It was up to Victor Korontzis again. He took a deep breath. “I’ll see you, and raise another five.” He was almost trembling with excitement. It was all he could do to keep from reaching out and raking in the pot.
Perry Breslauer spread out his hand, a look of triumph on his face. “Three kings.”
I’ve won! Victor Korontzis thought. “Not good enough,” he smiled. “A straight flush.” He put down his cards, and reached eagerly for the pot.
“Hold it!” Sal Prizzi slowly laid down his hand. “I beat you with a royal flush. The ten to the ace of spades.”
Victor Korontzis turned pale. He felt suddenly faint, and his heart began to palpitate.
“Jesus,” Tony Rizzoli said. “Two goddamned straight flushes?” He turned to Korontzis. “I’m sorry, Victor. I…I don’t know what to say.”
Otto Dalton said, “I think that’s it for tonight, gentlemen.” He consulted a slip of paper and turned to Victor Korontzis. “You owe sixty-five thousand dollars.”
Victor Korontzis looked over at Tony Rizzoli, stunned. Rizzoli shrugged helplessly. Korontzis pulled out a handkerchief and began to swab at his brow.
“How do you want to pay that?” Dalton asked. “Cash or check?”
“I don’t take checks,” Prizzi said. He looked at Victor Korontzis. “I’ll take the cash.”
“I…I…” The words would not come out. He found he was trembling. “I…I don’t have that…”
Sal Prizzi’s face darkened. “You what?” he barked.
Tony Rizzoli said quickly, “Wait a minute. Victor means he doesn’t have it with him. I told you he was good for it.”
“That doesn’t put any bread on my table, Rizzoli. I want to see his money.”
“You will,” Rizzoli said reassuringly. “You’ll have it in the next few days.”
Sal Prizzi jumped to his feet. “Fuck that. I’m not a charity. I want that money by tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry. He’ll deliver it.”
Victor Korontzis was caught in the middle of a nightmare and there was no way out. He sat there, unable to move, barely aware of the others leaving. Tony and Korontzis were alone.
Korontzis was in a daze. “I…I can never raise that kind of money,” he moaned. “Never!”
Rizzoli put a hand on Korontzis’s shoulder. “I don’t know what to tell you, Victor. I don’t know what went wrong. I guess I lost almost as much money as you did tonight.”
Victor Korontzis wiped his eyes. “But…but you can afford it, Tony. I…I can’t. I’m going to have to explain to them that I can’t pay them.”
Tony Rizzoli said, “I’d think about that if I were you, Victor. Sal Prizzi is the head of the East Coast Seamen’s Union. I hear those boys play pretty rough.”
“I can’t help it. If I haven’t got the money, I haven’t got the money. What can he do to me?”
“Let me explain what he can do to you,” Rizzoli said earnestly. “He can have his boys shoot off your kneecaps. You’ll never walk again. He can have them throw acid in your eyes. You’ll never see again. And then, when you’ve had all the pain you can stand, he’ll decide whether to let you live like that, or to kill you.”
Victor Korontzis was staring at him, his face ashen. “You…you’re joking.”
“I wish I was. It’s my fault, Victor. I should never have let you get in a game with a man like Sal Prizzi. He’s a killer.”
“Oh, my God. What am I going to do?”
“Do you have any way of raising the money?”
Korontzis began to laugh hysterically. “Tony…I can barely support my family on what I make.”
“Well, then, the only thing I can suggest is that you leave town, Victor. Maybe get out of the country. Go somewhere where Prizzi can’t find you.”
“I can’t do that,” Victor Korontzis wailed. “I have a wife and four children.” He looked at Tony Rizzoli accusingly. “You said it was going to be a setup, that we couldn’t lose. You told me…”
“I know. And I’m really sorry. It always worked before. The only thing I can think of is that Prizzi cheated.”
Korontzis’s face filled with hope. “Well, then, if he cheated I don’t have to pay him.”