The moment the words left my mouth, Lawrence immediately sat back down, the three of them trading looks of excitement.

"My bad," he said, feigning an apologetic tone. "I should've known better. We've been friends for a long time. I knew you weren't a coward."

I waved a hand with feigned bravado and casually toyed with the chips I had just won. "Actually, two bucks a chip is pocket change. How about 100 dollars a chip with no limit?"

Lawrence froze.

In my previous life, they were the ones who had pushed for this.

His face broke into a wide grin, flashing a row of yellowed teeth. "Not bad, Sebastian. It looks like your luck has turned. You're feeling brave tonight, aren't you?"

"It's just a game," I said, casually swirling the dice in my cup. "Win or lose, it doesn't matter as long as everyone's having fun."

Lawrence rubbed his hands together. "We're still just comparing rolls, right? Since you're new to this, we won't make it hard for you."

I nodded.

That was exactly what I wanted. I needed to see how they were rigging the game.

I had won the last round, so I was the shooter this time. After I rolled the dice, I didn't rush to check my own numbers. Instead, I quietly looked up and watched the three of them.

I noticed Lawrence sniffing, then casually brushing the tip of his nose. Right after that, Peter Warner, who sat beside him, touched his earlobe.

They had often made these little gestures in my previous life, too. Each movement lasted a fraction of a second, so for now, I still couldn't tell what they meant.

Lawrence looked at me, urging, "Place your bet."

After a brief pause, I said, "100 dollars. No limit."

The others froze and immediately turned to me. "You're calling the limit right away? You haven't even looked at your dice yet! That's a blind call, and it plays double."

I nodded. "I know. I'm just testing my luck. All you have to do is tell me whether you're in."

A few of them frowned, but they ultimately tossed their hands up and folded. Only Lawrence and Peter stayed in.

Lawrence smiled and said, "I'm in."

When the dice were revealed, I had a pair of fours. Lawrence had a pair of sixes, and Peter had a pair of fives. Both of them happened to rank above me, so Lawrence won the round.

Because it was a blind call, I lost nearly a thousand dollars on that round alone.

Lawrence flashed me a sheepish grin. "Man, I was just trying to keep you company. I had no idea a pair of sixes would actually take it."

For the second round, I pretended to be nervous and set the dice cup down on the table before shaking it. Then, I made another blind bet.

Peter started to lose his patience. "Come on, man. You're blind calling every round. That's kind of disrespectful to the rest of us."

Lawrence waved him off. "He's still learning the ropes, alright? Cut the guy some slack and shut up."

I gave them a bashful nod and tilted my cup just enough to peek. To my surprise, I had three sixes and two fives. It was a full house.

But I was certain of one thing.

I hadn't actually shaken my dice cup just now. That meant that the problem was with the cup itself.

They were handing me a monster hand to bait me into staying in.

Just then, I caught Lawrence touching his nose again, while the other men casually touched their earlobes.

Lawrence looked at me, smiling. "I'll take a page from Sebastian's book, then. 100 dollars. Let's make it exciting."

The ones who had touched their ear followed suit.

By then, I roughly understood that those gestures were signals for whether to play or fold. The more people that stayed in the round, the higher the payout would climb.

When it was my turn, I played right into their trap and pretended to get cocky. "I'm in, too."

The cups went up, revealing that Lawrence had rolled four fives. His four of a kind beat me by a hair.

But how exactly were they doing it?

Picking up on my silence, Lawrence shot me a look. "Why don't we call it a night? Look at that, one hand just wiped out your last few wins."

I shook my head, grinning. "What does it matter? It's only a few grand. I'm sitting on millions from the relocation compensation."

I caught the flicker of pure irritation that crossed his face, but he masked it quickly behind a smile.

"I'm just looking out for you, man. Doesn't your dad still need money for his medical bills? I really think you should stop. Keep that money to find yourself a wife or pay for your dad's treatment."

Lawrence and I had known each other for almost 20 years.

In all those years, we were best friends. He knew me inside and out, especially how much I valued my pride, so he was deliberately using my own ego to bait me into playing.

Winning that last hand was just his way of testing the waters.

But the mention of Dad made my blood boil. In this life, I vowed to make him repay every cent and every life he owed me, with interest.

I waved a hand and put on a stubborn, unconvinced expression. "I almost had that last round. Keep going! Anyone who walks away now is a coward!"

The men couldn't help but laugh.

I kept my expression neutral, wondering if they'd still be laughing after that night.

Over the next few rounds, I kept blind calling. I lost small and won big, but of course, all of that had to be within their control.

They had to feed me a few sweet wins to keep me on the hook, after all.

I did the math. By that point, I was the only person at the table who was over 20 thousand dollars ahead.

The rest of the table groaned in mock frustration. "Sebastian, your luck is ridiculous tonight. Of all the people in the village, your family gets the biggest payout from your roadside property, and now you're even crushing it at the table. I can't believe you're blind calling and winning!"

Just as things were getting lively, my phone suddenly rang.

Before I could react, Lawrence rejected it and pouted. "What a buzzkill. Sebastian, you just started winning. You can't walk away from a streak like that."

The others laughed along to smooth things over.

"They always say the ones who don't know how to play have the best luck. Tell you what, let's play until midnight, alright? If I walk away now, I'll never make back what I lost!"

