The Sheik’s Vow (The Billionaire’s Club #13)

Chapter 21

Several hours later, the plan was in action. Riaz and Zayed had been sitting at a poker table by themselves until Ann had escorted the men to their table, introducing everyone and suggesting that they could play a few rounds of poker.

“Gentlemen,” Riaz began while sending poker cards flying across the green, felt table, each of them landing neatly in front of each player. “Thank you for joining us for a friendly poker game.”

Zayed managed to keep his expression bland, ignoring the curious stares from the chief executive officers from the four largest agricultural processing companies in the country.

All four men preened, each eyeing the other to ensure that the other club members in attendance tonight noticed that they were playing poker with royalty.

“We’re playing Texas Hold ‘em,” Zayed called out, sweeping up his cards to sift them into order.

Three of the men shifted in their chairs, one loosened his tie. Each of them was eager to match their skills against the rulers of two major countries.

One of them, Mike Benter, glanced over his shoulder at a nearby table surrounded by women and snorted. “I can’t believe Harris is allowing women to be members now.” He tossed a card onto the table. “I’ll take one.”

Riaz dealt the guy a new card, then looked towards the next guy. When everyone had exchanged cards, the real playing started.

Zayed and Riaz had a system and, within a half hour, they’d depleted each man’s stack of poker chips by more than half.

“You guys must play together often.”

Zayed shuffled the cards and shook his head. “We hated each other until about three weeks ago.” He offered Riaz a mock glare. “Some might say mortal enemies.”

The other men chuckled, and the next hand began. They played in silence for several minutes and Riaz glanced at Ann, who was serving drinks tonight. She winked at him, placed glasses of scotch or bourbon by each man’s elbow, then drifted back to her previous position. She stood with her back against the wall, surveying the card room. There were ten tables in total, but only eight of them were filled with poker players, including two tables of women. The men in the room grumbled at the addition of women, but none of them complained outright. They all knew the change had been inevitable. But, that didn’t mean they had to like it.

Zayed threw out a nine of spades, then tossed ten thousand dollars into the pot as his latest bet. “Martin, I understand that it’s harvest time. How are you dealing with the scandal coming out of Kentucky regarding all of the kidnappings as well as the indentured servitude?”

Martin looked startled, hesitating before tossing out the chips to match the bet. “Indentured servitude?”

Riaz tossed in his chips, then raised the bet. “The Todras farms. The FBI is investigating the produce coming from the Howell farms. Speculation is that the farm families are working in indentured servitude.” He looked directly at the man. “Please tell me that your company isn’t going to pay good money for the harvests coming from Ethan Howell.”

Martin huffed a bit, almost as if he were trying to chuckle, but the man was already contemplating the public relations nightmare that would ensue if it were true, that he’d bought produce from farms that controlled their workers in such savage ways.

But Andrew, one of the other CEOs, chimed in with, “We don’t really delve into the personal situations of our farming communities. Privacy issues, and all.”

Riaz added a twenty-thousand dollar bet to the pot. “Seems to me that the consumers would really balk if they were to find out that their corn chips originated from products grown using slave labor.”

“Sla…!” Bob blurted, nearly showing his cards. “What the hell are you saying?”

“According to the FBI,” Riaz began, laying down his cards to show that he’d won the hand, “Ethan Howell has kept the residents of Todras captive, forcing them through threats of violence as well as loss of their homes in order to force them to farm the land.” He scooped all of the poker chips towards him. “According to the preliminary FBI investigation, he’s been doing it for decades.”

Mike shook his head. “Hey, whatever is going on in Todras, we don’t get involved in the personal lives of our farmers.”

Zayed turned and looked at Riaz, a troubled expression in his eyes. “Don’t you own a large portion of stocks in Certified Ag?” he asked, referring to Mike’s company.

“I do,” he replied. “If you will excuse me for a moment,” Riaz said to the men. He walked away from the table, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.

Zayed watched the four men carefully. He knew the exact moment when Mike received a message. He knew that it would probably be from either his chief financial officer, or from someone on the commodities exchange. Wealthy people got calls when anything happened that might impact their income. And someone selling off a large portion of commodities stocks would create a massive change in the stock price.

Clarissa, Levi’s pretty wife, stood up from the neighboring table. “Excuse me, gentlemen, but did I hear correctly?” she asked, glancing over at Mike, Andrew, and Martin, before making eye contact with Riaz and Zayed. “Did you just warn these men that the incoming harvest they are about to purchase was grown using criminal methods?”

Martin was the first to attempt to patronize Clarissa. “It’s more complicated than that, my dear.”

Clarissa glanced briefly at the weasel, then rolled her eyes and looked pointedly at Zayed again, lifting her eyebrows as she waited for an answer.

“That’s exactly what they said.” He stepped away from the table and made a phone call. Clarissa walked over to her table, relaying the information to Bailey, Kennedi, Raven, and Astra, the very wealthy wives of wealthy men, each of whom were members of the club.

The women listened intently, then as one, they stood up, pulled out their phones and started making calls. Some of the women stepped outside. Others simply stood off in a corner. But they all made sure Martin, Andrew and Mike saw them.

About fifteen minutes later, the three CEOs’ cellphones started chiming.

Riaz and Zayed continued dealing the cards even as the men quickly stood up and answered their phones.

The ladies returned to their table, shooting knowing glances at Riaz and Zayed, before resuming their game.