.
“I know I’m prepared.”
Hours passed.
Then came the final hand.
Regina pushed everything forward.
“All in.”
Giana looked at her cards.
Two queens.
Board:
Queen.
Nine.
Nine.
Ace.
Three.
Full house.
But Regina was smiling.
Giana studied her.
No tongue movement.
She believed she had won.
Possible hand:
Pocket aces.
Full house.
Aces over nines.
Better.
Giana should fold.
Everyone knew it.
Tomaso’s expression gave nothing away.
Giana looked at Anthony.
He was staring at Regina.
Then at the dealer.
His wedding ring moved.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The dealer.
Giana understood.
The game was rigged.
She smiled.
“Call.”
Regina revealed pocket aces.
Marco laughed.
Giana turned over queens.
Regina reached for the chips.
“Game over.”
“No.”
Giana looked at the dealer.
“Show your left sleeve.”
He froze.
Regina’s face changed.
Federal agents entered.
The dealer tried to run.
He was restrained.
Inside his sleeve were duplicate cards.
Including the ace of diamonds.
Regina’s ace of diamonds was already on the board.
The room went silent.
Giana looked at Regina.
“You cheated.”
Regina stood.
“This proves nothing.”
Agent Claire Donovan stepped forward.
“It proves enough when combined with the recordings from the last four hours.”
Anthony turned toward Tomaso.
“You brought federal agents into our club?”
Tomaso answered:
“No.”
He looked at Giana.
“She did.”
Anthony stared.
Tomaso almost smiled.
“I told you she wasn’t mine.”
Agents arrested Regina.
Marco panicked.
Then Anthony pulled a gun.
Tomaso moved.
Giana shouted:
“Don’t!”
Anthony aimed at Tomaso.
His hand shook.
“I raised you.”
Tomaso stopped.
“I know.”
“Your father was weak.”
“You killed him.”
“He would have destroyed everything.”
“You killed him.”
“I built you!”
Tomaso’s voice broke.
“You built the man you needed me to be.”
Anthony’s eyes filled.
“You think this woman loves you?”
Giana did not answer.
This was not about her.
Anthony looked at Tomaso.
“You’re throwing away your family.”
Tomaso said quietly:
“You stopped being my family when you murdered my father.”
Anthony’s gun lowered slightly.
Agents took him.
No gunfire.
No execution.
No dramatic bloodbath.
Just consequences.
Marco remained.
He looked at Giana.
“Please.”
The word disgusted her.
Not because he begged.
Because she remembered every time she had begged him.
Stop insulting me.
Let me study.
Tell me about Mom.
Don’t gamble the rent.
Please.
Marco never listened.
Now he wanted mercy because consequences had finally learned his address.
“You traded me for ten million dollars.”
“I was desperate.”
“You imprisoned Mom.”
“Regina made me.”
“You let me believe she was dead.”
“I was protecting you.”
“No.”
Giana stood.
“You were protecting yourself.”
Marco cried.
For a moment she saw her father.
Not the monster.
The weak man underneath.
That was almost worse.
“You’re my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“I love you.”
Giana felt tears.
“I believe part of you does.”
Marco looked hopeful.
“That doesn’t erase what the rest of you did.”
Agents arrested him.
Giana watched him leave.
She did not feel victorious.
She felt free.
Months followed.
Trials.
Hearings.
Financial collapses.
Regina’s empire disintegrated.
Anthony accepted a plea after evidence connected him to Tomaso’s father’s murder and multiple financial crimes.
Marco cooperated in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Isabella testified.
Giana did too.
Tomaso faced his own decision.
Federal investigators had found crimes inside Bellini records.
He could fight.
He had lawyers.
Influence.
Money.
Instead he cooperated.
Giana did not ask him.
That mattered.
One evening he came to her apartment.
She had moved out of the penthouse months earlier.
Another choice.
Another boundary.
Tomaso sat at her kitchen table.
“I’m pleading guilty.”
Giana stopped.
“To what?”
“Financial conspiracy. Illegal gambling operations. Extortion.”
“How long?”
“Probably three years.”
Her chest tightened.
“You decided?”
“Yes.”
“Because of me?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
He continued.
“Because Anthony spent years telling me crimes became acceptable when committed for family.”
Tomaso swallowed.
“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life changing the name attached to the excuse.”
Giana sat.
“What happens to Bellini?”
“Legitimate businesses survive.”
“And the rest?”
“Ends.”
“You’re giving it up.”
“Yes.”
Tomaso smiled faintly.
“Turns out running a criminal empire is stressful.”
She laughed through tears.
Then he reached across the table.
Stopped before touching her.
Giana noticed.
Permission.
She placed her hand in his.
“Will you wait?”
he asked.
Giana shook her head.
“No.”
Pain flashed across his face.
Then she smiled.
“I’m going to live.”
Understanding came.
“And if I still want you when you come home?”
Tomaso squeezed her hand.
“Then I’ll ask you to dinner.”
“Cheap dinner.”
“You’re cruel.”
“No private jets.”
“Unreasonable.”
“No buying restaurants because I like the pasta.”
“That happened once.”
“You considered it.”
He smiled.
“Fine.”
She kissed him.
Tomaso surrendered six weeks later.
Giana stood outside the courthouse.
Regina once said she was not worth ten dollars.
Marco wagered her against ten million.
Tomaso once called her a prize.
All of them had been wrong in different ways.
May you like
Because value was not a number someone else assigned.
And Giana Richie was finally done allowing other people to calculate hers.
Related Stories