One man's expression darkened as he interrupted, his tone dripping with disdain, "I don't buy it. Nobody wins every single hand. Luck runs dry, and I'm not leaving until I get back every single cent I lost tonight! I say we raise the stakes. 100 dollars is pocket change. Let's make it a thousand dollars a pop. How about that?"

In my previous life, all the flattery and the goading were exactly what pushed me over the deep end. I had watched my entire inheritance vanish before I ended up owing them money I didn't have.

For now, I forced myself to keep my emotions under control.

When I didn't speak, the taunts started.

"What's the matter? No stomach for the big leagues? I told you he doesn't have the nerve to play for real money. He's all talk."

I paused for a moment before looking up, an icy grin curling at the edges of my lips. "Who says I'm out? A thousand dollars it is. But I've got a rule that will make things a lot more interesting. That is… if you've got the spine for it."

Lawrence tried his best to mask the mockery in his eyes as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. "A rule? Let's hear it."

I pointed at the dice cups. "Everyone calls blind. One roll, winner takes all."

One of them couldn't hold back a snicker. I knew what they were thinking. Even calling blind, they still controlled the dice. To them, this was a sure win.

I swept my gaze around the table, taunting, "Didn't you say we were just having fun? What's the matter? Are you scared?"

Lawrence feigned a look of surprise before looking away. "Well, if Sebastian wants to go big, I suppose I can play along."

As he spoke, he reached up and brushed the tip of his nose again.

Right on cue, the rest of them chimed in, "Fine by me. It's just blind calling. Let's do it."

When they all agreed, I let out a breath of relief. This was the very moment I had been waiting for after being reborn.

After everyone rolled, they all kept one hand pressed firmly over their dice cups. Since I had won the last round, I called first.

"A thousand dollars, no cap."

The men exchanged knowing smiles.

Including Lawrence, the three of them stayed in. His grin nearly split his face as he said, "Sebastian, don't take it too hard, even if you lose. You're a rookie. There's no shame in it."

I kept my eyes locked with his and threw the words right back in his face. "There's no shame in losing. The only shame is trying to get out of paying."

He chuckled and flipped his cup open, only to freeze the next second.

"What? How is this possible? This can't be!"

I casually lifted my own cup. "Sorry. Five ones. Best roll on the table."

A wave of panic rippled through the group. They scrambled to reveal their own dice, but not one of them came close.

I scanned the table and said, "My luck really is something else tonight, isn't it? It's not much, though. Just a little over 100 thousand dollars from each of you."

Lawrence's eyes darted from my dice cup to his own. Only then did he realize that I had already switched our cups.

I had known that the problem was with the cups, but I still hadn't figured out the exact mechanism. The only explanation was that there had to be a switch somewhere that controlled every cup at the table and guaranteed Lawrence the strongest roll.

So when I was taking my penalty drink earlier, I had secretly swapped our cups.

But after getting a second chance at life, how could I possibly let him walk away after losing only a little over 100 thousand dollars?

I draped an arm over his shoulders and said, "It's fine. How about we switch to poker? You know I'm pretty new to that, too."

Lawrence stared at me, stunned, then lunged to his feet. "Sure. That's a great idea!"

Everyone knew the Gellar family used to run a poker room. He had been playing since he was a child, and no one our age could touch him.

The others started snickering, convinced that I was just digging my own grave.

What they didn't know was that I was no longer a beginner. Back in university, I had even won a poker championship.

After settling into my seat, I watched their hands and expressions closely. It didn't take long for me to figure out that they were signaling each other.

Sliding a card meant clubs. Turning a card meant diamonds. Tapping a card meant hearts.

When the wild card was chosen, the other two players would work together. The moment I wasn't looking, they would swap it for whatever card Lawrence wanted.

Under the local house rules, if Lawrence wanted the five of hearts as the wild card, they would set the indicator card as the four of hearts.

During the hand, they would keep feeding Lawrence the cards he needed according to his signals.

But they were playing the long game. They wouldn't let me bleed out too early.

As expected, immediately after I won a decent pot, one of them suggested, "It's getting late. Let's make this the last hand."

Lawrence ran his fingers over his stack of chips. "Fine by me. But since it's the final hand, why don't we raise the stakes a little?"

This time, I didn't wait for anyone else to speak before agreeing, "Sure! I'm on a roll tonight, anyway."

They clearly hadn't expected me to say yes so quickly. The player to my left flashed me a sleazy, predatory grin. "You said it yourself, okay? Then let's make it 100 thousand dollars a hand. Wild cards double the payout, and there's no cap. Are you in?"

In my previous life, a thousand-dollar buy-in had been enough to ruin me. Now, seeing that I wasn't losing enough to their liking, they'd upped the stakes to 100 thousand dollars.

I took a deep breath and confidently said, "Sure. I got five million dollars in relocation compensation. That's enough for dozens of hands, isn't it?"

The player across from me thought for a moment, then slammed his hand on the table. "Fine. Let's play. My dad owns a company, so I can afford to lose."

Lawrence arched an eyebrow, a wicked smirk playing on his lips. "Well, if everyone's game, I'd hate to be the buzzkill. I'm in."

They had no idea that the tables had turned. Now, they weren't the ones setting me up anymore.

In this hand, I was going to make every single one of them taste the suffering I had endured in my previous life.