The Las Vegas VIP Club (2)
Roy Well was the owner of the largest department store in Las Vegas. He was the kind of man who never missed a famous party in the city, and he made no effort to hide the wealth he possessed.
He always showed up to every gathering in a brand-new sports car with a brand-new woman at his side, and parties were held regularly at his sprawling mansion as well.
“When should I invite you to a home party?”
“I’ve attended one of Roy Well’s home parties as a magician before.”
“I remember. The guests were quite excited that night.”
Next was the man who owned a great many golf clubs around Las Vegas.
“Didn’t I meet you there too, Mr. Oliver Casey?”
“Haha. I still remember how startled I was when a flying card slipped into my clothes.”
He had thought an insect had gotten inside him because of the card wriggling under his shirt, and in his panic he’d run around in a frenzy, demanding someone get it out. He still remembered how ridiculous he must have looked.
“Haha. Sorry it took me so long to apologize.”
“Come visit our resort sometime. I’ll teach you golf properly. Just call me Oliver.”
“Thank you, Oliver.”
The rest of them were people he had come to know through work rather than through home parties.
“Mr. Jacob. It’s good to see you.”
“Haha. You quit magic and came back as a giant. Congratulations.”
“I’ve been staying at your hotel for the past few days.”
“Is that so?”
“Ah. I accidentally broke the hotel table yesterday, and…”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll charge you full price for it. Or should I ask for a little more?”
“Hahaha. That’s actually what I came to talk about. I’ll make sure to compensate you.”
Jacob waved a hand, as if to say it had all been a joke. For someone in the same VIP club, he could even provide room service for free. He owned several hotels in Las Vegas, and the others were much the same. Most of them owned massive corporations.
“Mr. Charlie, you’ve been well?”
“The magicians you brought in after you quit aren’t to my taste.”
Charlie had founded an entertainment company by gathering performers who worked individually, like James and Colt, and he was using his connections to arrange shows for them. Of course, the company was small change compared to the hotels and casinos he owned, and he was doing it purely for fun.
“Oh, dear…”
“I just found them boring, that’s all. They’re all the same.”
“I’m still working on my skills, so I’ll be sure to return to the stage later.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it, James. Though by then your performance fee will be outrageous, won’t it? Still, when you come back, call me. I’ll book you right away.”
“Haha. Thank you, Mr. Charlie.”
And there was someone else James had seen recently, too.
“Mr. Philip, I didn’t expect to see you here as well.”
“Ahem.”
Philip, the Diamond Casino executive James had played poker with just days ago, was also a member of the VIP club.
So that’s why they seemed to take Tony so seriously.
It made sense that he couldn’t afford to be rude to Tony, who was a fellow member of the VIP club.
“Didn’t you take a little too much that day? The casino was in an uproar because of it.”
“Haha. Unfortunately, I couldn’t help myself. Everyone was after Mr. Tony’s chips, so they weren’t paying me any mind.”
Philip relaxed his stiff expression and laughed.
“Puhahaha. Still, I can’t deny that it was a good kind of uproar.”
“?”
At James’s puzzled look, Philip lifted his teacup and said, “Like you assured the casino’s general manager, word is spreading about our casino among professional poker players.”
“Is that so?”
“They’re already coming into the VIP room one by one. Thanks to that, Diamond Casino’s name recognition has grown quite a bit. More poker players will be enjoying games at our tables from now on.”
“Haha. That’s a relief, Mr. Philip.”
“We’re planning to hold a poker tournament at our casino soon, too.”
“If the schedule works out, I’d like to attend as well.”
“Heh. And then what if you win?”
“It’s only a game for small amounts of money, though. What’s the prize pool, anyway? Twenty million dollars at most?”
At James’s casual remark, they were reminded again of the scale of his assets.
“……”
The only one who could be said to know James best, Tony, stepped in on behalf of the others.
“James. Just how much do you have deposited at Citibank?”
“I’ve multiplied it quite a bit lately, so I’m not exactly sure myself.”
James turned toward the one person at his side who knew the scale of his wealth for certain.
“Tom. Do you remember how much it is?”
“...James. Is it all right to say it here?”
“Aren’t I a member of the same VIP club now? Give me the rough number.”
“...Ahem. Very well, then.”
Everyone’s attention shifted to Tom’s mouth.
“The investment deposit Mr. James has entrusted to Citibank Investment amounts to approximately—”
While Tom explained, James was also calculating the money that had grown through his investments and the sums deposited from the auction settlement.
The proceeds from the short sale came to $210 million…
It had been a successful first investment, with returns of more than 500 percent.
And the amount recovered from the casino this time was $22 million.
That was because the money won at the casino had arrived earlier than the auction settlement.
And the auction proceeds, minus the fees, were… $2.01 billion?
After deducting the commission from the $200 million bid for King Arthur’s crown and the proceeds from the five coins that had climbed past $30 million, the total came to just over $2 billion. This auction payout made up the bulk of James’s assets.
“…2 billion dollars.”
One billion meant one thousand million dollars. As James had asked, Tom gave only the rough figure, excluding anything below that amount. James nodded at the balance, which matched his own estimate, while the members were left staring open-mouthed at a fortune even greater than they had imagined.
“That’s truly enormous…”
“To achieve such success at such a young age.”
