Chapter 29 Be Bold or Be Fool

Chapter 29 Be Bold or Be Fool
“…I don’t know where.”
“What?”
“I don’t know where he is.”
Elodie frowned, a hint of frustration crossing her face.
“But you had his buttons?”
James shrugged, his eyes rolling briefly. “That doesn’t guarantee anything, lady. If they pay me to kill, I kill. If they pay me to deliver something, I deliver it—precisely. I told you, I’m good at sending things.”
Seeing Elodie’s expression darken, James quickly adjusted his tone, realizing how dismissive he had sounded.
“I don’t even know what kind of trouble you people were in when O’Connell’s men asked me to deliver that item to you.”
Elodie didn’t argue. She understood James lived that way. Still, a part of her had hoped he knew something about Ethan.
She let out a quiet breath, realizing how much she had allowed herself to be carried away by the life she now lived beside Noah—so much that she had almost forgotten Ethan, the very first reason she had stepped into this world.
“I want to go,” Elodie said finally, deciding she wouldn’t wait any longer.
James stared at her without blinking.
“I’m going to do my part.”
“Are you sure that’s your part?” he asked. “I mean, didn’t the Consigliere tell you to stay here?”
Elodie paused. James’s words made her reconsider for a moment.
But she made her decision anyway, lifting her gaze to James with a faint smile.
“That’s why he hired you.”
She grabbed her coat, slipped on her shoes, and said over her shoulder, “I’ll give him reasons why his money won't waste on you.”
Elodie walked out first, leaving James in silence for a few seconds before his smirked.
“She’s not stupid.”
The first thing Elodie did was look for information about O’Connell’s underground fight.
Going directly into O’Connell’s territory would be inviting danger, so Elodie tried to move as carefully as she could. She knew her capability.
Elodie and James arrived at one of Sanz Egale’s casinos, one of the largest on the Strip. The gamblers were dressed in their finest clothes, wearing the most expensive perfumes—far too expensive to lose tonight.
“You got a plan?” James asked, standing behind her. Dark sunglasses rested on the bridge of his sharp nose, and he wore the black suit Elodie had asked Edgar to prepare for him.
Elodie slowly unbuttoned her coat, revealing a fitted black dress with thin straps over her shoulders—a silent statement that she was hiding nothing if she needed to go all in.
She scanned the room. Everything still felt unfamiliar, but her resolve remained firm.
“I’m going to play,” she said. “Information about O’Connell’s underground fights will sound more natural if it spreads from mouth to mouth, don’t you think?”
“You know how to gamble?”
Elodie looked at James. Her gaze was calm—completely at odds with her answer.
“No.”
“And how exactly do you plan to blend in?”
“You'll do it for me,” she replied. “Can you gamble?”
James stepped back slightly. “No.”
“That’s not a choice tonight, James. Tonight, you can gamble.”
Elodie grabbed him, led him toward a table with one seat left. Four players had already claimed their spots, and James became the last one to join.
The dealer began shuffling the cards as soon as he finished explaining the rules. Elodie glanced around. People came to see their ordinary table; filled by four players and one drunk man who stole some chances to look at Elodie.
Cards slid across the felt, two to each player. James lifted his slightly, and a brief pause crossed his face. Then he pushed them forward without hesitation.
“I’m out.”
The dealer gathered the cards back. Elodie looked at him quickly, surprised and confused, but she said nothing when the thick-necked man across the table burst out laughing.
“The kid folded before the game even started.”
Heat rushed to Elodie’s face. She pushed her black glasses higher on the bridge of her nose, trying to hide her anxiety.
James only leaned back in his chair.
Elodie watched the players instead. Chips shifted across the table as someone raised the bet. Two players stayed in the round, and the dealer revealed the final cards.
A bald man raked the chips toward himself.
The first round ended within a minute. James didn’t react, though his eyes remained on the table. Still, Elodie began to regret asking him to play— he had already told her he didn’t gamble.
She shouldn’t have relied on James so easily just because she had heard he came from another mafia house. She shouldn’t have believed he could guarantee anything—but at this moment, he was her last hope.
She wanted to trust him.
The second round began. The dealer dealt the cards again, sliding them to each player. James kept his eyes on his hand.
This time, he stayed in the game with a small bet.
Another player raised. James tapped the table.
“I’ll call.”
The game moved quietly. Cards appeared in the center of the table and the bets climbed. James waited a little too long before reacting.
Finally, he folded again.
The thick-necked man snorted.
“Maybe the boy really doesn’t know the game.”
James only smiled faintly.
Meanwhile, Elodie leaned slightly closer to the table, watching the players carefully—how they reacted to their cards, how their fingers moved across the chips, how their eyes shifted.
The thrill was real. The tension didn’t lie.
For a moment, she felt herself becoming part of the table, almost forgetting why they had come here in the first place.
Cards slid across the table again.
James checked his hand this time and didn’t fold.
The betting started small. A player across from him pushed more chips forward—James matched it.
The dealer turned three cards over.
The game tightened. Two players folded. Three remained.
The thick-necked man raised again.
James scratched his jaw, looking uncertain. Then he pushed his chips forward.
“I’ll see that,” he said.
More cards appeared in silence.
At the end, the thick-necked man confidently revealed his hand.
Two pairs.
James turned his cards over—
Three of a kind.
The dealer pushed the pile of chips toward James.
Elodie’s blue eyes gleamed beneath the grand chandelier. The black glasses couldn’t hide their brightness.
She didn’t realize her smile wider, but someone else did.
The fourth and fifth rounds seemed to favor James as well.
Elodie’s trust in him grew.
It seemed blood was still thicker than water—even within the dark bloodlines of the mafia.
“I knew I could trust you,” Elodie murmured under her breath.
No one paid attention to her words.
Someone’s pride had clearly been wounded.
He laughed under his breath, though irritation crept into the sound.
“Tonight’s going to suck.”
The half-drunk man beside him replied, “Come on, it’s just a game.”
“A game where I’ve wasted all my money,” the thick-necked man muttered bitterly.
The drunk man laughed again.
“Watching the fights up north looks thrilling enough. But when it comes to placing the bets myself, I can barely keep my interest. What’s the difference?”
He glanced at James.
“It’s all gambling—this one or that one.”
James didn’t flinch.
But he knew he had just gotten something for Elodie—
something she had been waiting for.