4. Who Are You, Vica?

"We're not done yet."

Javer said these words to a woman who was sprinkling fish food into the aquarium. The fish immediately swarmed as the small food spread. The woman, Vica Almira, watched the scene of the fish scrambling for food with a twinkle in her eye.

For a few moments her eyeballs followed the direction of the fishes' movements, as if how the fishes were attracted to the bait had captured Vica's attention.

"Did you hear what I said?"

Vica let out a small hiss and closed her eyes after hearing Javer's voice for who knows how many times. When his eyes opened again, Vica moved to stare at Javer who was sitting on the sofa with a cold look on his face.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Javer," greeted Vica who was actually late. The man in front of her had arrived an hour ago.

"You really are a strange woman," Javer said bluntly. His back rested against the head of the shabby sofa, and his sharp eyes scanned the room. "This is the room where you reside?"

Vica's eyes scanned the room. The walls were unpainted, filled with only three long sofas that were all shabby, an aquarium on the table, a classic television, two medium-sized bookshelves, and three pole lamps standing in the corner.

It was a room that Vica had deliberately asked the Head of the Secret Service Union for to make the disguise more natural. Luckily, Vica also dreamed of having a hidden room like this. A lopsided smile formed on one corner of Vica's lips.

"I really like this kind of underground feel. Don't I look like the kind of person who does things with a lot of heart?"

Javer really did not understand the meaning of Vica's words. With his back against the head of the sofa and one leg resting on top of the other, Javer watched as Vica walked to the window ledge. Leaning her buttocks with both hands on the right and left sides for support.

"And you don't seem to be the type to do things wholeheartedly either. How do you know where my company is?" Vica asked later, casting a serious look.

"Does it matter?" Javer asked back.

Vica chuckled. "Not really, but I can tell how interested you are in me."

Javer looked at Vica expressionlessly for a few moments, then sighed softly.

"Your company only started operations four years ago and is one of the top transportation companies, with over 50,000 taxis in its fleet.

"Your company is also a major parts distribution supplier to other transportation companies. That's all recorded. How could you forget that your company has those records?"

"I didn't include my name as the owner," Vica replied with a probing look. He secretly held back a smile as he deliberately tested the man.

"Yes, but one of your network of contacts is mine."

Vica made a flabbergasted expression on her face. "Woah, who is that?"

"That's not important for you to know," Javer replied firmly. "Now I'll tell you that our business is not over yet."

Folding her arms across her chest, Vica made a guessing face. "I'm wondering who my relations are in your network. Oh, but what do we have to do?"

Javer frowned. "You forgot the one billion dollar challenge from you last night. We haven't started the game yet, but something happened."

"Ah, the billion dollar bet?" Vica straightened up, nodding her head. "You want to continue that game? Let's go. Just set the schedule. The one billion dollars is still there, a small amount but it's interesting if I get it all from beating you."

Jager laughed wryly as he shuffled to the side. The man was completely taken aback by Vica's casual attitude. His diffidence was too much for his own good. The more Vica showed a relaxed attitude, the more Javer felt challenged.

There was a surge of desire to defeat Vica. The thought that he could make her flinch and not make a dismissive gesture made Javer feel a sense of satisfaction.

The corners of Javer's lips curled into an impatient smile. "You really aren't afraid, are you? I'm worried about you, Miss."

"Aren't you the one who should be worried about yourself?" Vica retorted, then strutted her long legs over to Javer's seat before finally sitting down on the single sofa beside Javer.

Vica's eyes looked straight into Javer's beady eyes. "Don't be like that. We haven't even started the game yet," she continued in a displeased tone.

Javer who caught Vica's displeased look suddenly widened his lopsided smile into a grin. Slowly his body straightened up, and Javer's sitting position changed to lean towards Vica.

"You're getting annoyed. Just a few words of mine have set you off. Feeling patronized? What will happen if you lose? You can't win if you're controlled by your emotions."

Vifa's right index finger resting on the arm of the sofa tapped the arm repeatedly. During this time, Vica's eyes did not look away from Javer. Her originally flat face then revealed a sweet smile until she squinted.

"Wrong. You guessed wrong. I'm just exercising my facial muscles in an effort to make other expressions. Well, do you want the schedule now?" asked Vica again casually.

Javer's chuckle rang out. Without looking down, the man reached into the pocket of his white shirt under his black suit and grabbed a piece of paper. He held it out to Vica.

"Nine o'clock at night, at my kasano. I'll pick you up."

After Javer left the room, it was quiet again. In her seat, Vica looked at the piece of paper that appeared to be Javer's identity card. On the card was written Javer's name as the owner of the kasano with a glimpse of the kasano's room. Vica tilted her head slightly to look at the ID card, then laughed amusedly.

"Javer Vittorio, you must have fallen into my trap."

***

"Check. Dead card."

Vica grinned with satisfaction after laying down four cards containing three aces and a king. All the men watching the game on the poker table gaped, including Javer who was holding his breath at Vica's final attack. The look in his eyes showed disbelief.

For a few seconds Javer stared at Gica's attack cards to make sure his vision didn't salay. Even Javer immediately checked the rest of the deck, and they were all ordinary cards.

Javer's eyes scanned through some of the cards that Vica had attacked earlier. The Queen and Joker cards were already in V8ca's possession to be a relentless attack on him.

Putting down the examined cards, Javer took a deep breath and threw them away. There was still a sense of disbelief. At his seat, Vica was blowing on her nails with a look of pride on her face.

"You put some kind of device in your ear for someone to help you, right?"

Javer's accusation made Vica laugh sarcastically. Without answering anything, Vica immediately tucked her hair behind her ear so she could confirm with Javer. He even poked his ears.

Vica signaled two strangers from his right and left sides to check the inside of his ear, but both men shook their heads at Javer. Then Vica let go of the watch to slam it on the table until the sound of breaking glass startled all the men around.

The contents of Vica's watch scattered. Javer frowned as he watched Vica pull the watch apart before pointing both palms at the broken pieces.

"There are no hidden surveillance cameras so someone could direct my steps to move what cards," Vica explained.

Javer laughed as he looked away again. The man briefly bowed his head before rubbing his face roughly, then Javer gave him an incredulous look after lifting his face again.

With an exasperated sigh Javer got up from his sitting position and walked around the table, approaching Vica slowly. During his steps towards Vica, the look in his eyes was sharp and serious.

After standing next to the sofa Vica was sitting on, Javer bent down to lean towards Vica while placing one hand on the arm of the sofa.

Their faces were now only an inch apart. For a few seconds Javer's sharp black eyes met Vica's calm brown ones. Javer reached out to hold Vica's chin, looking interested.

"Are you..." Javer paused briefly, then shortly shook his head. "No, forget it. Who exactly are you?"

Vica's eyes glanced at Javer's hand and then curved a lopsided smile. Holding Javer's hand on her chin, Vica stood up from her sitting position as Javer straightened up. Now they stood face to face with both pairs of beady eyes looking at each other for a split second.

Vica smiled seductively at Javer, a twinkle in her eye. Vica boldly advances towards Javer's ear.

One of Vica's hands moved brazenly across Javer's chest as if not caring about anyone watching them there.

"My name is Vica. Vica Almira. Do I always have to be like this to tell you?" Vica whispered as she slowly stroked Javer's shoulder and down his arm. "You, are you interested in me?"