“Building assets is almost like magic, isn’t it?”
“As expected of the magician James Kane.”
“Haha. Though I didn’t actually use real magic to make the investments succeed.”
It would sound like a blatant lie to Colt, but strictly speaking, it wasn’t false. The relic of King Arthur, the short sale, and the poker winnings at the casino had all been achieved through magic, not stagecraft.
Magic and sleight of hand aren’t even in the same league. Ahem.
“It would’ve been nice if the other members had shown up too.”
“A new member has joined, and attendance is too low today.”
From their words, James could tell that the people gathered here were not the entirety of the VIP club.
“Tom? How many members does the VIP club have?”
“The Citibank Las Vegas VIP Club consists of sixteen members in total, and today we are welcoming the seventeenth.”
“Ah…”
There were only seven people here, James included. As Tony had said, the attendance rate was a mere forty percent.
Then who are the other ten?
“James, I’ll inform the absent members of your admission to the club. There are very few people who won’t know your name. Of course, there may be some names you don’t know yourself.”
“Haha. I suppose I’ll have to come introduce myself again later, Tony.”
Once the introduction of the new member, James, was finished, each of them had something to say.
“What an incredible new member.”
“He’s young and rich, so now all that’s left is to enjoy himself.”
“Still, it’s better not to make investment decisions too carelessly.”
“Now that he’s a member of our club, the odds of failure are even lower.”
“Haha. That’s true enough.”
The topic of conversation was still James.
“Two billion dollars… He really has accumulated a fortune.”
“Still, if all of our members pooled their assets, we’d probably have more than James.”
In response to Oliver’s remark, Tom said matter-of-factly, “As I mentioned earlier, that only applies to the members gathered here. The total deposits of the sixteen members, excluding James, are well over two billion dollars.”
“I should increase my Citibank deposit a little more. If our total is more than his, I feel strangely left behind.”
“I can’t be left out either. I’ll gather the financial assets I’ve spread around.”
“I’m thinking of moving a bit of company money over, not my personal funds. The dividend date isn’t for a while yet.”
Tom was silently cheering at the members’ words.
Wow! James! You really are a lucky man!
Even if ordinary investors pooled their money, it was no more than dust, but when giants pooled theirs, even a small amount became a mountain. If the investment firm recognized him for bringing in such enormous deposits, a special performance bonus was not out of the question.
“……”
While the members were talking about making additional deposits one after another, Philip sent James a quiet glance.
“James.”
“Yes, Mr. Philip. Go ahead.”
“I can’t help being curious about things…”
“If you’re asking about my investment targets, I’m afraid I still can’t share them. I’m searching for the next one myself.”
“Heh. That was certainly one thing I was curious about, but it’s not your next investment target I’m asking about. Other members always ask me for information about new investment fields.”
“Then what part of me were you so curious about?”
Philip pointed at Tony’s gold coin, which was still sitting on the table.
“That thing is the problem.”
It had been the star of everyone’s attention earlier, but now that James had appeared, the object had been pushed out of the spotlight.
“Ah…”
“I heard it was definitely authentic.”
If the gold coin Tony Anderson had brought was genuine, then there were only two possibilities.
“But three coins were auctioned, and each one had a clear owner.”
Philip had learned where the three auctioned coins ended up after the sale.
Two went to the British Museum, and the last one to an Arab tycoon.
That was the source of the confusion. Tony’s coin had to be either one of the coins auctioned to the British Museum or the one that ended up in the hands of the Arab tycoon.
But to buy back a coin that sold for seven million dollars just to give it to an acquaintance? That seems unlikely.
Then the only explanation was that a completely different coin had appeared. It was a guess that James possessed some other coin beyond the ones auctioned.
“All three coins at the auction found their owners. So where on earth did Tony’s coin come from? Surely you can see why I’d be curious.”
“I understand. Philip. It’s only natural to be curious.”
“Now that you’re a member of the same VIP club, I’ll be expecting a sincere answer.”
“Haha. Of course.”
James first gave Tony a look as well, asking him to pay attention to the conversation.
“Tony. You were curious too, weren’t you?”
“Ah. Of course.”
He had confirmed that the coin was authentic, but he still couldn’t determine where it had come from.
“First of all, there’s no disagreement that there were only three coins in the auction.”
Philip, Tony, and the others all nodded.
“But that was only the quantity put up for the international auction. Sotheby’s had additional coins as well.”
“Oh.”
“Was that so?”
“I don’t know whether Sotheby’s would admit it, but that’s the truth.”
“They must have deliberately put only a limited number up for auction to drive the price higher.”
“There were two more coins Sotheby’s didn’t auction off.”
“Then one of those…”
James shook his head.
“It’s true that Sotheby’s sold both of those pieces externally, but that coin doesn’t belong to either of them.”
“?”
While Tony tilted his head, James added an explanation.
“Sotheby’s sold one to the British Museum. And the other went to the Vatican Museums.”
“...Then this one?”
James reached out, picked up the coin from its small acrylic case, and said, “The person who submitted the coins handed five of them over to Sotheby’s, but one coin was still being held back until the very end. Tony’s coin is that coin.”
“...The person who submitted the coins to the auction?”
“James, do you know who it is?”
“Who do you think it is?”