Jerry and Michael meet with Ekin in his office at Bellagio. They hand him a list of collections they made. Ekin scans through it and nods as he flip through the report to make sure the figures are correct. He noticed they are missing $200,000 and looks up at Jerry.
"Don't look at me." Jerry immediately says.
"Yeah you're the horny one." Michael said teasing Ekin
"What you guys talking about?" Ekin asks confused at their comments.
Jerry and Michael laugh with each other and then Michael says, "Don't remember spending $200,000 on sweet ass?" he asked jokingly.
Instantly Ekin remembers Nadia. He had loaned her the money almost a month ago and she hasn't made any effort to return it. He had trusted her so he became somewhat disappointed, "Check where she is for me. So I can see what's delaying the money."
Jerry quickly got on the phone and dialed Frankie for information. Frankie looked it up in the police files and said there were numerous Nnadia Chans in the computer. Jerry paused from the phone conversation and turned to Ekin and Michael. "Any way of identifying her?" Jerry asked.
"Tell him to email all the pictures to me right now and I'll pick her out." Ekin said. Jerry nodded and told Frankie. Frankie did it and Ekin found Nadia's home and work address.
"Which one are you going to?" Jerry asked as he wrote it down for Ekin on a notepad.
Michael laughed and joked, "How about her house so you can get some good stuff." Ekin threw a folder at Michael and then whacked him as he walked out of the office.
Jerry looked at him and asked, "You need help?"
Michael hit Jerry over the head, "Stupid fool! Dai Lo wants to be alone with Miss Chan so they can get to business." he said with a mischievous wink.
This time Jerry playfully whacked him because Ekin was already gone. Michael pretends to dodge and then sits up. "Hey I need to go get laid!" he declares as he walks out of the room. "You wanna get fucked?" he asks Jerry.
Jerry shakes his head. "No I don't want your messed up diseases!" he says sarcastically. Anyways he was already supposed to help Nic tonight.
Michael sticks his middle finger at Jerry and walks out. They were always joking like that but you could tell if anything happened they?d be there for each other.
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Ekin looked at the address on the notepad which reads 3700 Flamingo Rd. He looks at where he is and notices he's standing in front of Rio Hotel & Casino. He shrugs and goes into the Casino and looks for the Chinese restaurant, Fortunes, which is an upscale restaurant located within the Casino. Nadia was the owner of Fortunes.
He enters into the restaurant and is served with utmost respect and hospitality. He looks around impressed with what Nadia has built. He asked for a table for two and was told the wait would be 1 hour and 58 minutes. He chuckled at the wait time. "Are you sure 1 hour and 58 minutes?" he asked the concierge.
The concierge nodded. "Approximately." She replied nicely.
Ekin laughed and shook his head, "I'm not going to wait."
"Suit yourself sire." She said.
Ekin glared at her. "I'm still going to get a table." He said sternly. "I'm just not going to wait that long."
"I'm sorry sire but for a table the wait would be approximately..." she said.
But Ekin cut her off. "Listen, tell the owner, that Ekin Wong is here to see her and I won't have to wait." He said smugly.
The concierge was hesitant but decided to notify Nadia just in case Ekin was someone of importance to Nadia. She left another girl in charge as she went to the back office to get Nadia.
Upon hearing his name Nnadia smirked. "Prepare a table for him in the VIP room and tell him I'll meet him there shortly." She said grinning as she picked up the phone.
The concierge led him to the VIP room and Nadia showed up within minutes. She greeted him politely and quickly started to apologize. "I'm so sorry for making you wait. Did you wait long?" she asked.
"No." he replied looking firmly at her.
"I'm sure you're here to collect the money I owe you." Nnadia said as a waitress poured some red wine for the two of them.
Ekin nodded but didn't say anything. He only watched her.
Nnadia sat in an elegant position with her back straight. She picked up a glass of wine and handed it delicately but quickly to him. She lifted up her glass and said, "Cheers!" with a sweet smile.
For some reason his anger for her lack of responsibility faded while he watched her. She looked radiant and he was captivated by the charm she was displaying. He smiled and took a drink of the red wine as he looked around the VIP room.
"So this is what you needed the $200 grand for?" he asked.
Nnadia nodded, "Yes my father left me this business but when he left it to me he left me in debt. I didn't want to see his hard work and effort be diminished so I decided to rebuild it and thanks to you, I was able to." She said holding up her wine glass to him once again.
Ekin smiled and took another sip as Nnadia continued, "The restaurant looks like its in good condition right now but it's barely on its feet. I still need to pay off some debts before this restaurant will be totally mine." She said. She looked at him while she held her wine glass wistfully against her cheek. "Please allow me more time to repay you. I'll make sure it's worth your while." She said with another sweet smile.
