Casino King's Daughter: Payback

I am Luna Croft. My boyfriend, Smith Caldwell, called himself a "casino master." Every time he went gambling, he came back loaded with winnings.

It wasn't until later that I realized he always chose the same table.

And the dealer at that table was his so-called untouchable dream girl, Alice Moore.

"Luna, I'm a millionaire now. You're way out of your league-so let's call it quits. Alice is my true love. She gives me both fortune and pleasure," he added with smug certainty.

I said yes, only to watch him lose every last dollar at the table moments later.

He shoved me straight into the hands of the loan sharks who had come to collect his debt.

"This is my girlfriend. I'm giving her up to settle my debt. She's an orphan. Even if you ruin her completely, no one will come after you!"

The casino staff and the loan sharks closed in on me, but I couldn't help laughing.

"Let your boss come out and talk to me," I demanded.

The moment those words left my lips, the entire casino went silent.

The loan shark leader froze, as if he hadn't heard me right.

Smith burst out laughing.

"Luna, are you crazy? Who the hell do you think you are, asking to see the boss?"

The face that had once captivated me was now twisted with disdain.

"Quit the act. Go with them, and maybe they'll go easy on you."

Beside him, Alice, the most beautiful dealer in the casino and his so-called true love, clung to his arm with the air of a victor.

Her bright red nails traced lazily across Smith's chest.

"Smith, stop wasting your breath on her. We should be celebrating," Alice cooed.

Her voice was soft and syrupy, dripping with practiced flirtation.

The gamblers around us looked at me with open glee, savoring my humiliation.

I ignored them, letting my gaze cut past the crowd and land on a figure hurrying from the far corner of the casino.

It was Hansen Doyle, the regional manager of the casino.

He was a man who had served under my father for twenty years.

The moment he saw me, his face drained of color, sweat beaded on his forehead, and he nearly stumbled to the floor.

"Miss... Miss Croft!" Hansen stammered.

Hansen nearly scrambled across the floor, shoving aside the loan sharks who tried to block his way.

His voice trembled with fear.

The crowd parted on its own, leaving a path before him.

Under the astonished gazes of everyone present, Hansen bent at a ninety-degree angle before me, his head nearly touching the floor.

"Miss Croft, what brings you here? This... this is my failure!" he stammered.

Smith's grin froze on his face.

Alice's hand slipped from his arm.

The loan sharks who had looked so vicious moments ago twitched nervously, exchanging bewildered glances as if they couldn't make sense of the situation.

"Mr. Doyle," I said calmly. "My boyfriend, Smith, owes money here."

I pointed first at Smith, then at the loan sharks.

"He planned to use me as payment."

Hansen's body trembled even harder.

He snapped his head around, his gaze as fierce as a predator's.

"Take the two of them down!" he barked, pointing at Smith and Alice.

The casino guards moved faster than I expected, rushing in at once and pinning Smith and Alice on either side before they even realized what was happening.

"What the hell are you doing? Hansen, have you lost your mind?"

Smith thrashed wildly, his face flushing from pale to crimson.

"What trick did you pull on Mr. Doyle? You bitch!"

I watched his frantic rage and found it nothing but laughable.

Hansen ignored him, turning instead to the loan sharks and speaking with icy authority.

"Smith's debt will be recorded under the casino for now. Now take your men and get out of here immediately. If I see you again within two minutes, you can forget about ever doing business in Las Verdan."

The loan shark leader wasn't stupid.

He looked at Hansen, then at me, forcing a smile uglier than a sob while nodding and bowing repeatedly.

"Yes, yes, we'll leave right away!" he babbled.

They scattered like frightened animals, bolting faster than rabbits.

Smith and Alice were pinned tightly by security, still spitting curses.

"Luna! Who the hell are you really? Let go of me!"

"Smith is mine! You crazy bitch!" Alice shrieked.

Watching them, I realized for the first time that the past two years of my relationship had been nothing but a joke.

I pulled out my phone and dialed a number.

"Dad, I'm at Paradise Palace Casino, Hall Three. Yeah, I've run into a bit of a mess."

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.

My father 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.

My father 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.

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

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

We returned to the top floor, to the presidential suite never open to outsiders, my father's private domain.

He personally poured me a glass of hot milk.

"I told you long ago-that boy was never worthy of you," he said.

His voice carried a trace of sorrow and tenderness.

"It's my fault. I never should've let you have your way back then."

Cradling the warm glass in my hands, I shook my head.

"It's not your fault, Dad. I was the one who was blind."

Two years ago, after graduating from college, I didn't want to step into the family business so soon, or live under my father's shadow.

I longed to experience an ordinary life, to fall in love without money being part of the equation.

So I took the name Luna, concealed my identity, and worked as a clerk in a small company.

And then, I met Smith.

He was a penniless painter, carrying that melancholy, captivating aura unique to artists.

He told me I was his muse, his sunshine.

And I believed him.

After we got together, his earnings from painting were nowhere near enough to support the comfortable life he desired.

He began to complain, his anxiety growing by the day.

Until one day, he told me excitedly that he had discovered his true gift-gambling.

On his very first visit to the casino, he won ten thousand dollars.

He was ecstatic, declaring himself a born gambling god.

I only smiled faintly, saying nothing.

Later, his winnings grew-tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands, and eventually millions.

He stopped painting altogether and spent every day buried in the casino.

I tried to talk him into quitting, but he always said, "Luna, once I make a hundred million, we'll stop and travel the world."

What he never knew was that, to keep him happy and help him reach "financial freedom" sooner so he could leave the casino, I had begged my father.

I pleaded with my father to let him win a little, just enough to give him confidence.

My father gave me a long, searching look.

"Luna, you're playing with fire."

But I was too blinded by love.

In the end, my father agreed.

He arranged for Hansen, and for his most loyal dealer, Alice.

Everything unfolded exactly according to Smith's favorite script.

An overlooked genius discovered his so-called talent in the casino, fought his way through every round, and eventually became a millionaire.

What a flawless tale of a rise against the odds.

The cruel joke was that the so-called hero never realized, from beginning to end, that he was nothing more than a puppet on strings.

And I-the fool who loved him-had, in a way, delivered another woman right into his arms.

My father watched me sit in silence and let out a sigh.

"I've already had Hansen handle it," he said.

"Smith and Alice were caught colluding to cheat and defraud the casino. The evidence is undeniable. For the rest of their lives, they won't set foot in any legitimate casino again. And every cent of their illegal winnings has been clawed back."

Their little tricks at the table had never been secrets in front of my father.

"As for the money he owed to the loan sharks..."

Julian paused.

"I'll make sure they understand whose money is off-limits."

I knew the kind of methods my father used.

Those loan sharks would probably spend the rest of their lives living in fear.

"Thank you, Dad."

"Silly girl, there's no need to thank me."

My father gently patted my head.

"From now on, don't be so reckless. If you want to experience life, you'll do it under my watch."

I nodded.

By the next day, news of Smith and Alice had spread through every circle in Las Verdan.

The so-called "casino legend" collapsed overnight, and he became a scammer everyone spat on.

I thought that was the end of it.

Until a week later, when I received a call from an unknown number.

On the other end was Smith's voice-weak, yet dripping with venom.

"Luna... you think you've won? You ruined me, and I'll make sure you don't get away unscathed. I've got something of yours. Something you'd never want your father to see."

My heart sank hard.