Molly's Game Page #9

ceiling on my wages?

That's right.

It'll be America's most

closely-watched anti-trust case.

Right there, right then,

that fast,

I lost the game.

It was the next Tuesday,

game night.

He waited until he knew I'd

be on the way to the hotel

and then sent me a text.

It said, "We're playing

at Dave's tonight."

"No need to show up."

And I knew the truth

even before

I answered the call

that came next.

You are so f***ed.

There's no such word

as verticality.

Hmm?

In the book, on page 152,

when you lose the game in L.A.

and you come to New York,

you admire the city's verticality.

It's a word.

Once you're in New York,

you talk about games

lasting all night, two nights,

being up for days, but

you don't mention drugs.

There were drugs.

I'm two years clean.

You left the drugs

out of the book.

You know what, I'm not

paying you $250,000

for your Amazon

customer review.

So far, you're not

paying me for anything.

I just e-mailed you verticality from

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary.

What's an advance

on a book like this?

The advance?

It depends.

If you guarantee the

publishers certain elements,

then I can get you a

million and a half

which you'll probably double in

sales plus ancillary rights.

What kind of elements?

You have to use real names.

Eli.

There's a guy who sits outside

my Starbucks with a uh

with a cardboard sign that says,

"Vietnam Vet"

and every morning

I give him a quarter

and right now the only

difference between you and him

is that you have a story.

I'm one thousand percent sure

that the homeless Vietnam

vet has a better one.

You have one asset.

Write your story

and I can get you

a million and a half

and-and that's the floor.

Go big or go home and

live with your mother.

For the rest of your life.

What if I...

What if I told the

publishers that I would...

name the players who are

already named

in the Brad Marion

deposition?

All four?

I'll use the real names of the

players who are already named

by Bad Brad, what if

I told them that?

You spent eight years

in Hollywood

and two years in New York

running the world's

most exclusive, glamorous,

and decadent man-cave.

So what do the publishers

get from you

about people with real names?

My advance was $35,000.

Well, the first thing I'm gonna do

is get you a minor role reduction,

get the 12 points

knocked down to 10.

What's a minor role reduction?

I'm gonna argue to the

prosecutor that you were uh,

an employee that was hired

and fired by the players.

Not a chance.

I think we got a good chance.

No, not a chance I'm letting

make that argument.

-Why not?

-It's not true.

Let me explain how the

point system works.

I know how it works.

Points correspond

with the prosecutor's

sentencing recommendation.

You try to get a point reduction

based on a variety of factors

including, say, prior

criminal history

which I don't have,

or whether the defendant

played a minor role

which I certainly did not.

You really think this is a

good time to hog credit?

I built it from scratch.

No, there was already a

game at the Cobra Lounge

when you came along.

The New York game is what I'm talking

about, I built from scratch.

I wasn't fireable,

I made sure of that. So no.

I wasn't really listening.

I'm refusing you permission

to seek a minor role reduction.

I'm refusing you permission to

invalidate my entire career.

And I'm not caring.

I built a successful--

Hey, do you want kids?

You interested in

having a family?

Very much.

I don't get you some

point reductions

and the sentencing

recommendation guidelines

say 8 to 12 years

and that's before

they try to jam you up

more for money laundering.

-Money laundering? Are you--

-The moment you changed...

the Russians' money for chips.

I would've had to

have been aware

-where the money was--

-Find me 12 men and women

who'll believe that you

weren't aware of exactly

who was sitting at your table and

where their money came from.

So, that's it.

You were a cocktail waitress.

When I lost the L.A. game,

I told myself it was no big deal.

It was just supposed

to be an adventure

and a way to meet

influential people.

And I'd saved over $200,000.

But that was just a weak

firewall I'd hastily built

to keep out the humiliation

and depression

I knew was coming.

It had to end sometime.

I just thought it

would be on my time.

The game had given

me an identity,

respect,

and a defined place

in a world that was inaccessible

and in one irrational heartbeat

it was taken away.

I was irrelevant

and forgotten overnight.

It'd been two weeks

since I lost the game

and I made an appointment

to see someone

because now the humiliation

and depression

had given way to blinding

anger at my powerlessness

over the unfair whims of men.

It was that there

weren't any rules.

These power moves weren't

framed by right and wrong,

just ego and vanity.

Selfish whims with no

regard for consequence.

No fairness, no justice.

And that giggling, cackling

call from Player X.

You are so f***ed.

I couldn't lose to that

green-screened little sh*t

and I didn't want a therapist

to make me feel okay about it.

You know what makes me

feel okay about losing?

Winning.

I got on a plane to New York.

Wall Street, Madison Avenue,

Fifth Avenue, the Dakota,

the San Remo...

the players were here,

I just had to bait the hook.

This time, I didn't

have movie stars.

This time, I used

Playboy Playmates.

These weren't just any Playmates.

Jesse was a

Puerto Rican knockout

who grew up working

in card rooms

and was a

good player herself.

I could stake her,

infiltrate other games

and poach their

big-ticket players.

You ready to make some money?

Shelby could write code

and run more thorough

background checks than the TSA.

Here's your account

at Citibank.

Winston was the daughter

of an American diplomat.

She's lived in nine

different countries

and had the e-mail addresses

of half the Saudi royal family.

Who's the biggest

game in Manhattan?

On any given night, it's either

Teddy Chin or Tooty Tiscano.

-But that's Manhattan.

-What do you mean?

The biggest game in New

York is in Brooklyn.

Russian Jews.

Buy-in's 100K.

No one runs the game,

they just play and pay.

We couldn't promise anyone they'd

rub elbows with movie stars.

But New York has one thing

Hollywood doesn't.

The Yankees.

And there was one

Yankee in particular

that every man in America

would line up to lose to.

Don't say his name out loud.

Write it on a cocktail napkin,

crumple the napkin up,

put it in a glass of water

so they can see the ink dissolve.

-That's really necessary?

-No, it's not at all necessary.

When do we tell them

the game's gonna start?

Tell them it's been

happening once a week for

about six months at a location

you won't disclose right now.

There's a pretty long waiting

list for a chair but

Molly's... here somewhere and

I'll introduce you to her.

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