Ekin nodded. "Take as long as you like." He replied mesmerized by her charm.
"Thank you." She said and turned to the waitress, "Bring out some of our best dishes, Mister Wong will be having dinner her tonight!" she declared.
Ekin gave her an astound look, "When did I say I would join you for dinner?"
Nnadia smiled. "Just now your stomach growled. I assume you're hungry." She smirked.
Ekin nodded. "Very." He replied with a smile. He was more impressed of how observant she was.
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MEANWHILE...
Nic's plans are set and he has everything under control. Sam and Jerry are helping him. They waited basically the whole night and no sign of the thief they've all been waiting for. Then Nic gets a tap on his back. He turns around to see an old time buddy, Stephen Fung.
"How have you been, man?" Nic says as he and Stephen make a fist with their hands and knock it against each other in the mannered etiquette.
"What you doing here?" Stephen asks Nic.
Nic shakes his head, "I gotta catch this bitch, she's been ripping off my casinos."
Stephen has a crocked smile. "A woman robbing your casinos? When did you own casinos?" he asks nervously expecting the woman Nic's trying to catch is Joey.
"Remember my eldest brother Ekin?" Nic asked. Stephen nodded "He owns a couple casinos, so it's basically mine and my other brother's too."
Stephen pretended to be impressed. "Wow haven't seen you since 8th grade and look at you now; 21 and wealthy! Man it's lucky to be you!" Stephen said. In reality Stephen cared nothing for wealth or the materialistic world. He only cared about Joey.
"So what are you doing here?" Nic asked as he forced some gambling chips into Stephens hands. "You have to take some chips"
Stephen refuses but he's no match for Nic's pressure so he finally nods and accepts them. Then he excuses himself to the restaurant so he could call Joey to let her know people are after her but the casino's reception is bad and she can't hear a thing he's saying. She goes on with her plans.
She puts down her phone and continues betting. Nic finally sees her and motions everybody to move in on her. Jerry has her right, Sam has her left. Nic is coming to her from behind. She's definitely cornered. Stephen searches frantically for her. When he finally sees where she is, its too late. He sees everybody ready to pounce on her. He searches for his gun and fires a shot into the ceiling.
Joey hears it and immediately grabs everything to run. The other gamblers are scattering too so Nic, Jerry, and Sam have a harder time trying to catch her. Joey runs easily out of the crowd because shes used to escaping.
Nic is in the outer section of the crowd and as fate would have it Joey ran right by him. He grabbed her and she kicked him. He wouldn't let go so she kicked where it would hurt most, right in between the legs. Nic fell to the floor gasping for air as he crouched in a painful position. It was as if someone attached a jumper cable to his crotch and a car then turned on the engine.
Jerry and Sam immediately come to Nic's rescue. They tease him playfully and Nic is now even more upset at Joey. "Dam bitch! When I get my hands on her, she's a goner!"
Joey pushes a lot of people and jump into a taxi as she takes a deep sigh and breathes heavily from all the running. She takes off her blonde wig and blue contacts. She rubs the freckles she drew on her face off and holds onto the pouch carefully as if her life depended on it.
Stephen slowly follows the crowd out and tries to stay unnoticed. Like usual he gets into a taxi and follows Joey. Just to make sure she's safe. He know that there are only certain times he could see her and his chance has just past so he needs to wait for another time. When he gets home he looks for a 3x5 manila envelope. He opens it to read then burns it.
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Louis purposely goes to Sapphire looking for Ada. He really likes the challenge of conquering girls that play hard to get. Kristy immediately sees him and after her routine gets off the stage to see him in the VIP room. When she gets there Louis is not interested in her and it upsets her.
She sits on his lap and sensuously moves up and down his thigh as she kisses his chest. But Louis is talking to Kevin about Nic's encounter with Joey. "She fucked Nic up!" Louis says laughing hysterically.
"Dam balls got it hard!" Kevin said jokingly.
"Remind me to visit my brother after this." Louis said shaking his head.
"Sure." Kevin said and then looked at Kristy and asked, "You want me to leave?"
Louis shook his head. He got up and lifted Kristy up from him. She looked surprised. "Here fuck her. I need to find something new." He said pushing Kristy to Kevin as he left the room.
Kevin smiled lustfully and grabbed Kristy. She was raging with anger now. The nerve of him to just throw her aside like that. As Kevin was groping her breast and moving to undress her, she picked up a mug of beer and splashed it on his head. She looked at him disgustedly and walked out.
She went to look for Louis and found him talking to Anthony. "Tell Ada I want to see her, if she won't see me then I'll see her." Louis winked.
