Debt

With that belief, I purchased the chips once again, this time, I purchased chips worth 5 thousand rub, I betted all my money on this match.

"Once more! This time, with five thousand rub worth chips." I said, my tone desperate as the burly man with a full sleeve of tattoos as he grinned ear to ear as he looked at me with a look that says "easy money"

"Alright, I hope you don't regret it later on and beg me to give you back the money." He said, his tone mocking.

"I won't do that." I said, my tone desperate but steady that has a sense of confidence that surprised him a bit.

'Is he trying to play some trick or does he have something up his sleeve?' The burly man with a sleeve full of tattoos thought, a little bit guarded.

###

[5 minutes later]

"I... lost..?" I muttered, my face full of disbelief and that of a shocked face.

"Haha, kid, better luck next time" he said, his tone full of mock as he made a grinned smile that made me gritted my teeth.

'I-i know!! He must have used some underhanded technique to win!!! You filthy beast!! Ill have my revenge.' I thought, convinced that he used underhanded technique techniques.

###

From that day on, Arthur changed... he returned to his old self that he tried so hard to change and suppress, the gambling addict and alcoholic addict. He then start to steal from the savings that he and Irina saved for Ivan to go to school and university in the future. Using the stolen money, he started to gamble a lot. Even though he always lost, he always believed that they cheated and even complained but he was just beaten black and blue. Just like that, 2 years passed, with the petrove family, the once happy family turned into a depressed family because of Arthur petrove, the man of the house.

Irina bit her lips watching Arthur leave the house once again, she didn't know what to say… she couldn't tell him to stop, he would only beat her up.

'I need to be strong,' Irina thought, it had been two years since Arthur decided to gamble again – and he's eaten up a considerable amount of our savings,'

She didn't know what to think of him… she loved him, but she didn't understand… Why would he gamble?

'If he gambled with his own money, I wouldn't have that much of a problem,' Irina thought, 'But he's gambling with our son's future – he's gambling with the money that Ivan needs for the future,'

She hugged herself, there wasn't much she could do in this situation. She didn't have any say in it, if she tried to rebuke him, she would only get beaten by her "Loving" husband, she massaged the little bandage below her cheek while strengthening her resolve.

'I will stay strong for my son,' She thought while resolving herself, the only person who cared about her right now was Ivan and she would stick with Ivan no matter what.

###

Arthur Petrove walked the streets with his hands in his pockets, a lit cigar in his mouth and a lifeless look in his eyes. He was heading to the casino to settle the score.

'This time I'll win for sure,' Arthur thought, he hadn't won a single thing in the past two years and he was sure that they were cheating – he reached the underground Casino and took a deep breath but was only able to inhale smoke and then he pushed open the door, upon seeing the people inside, Arthur smirked fiercely with the cigarette still in his mouth and took a step inside.

"I've come here to win today," Arthur declared as he reached a chair, a burly man with a full sleeve of tattoos looked up, met his determined eyes and sighed.

"You haven't won anything in two years, Arthur," He said with a sigh, "Why don't you just go home and do a normal Job?"

Arthur removed the cigar from his mouth using two fingers and blew the smoke all over the Burly man's face before putting his Cigar back in.

The Burly man looked at Arthur's challenging eyes and then sighed.

"Might as well get this over and done with," He said, looking around, "I'm the only one in this Casino that you can play against anyway,"

#####

The Burly man, Steve had his eyes widened in horror – Arthur had… won. Arthur smiled and seized the chips worth 20, 000 rub from Steve.

"He actually won," Steve muttered in wonder.

Arthur gave a warm smile, despite the cigar in his mouth… but that warm smile was instantly replaced by greed.

'Wait, what if the cheats have been removed?' Arthur asked, 'And I can actually double my money by raising the stakes?'

The warmth of finally winning was immediately drowned by the greed of earning more, a proper gambler knew when to quit… but Arthur didn't, the opportunity given to him, he chose to waste it.

Steve felt for the man – he knew what he was going through but there was nothing he could do about it, Arthur's mind was already made up.

#####

"And he won again," Steve muttered, seeing Arthur scramble for the chips worth 60, 000 rub, "Maybe today is his lucky day,"

"Again," Arthur said, his eyes clouded by greed. He pushed the chips back and began raising the stakes.

"Maybe you should stop for today, man," Steve said, "It's not everyday someone gets to win 60k, you should go give that to the woman at home – I'm sure she'll be grateful and you'll have a hearty meal,"

Steve had seen this man come everyday, spending money to place bets and lose every time but today was different… there was something different and Steve didn't want it to change, he wanted Arthur to carry some money home for once, it's been two years.

"No," Arthur said, standing by his decision to gamble some more and win again… as much as Steve wanted to throw him out, he couldn't.

####

And Arthur lost it all, in one last game – a chance to win big and go home with 120, 000 Rub, he had lost all of his money… and Steve sighed.

"And I actually thought he had good luck now," Steve muttered under his breath as the greed in Arthur's eyes vanished, he was packing up the chips since he was the winner.

Arthur gritted his teeth against the cigar, unable to say anything.

He looked at the board silently before leaving the casino, grieving silently.

'I should have listened to his advice,' Arthur thought, his stomach grumbling in resonance to his hunger, 'I should have taken the 60k home,'

He wanted to see Irina smile again – he wanted everything to turn back to normal but they couldn't, he was already in it far too deep… he regretted all the decisions he had made up until this point but he had already dug his grave.

A car pulled toward the side of the pavement and the thick windows lowered to reveal a man wearing a black suit with a white hat over his head, the man raised a cup of wine to his lips and smiled.

"Arthur… no winnings today?" He asked in a condescending tone. Arthur couldn't speak so he kept walking yet the car moved alongside him. Arthur didn't dare to talk to this man though, he kept his eyes forward but everyone could see him trembling.

"N-no," Arthur barely managed to squeak out.

"When are you going to pay me my money?" The man asked.

Arthur shook – this was one of the things he regretted the most, he had borrowed money from this man for gambling, hoping that he would be able to pay him back but that didn't happen… instead his bad luck ensured that he wouldn't be able to earn and instead he lost all of the money.

"Your bold confident claims, where did they all go to?" The man asked with a smirk.