Page 38 of Going for Gold (Sweet Cravings 3)

I decided to cooperate and see where this was going. There was no reason to provoke him if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

The big Brazilian knocked twice on a door that was really just a random collection of plywood and sheet metal. The door swung open and he stepped to the side to let me pass. As I tried to slide past him, the smell of Brazilian barbeque mixed with musky sweat stung my nostrils.

The inside of the building was much nicer than the outside, besides for the fact that the enclosed space intensified the smell of my kidnapper. We were in a dimly lit hallway with wainscoting and gaudy chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. We passed a few open doors. I couldn't be sure, but I thought I caught a glimpse of three men counting piles of cash in one of the rooms. As we progressed down the hallway, the sound of rap music grew louder.

The hallway ended in a staircase that led down to the back of a gentlemen's club. Tan girls in very skimpy lingerie and heels danced on poles while men covered in tattoos reached for them. I quickly realized that classifying this as a gentlemen's club was far too kind. At best, this was a strip club. Possibly a brothel. Maybe they were supposed to bring Alex here instead? He would love it.

Directly in front of me, a man with a short mohawk wearing a crisp white suit sat on a leather couch. Two strippers in white lingerie sat on either side of him. Three men just as large as the guy who had escorted me

down the hall stood in front of the couch to prevent anyone from approaching from the VIP section of the club.

As soon as he saw me, the man in white stood up and smiled. "Boa noite," he said, holding his hand out for me.

"Boa noite," I said and shook his hand. Before coming to Brazil I had learned a few phrases, and that happened to be one of them.

"I'm Rodrigo, and this is Isadora and Giovanna. Thank you for coming to see me. How was the drive?" His English was surprisingly good, despite his thick accent.

"It was okay. Although I would have preferred if your driver had taken me to where I wanted to go rather than kidnapping me."

"Kidnapping is such a strong word. I just wanted to talk to you discretely, so I figured that was the best way to arrange such a meeting." Rodrigo gestured to the chair next to his couch. "Please, take a seat."

I couldn't run away now. There were too many people in my path that could stop me. I hesitantly sat down and Rodrigo did the same.

"Before we begin, would you like anything to drink?"

"No, thank you." I didn't want to give him a chance to roofie me. He was giving me kind of a rapey vibe.

"Alright then, we'll get right down to business." Rodrigo took a sip of his drink and leaned back on the couch with one arm around each of the strippers. "Are you much of a gambler, Bryce?"

I shrugged. "I've never really gambled much unless you count my yearly fantasy football league."

"What does the winner of your league get?"

"I think most years it's like $500."

Rodrigo shook his head. "Doesn't it just drive you crazy watching the games and not knowing if your players are going to perform or not?"

"Yeah, but isn't that kind of the whole point of gambling?"

"No. No, no, no. The point of gambling is to make money. At least, that's why I gamble."

"Okay."

"Do you know what a parlay is?"

The term sounded vaguely familiar. It took me a second to remember, but then the voice of my college stat professor filled my head, describing a parlay in his accent from God-knows-where. A parlay is when you only get a payout if a series of events all occur. So, for example, you could have a five part parlay that depends on the results of five different games. If you get any of them wrong, you get nothing, but if you guess them all right, the payout can be quite large. The more scenarios and the less likely they are to occur, the more money you can make for getting them all correct. The small investment combined with the extremely low probability of winning a large sum of money made parlays a lot like playing the lottery.

"Yeah, I know what they are," I said.

"Good. I recently made a parlay that included a number of events from the International Tournament of Athletes. My odds of winning are less than a percent of a percent. I don't like those odds much, do you?"

"No."

"Then maybe you can help me make them better."

"Sure. Just cut your losses and invest in something with better odds. I know a guy who does financial planning if you're interested."

Rodrigo laughed. "Ah, so you're a funnyman, are you? I should have known you'd be funny after that prank you pulled on Yao Kai."

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