"I'll try." Antony said as he left the bar to get Ada.
Kristy listened and smirked. In a way she was angry but there was a hint of satisfaction in her eyes. There was only one thing left for her to do now.
Ada was sitting at her table looking into the mirror and applying her make-up on. Anthony came up to her and said, "Louis Wong wants you to accompany him tonight."
Ada smirked as she continued applying her make-up. "Tell him, I'm busy." She said and got up to change her clothes for her routine.
She got on stage and Louis sat at the bar watching her. She was born to be a dancer he thought to himself, her moves were extremely erotic. Just watching her drove him crazy. 20 minutes into her routine Kristy jumped on the stage and grabbed Ada's hair. She slapped Ada and pulled her back and forth.
The men in the club hollered thinking it was part of the show. Everyone cheered and roared with laughter. The horny men in the club were even more excited. But Louis noticed something was wrong. Ada didn't seem to be acting or dancing a skit. He immediately put his drink down and ran to the top of the stage. He grabbed Kristy and threw her back against the wall.
She fell against it. Disappoint and angered of his favoritism of Ada enveloped her face . She got back up and tried to hit Ada again. Louis blocked her and slapped her. She became infuriated, ran backstage, grabbed her jacket, and left the club in her dancing outfit.
"Are you okay?" Louis asks her. Ada is lying in his arms but she refuses to answer. She's still somewhat shaken up by the incident. "Do you need help? Maybe a doctor or something?" Louis asks again
Again Ada does not respond. She only gets up and goes back stage. Louis goes back there to check up on her but Ada doesn't thank him. She still treats him coldly. Then she leaves the club refusing to let him help her anymore.
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Annie is at a computer arcade in Chinatown Plaza. She's been playing counterstrike all day in and has finally run out of money. She looks at the time and its only 8:28 pm. She was so bored. She walked out and saw a familiar face. It was Marco.
"Hey officer Marco." Annie said playfully as she circled him. "On duty today?"
Marco was surprised to see Annie. "No I'm just grocery shopping." He said holding up his shopping bags from 99 Ranch market.
"Oh." Annie says nodding her head up and down as she eyes his bag.
"How about you what are you doing?" he asks nervously. He's become interested in Annie in such a short time and Annie knew it too.
She smiled mischievously at him. "I'm bored and want to know if you want to have some fun with me." She said biting her lips together.
Marco nodded quickly, "Sure what do you want to do?" he asked.
"Anything and everything." Annie said with a devilish grin on her face as she wrapped her arms around Marco's waist making him very tense. She continued to move up against him so that he would be distracted.
"Let's go back in the market and play." She said with her hands behind her back away from his view.
He followed her in and she moved her hands to the front as she walked behind him humming. Then when she got in the supermarket she suddenly screamed, "Hands up! This is a robbery!" she laughed hysterically running around the supermarket pointing the gun at people.
Marco noticed the gun was his. "Where'd you get my gun?" Marco said worried as he ran after her. In actuality when she wrapped her arms around him, she was searching for his gun. She thought it be fun to play police woman for the day.
Later she started shouting, "Wait I'm a police woman stand still!" as she ran after people. She knew Marco would not arrest her. He'd probably just take the gun back but she knew he liked her enough to not punish her.
But unknown to her was that Frankie was also in the market and when he heard there was a crazy woman running around with a gun he quickly took action. Frankie confronted her and upon seeing him she positioned the gun to shoot him. He ducked and shot at her. But he didn't aim at her, just at the wall directly behind her. She screamed and dropped the gun afraid that he would really shoot her.
Marco immediately grabbed the gun and put it back in his holster. For the trouble she caused Frankie arrests her again. She pouts and whines but Frankie doesn't listen. Marco tries to help her out but Frankie gives him a stern look as he says, "I still haven't yelled at you for giving her the gun!"
"I didn't." Marco tried to explain but Frankie was convinced Marco was too infatuated with Annie. He took them both back to the station but of course he only arrested Annie.
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While Nnadia and Ekin are eating dinner a fire suddenly breaks out and engulfed a large portion of the restaurant. Everyone starts evacuating but Ekin and Nadia were unaware of the incident because they were in a VIP room. When a waitress was able to notify them, the flames had become very bad. Much of the restaurant's furniture was burned.
Ekin tried to help Nadia escape as they ran out. Sudden Nadia tried to run back into the flames. "What are you doing?" Ekin asked with concern as he propelled her forewards.
"I need to go back in! I need to get something important!" she screamed and pulled herself away from him as she ran back in. Ekin tried to hold her but her determination was greater than his and he lost her in the flames.
Copyright © Nov. 2, 2003
IiI Sorrow IiI
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