CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY FOUR – THE POKER GAME TO CHANGE IT ALL

The next few days passed in a blur of paranoia and planning. Lorenzo insisted they needed to leave town, but that required money - money they didn't have. "I have an idea," Lorenzo said one evening, pacing Charlotte's small living room. "But it's risky. And I'll need your help." Charlotte sighed. "Why do I have a feeling I'm not going to like this?" Lorenzo's plan, as it turned out, involved infiltrating a high-stakes poker game run by the very people who had kidnapped him. The game was a front for laundering money, and Lorenzo knew there would be a significant amount of cash on hand. "It's our best shot at getting enough money to disappear," he argued. "But I can't do it alone." Charlotte weighed her options. Refusing meant potentially putting them both in greater danger. And a small part of her, a part she was still coming to terms with, craved the excitement. "Okay," she said finally. "What do you need me to do?" The plan was relatively simple. Charlotte would pose as a wealt