No Brains

Halia sat down at a baccarat table and began to observe how people played. The only time she had seen something like this was in the movies. Fortunately, it was a very easy game to start on and completely relied on luck; it required no skill whatsoever.

No wonder it was one of the more popular tables.

A part of Halia's deal with Thomas' junket company was to spend at least 2 hours a day on the tables, so she had no choice but to play along. But, it also gave her the opportunity to understand the clientele.

Was anyone money laundering and did the junkets and casino know about it?

Money laundering was the process of concealing the origins of money obtained by illegally passing it through a complex sequence of transactions. This was done to hide dirty money and make it 'clean' again (like passing it through a laundry). But, one of the less complex ways, was to go through the casino. As there was no receipt for the amount that people exchanged for chips, many criminals took the proceeds of their crimes, turned them into chips, played for a while and cashed them in, pretending they were all 'winnings'. Since the cash received in the end was a cheque and no one knew how much money they started with, they could claim that they won everything from the casino; all of a sudden, all the dirty money turned into clean money.

So, of course, for people that needed to launder a lot of money, casinos were a great option, especially if they had help from inside.

For people in China, gambling was illegal, so they needed to visit casinos overseas. The closest was Macau, but the government also limited the amount of money they could take out of the country. So, they needed someone to help them access fund. Junkets and casinos saw this need and naturally took advantage of it.

As Halia sat at the table, she nervously bet a chip on the 'dealer' while everyone around her stuck in their hands and placed bets without hesitation. Some of the chips were even stacked up like mountains. Obviously, these people weren't that concerned about losing. Were they trying to quickly cycle their money through the tables?

At that moment, a sharp female voice laughed beside Halia's ear. It was an annoying laugh; the type that one needed an 'off' button for.

Halia glanced beside her and spotted a familiar face. The woman had flawless skin and perfectly straight teeth. It seemed, she had recovered well since the last time they met. "Marissa, what a coincidence seeing you here," Halia smiled.

Marissa scowled arrogantly and placed a stack of chips on 'player'. She was deliberately betting against Halia and it was extremely obvious.

"It's no coincidence," she said. "I always come to Macau and visit Emerson. After all, we're really close friends."

"Oh, OK," Halia replied with disinterest.

"We've known each other for years," Marissa continued. "He loves it when I visit."

Halia nodded her head and scanned her eyes across the other VIP's in the room. She was here for an important mission; not to waste her time on this woman.

Marissa realized she was being ignored and it frustrated her, so she removed her coat to reveal her voluptuous body and sat down beside Halia. All the men around the table naturally looked over.

Marissa was a fairly good looking woman but she had done so much plastic surgery that some of her procedures looked very obvious. This included her abnormally round breasts and particularly sharp chin.

Halia, on the other hand, was a natural beauty.

Some men had already snuck glances at Halia when she first arrived, but now that Marissa was demanding attention right next to her, they had an excuse to turn their heads in that direction.

"It's Marissa Qian again. But, who's the gorgeous woman beside her? I've never seen her here before."

"Is she Marissa's friend?"

"She couldn't be. Marissa and her friends are like a bunch of Barbies. This woman is obviously a natural beauty."

Marissa overheard these conversations and felt her blood boil. But, she noticed that Halia was simply looking around the casino like she was trying to find someone.

Out of spite, she said to Halia, "Are you looking for Emerson? Forget it, he never comes into the VIP rooms."

Halia finally glanced at Marissa with interest. Why didn't Emerson ever come to the VIP rooms? Wasn't he the CEO of this casino?

"Why?" Halia asked with curiosity.

Marissa looked at Halia and smirked. She had treated Halia as a love rival from the start, but she had no idea that Halia had no interest in him.

"Were you hoping to see him here? Well, I'm sorry, you're not going to get the chance," Marissa replied.

Halia looked at the woman with frustration. That was not an answer to her question. What was this woman going on about?

Marissa saw the frustration on Halia's face and thought she had successfully provoked her. "I suggest you give up looking for him because I'm heading over to meet him for a date right now," Marissa smirked, trying to make Halia jealous.

Halia stared at the woman and finally realized what she was doing. She then sighed and looked away. This woman was obviously lying. Thomas had clearly told her that Emerson was back in Hong Kong. How could he go on a date with Marissa? This woman had no brains. If she wanted to lie, she should have done her research first.