Chapter 2

I hung up the phone, and Hall Three fell into a terrifying silence.

Hansen stood respectfully at my side, his back already soaked with cold sweat.

Smith and Alice had stopped cursing, staring at me now as if they had seen a ghost.

"Dad?" Smith muttered, his face drained of color. "Who are you calling Dad? Luna, don't mess with me."

I had known Smith for two years.

During those two years, I had told him I grew up in an orphanage, struggling alone in Las Verdan and working as nothing more than an ordinary office clerk.

He claimed to love my "innocence" and my "naïveté."

He shamelessly enjoyed everything I provided-living in the upscale apartment I rented and driving the sports car I leased.

He used to say that once he became a millionaire through gambling, he would marry me in grand style.

Now, he had become a millionaire.

And then he told me I wasn't good enough for him.

Less than ten minutes later, the elevator doors slid open with a sharp "ding."

A group of men in black suits escorted a man as they stepped out.

The man in front was in his fifties, his hair immaculately combed. Despite his age, he stood tall, his eyes sharp as a hawk's.

He was the owner of the Paradise Palace Casino and the man who controlled more than half of Las Verdan's entertainment industry.

And he was my father-Julian Croft.

Every employee in the casino, Hansen included, lowered their heads in unison.

"Mr. Croft," they chorused.

My father's gaze swept across the room, softening only when it landed on me.

"Luna, are you hurt?" asked Julian.

I shook my head.

His eyes shifted to Smith and Alice, pinned to the ground by security.

In that instant, the weight of his presence seemed to plunge the entire hall into winter.

Smith stared at my father, his mouth opening and closing without a sound.

He might never have seen my father in person, but he surely recognized the face that so often appeared on the covers of financial magazines.

"J-Julian Croft..." Alice stammered, her voice shaking uncontrollably.

As a dealer, she couldn't possibly not know the boss who ran it all.

She finally understood why Hansen bowed to me with such deference.

She also realized why Smith had kept winning all along.

Julian stepped up to Smith, towering over him with a commanding gaze.

"So, it's you," his voice remained calm, almost unnervingly so. "The man my daughter once favored."

Smith jolted as if struck by lightning.

He snapped his head up at me, eyes bloodshot and brimming with regret.

"Luna... you... you're Mr. Croft's daughter?" His voice cracked with desperation. "Why... why didn't you ever tell me?"

I met his gaze and asked, "Tell you what? Tell you my father is Julian Croft, so you wouldn't have to dump me and could keep living off me like a pampered leech? Or tell you that your wins had nothing to do with your gambling tricks or that dealer you worshiped, but only because I batted my lashes at my dad?"

Smith crumpled to the floor, all strength drained from him.

Alice went ashen, trembling uncontrollably.

She knew her career in the casino-and her life-were finished.

Julian waved his hand dismissively.

"Hansen, take care of it."

"Yes, Mr. Croft."

Hansen immediately signaled the guards to drag the two away.

Suddenly, Smith erupted with shocking strength, breaking free of the guards and lunging to clutch at my leg.

"Luna! I was wrong! I swear I was wrong! It's you I love! It's always been you! Alice was nothing but a pawn! Please, just give me one more chance!"

I stepped back, avoiding his desperate grasp.

His face was streaked with tears and snot, a pitiful shadow of the swaggering "casino master" I once remembered.

"Smith, you call this love? But just minutes ago, you were ready to trade me off to cover your gambling debts."

My words were like a bucket of ice water, dousing his last flicker of hope.

He stared at me in despair as the guards seized him again, dragging him into the endless dark corridor.

Alice fared no better, dragged away like a discarded doll, whimpering in pitiful pleas.

The farce had finally run its course.

Julian came to my side, slipped off his suit jacket, and draped it over my shoulders.

"Come, my little moonlight, let's go home."