Servant Game

Ririko watched Jerome's expression change abruptly, unsure whether he was genuinely moved or testing her.

She had already seen how mercurial Jerome could be. That Red-Haired Dog was bad news.

The tail of her eyebrow lifted slightly. She extended a finger and jabbed its tip into his chest, right over his heart.

"If I didn't like that burger, why would I have sought you out at the Iceberg Lounge? You were the one playing dumb, you lying dog."

Jerome began to realize that she might actually be angry.

He pressed his arms against his sides, bunching his chest muscles together as much as possible so she could poke them to her heart's content and vent her anger.

Ririko pressed a little harder with her fingertip.

"If you don't make sure I get enough to eat today, I'll never speak to you again."

Jerome dropped the fragile expression on his face.

"No problem." The laughter returned to his voice. "All the burgers, fried chicken, and fries you can eat today."

His gaze shifted to the three people below the steps.

Bruce and Sofia sat on chairs with peeling gold paint, their hands bound behind their backs. Butch stood tied up beside them. All six eyes watched Jerome and Ririko, with no idea what the two were discussing.

He turned back to Ririko's cool, beautiful eyes. "But... if you're lying to me, they'll have to play the next round."

Ririko had no idea what he meant by "the next round," but it certainly wouldn't involve sitting down for a board game or teaming up in an online game.

Still, Jerome believed her for now. She still had a chance to use the system to win him over inside this mad castle.

She brushed back her hair, betraying nothing.

"I'm going back to freshen up. Let me know when lunch is ready."

She turned, crossed the corridor, and returned to the pink princess bedroom.

Jerome stood in the hall, watching her retreating figure with a dark, conflicted expression.

Oswald's car stopped outside Arkham. With a group of hired muscle in tow, he limped through its corridors.

His face was a mask of fury. He had taken Jerome Valeska out of Arkham, believing he was a dog that had already been tamed.

He had never expected that vicious redheaded dog to be playing dumb at his side all along. Not only had he left his club reeking, but he had also taken Ririko.

He had actually dared to take Ririko-that sharp-tongued, willful, money-grubbing woman who kept stirring his heart. Even the trackers in her phone and ring had gone offline...

He shoved open the door to Hugo Strange's office.

The room was full of guards. Hugo sat behind his desk, his eyes watching Oswald keenly from behind brown-tinted sunglasses.

Oswald planted both hands on the desk and leaned forward, looking like an angry customer who had paid a fortune for defective merchandise only for the seller to refuse a return.

"This is the brainwashed Jerome you gave me?"

Hugo calmly watched the mob boss, whose agitation made his bangs tremble.

"He's destroyed my club, kidnapped Bruce Wayne and Sofia Falcone, and taken my employees!"

Oswald spoke faster and faster.

Yet what worried him most was neither the club nor those two kidnapped heirs to old money, much less the hulking Butch...

Hugo watched him without the slightest flicker of emotion in his eyes.

He had no inclination whatsoever to bother with that lunatic Jerome.

Who Jerome had kidnapped after being handed over, what he had blown up, or how badly he had thrown Gotham into chaos-none of that was his problem.

It was Oswald Cobblepot's problem.

All this time, someone else had been troubling him.

Ririko had jumped off the cliff at Arkham.

He had ordered his men to search for a long time, even sending people into Gotham's urban districts to look for a beautiful, long-haired woman with gauze over her left eye.

Yet they had found nothing all this time... Where on earth was she?

"He was handed over to you. Your failure to keep an eye on him is your problem."

His tone said all sales were final, no returns or exchanges. "You'd better hurry up and work out how you're going to explain this to the Wayne and Falcone families."

Oswald slammed his fist onto the desk with a dull thud.

"How dare you speak to me like that?"

His voice rose half a pitch.

He had only gone out that day to discuss his mayoral campaign with Carmine Falcone. He had never expected Jerome to cause trouble.

He abruptly seized Hugo by the collar-

The Special Guards behind Hugo raised their guns, every muzzle aimed straight at Oswald's head.

At the same instant, the thugs behind Oswald raised their own weapons, guns of every size trained on the guards' heads.

For a moment, the air in the office froze.

Muzzle faced muzzle, eyes met eyes. A single thought, a single tremor, a speck of dust landing in the wrong place would be enough to turn Arkham into a bloodbath.

"Everyone, stop."

Harley Quinn's voice came from the doorway.

She entered the office in a white coat, her expression calm and restrained.

"To find Jerome, we need to establish what he wants first." Harley's gaze moved between the faces of the two men poised to attack each other.

"He must have learned something at the club that prompted him to kidnap people from both families."

She gave Penguin a pointed look.

Oswald released Hugo's collar.

He recalled discussing Wayne Enterprises' internal secrets with Raymond Carlisle at the club that day.

Butch had said Raymond's death was suspicious. Now there was no doubt that Jerome was the mole who had betrayed him.

Perhaps whoever had put him up to it had significant ties to Wayne Enterprises.

After all, Sofia still had an older brother. Her death wouldn't deal a fatal blow to the Falcone family...

Bruce was different. If anything happened to him, Wayne Enterprises would face a major shake-up.

At that thought, Oswald said nothing more to Hugo. He turned and hurried out of the office, leaning on his umbrella.

After everyone had left, Hugo sat in his chair and leaned back wearily against the backrest.

"Have you found her?" Hugo asked Harley.

Harley stood by the door and said coldly, "I've contacted covert sources. We should have Ririko's whereabouts soon."

Hugo nodded. Every minute, every second without seeing Ririko was torment.

"Make it quick."

Harley's expression changed for an instant.

She was certain now that Ririko was the only person in Hugo's heart.

The chief psychiatrist of Arkham Asylum, the smartest man in Gotham, had changed completely. He was like an addict, and only Ririko could relieve his craving.

But now the drugs manufactured by the Tomie Organization had already been delivered to Mr. E. If they were used on a large scale, Gotham would be turned upside down.

After washing and freshening up in her room, Ririko returned to the castle's main hall and almost thought she had come to the wrong place.

A long wooden table stood in the middle of the hall, covered with a wrinkled white tablecloth dug up from who knew where.

Nearly twenty burgers covered the tablecloth. Fried chicken was piled on a huge ceramic platter, with golden fries filling every remaining space as a side...

Jerome sat backward on a chair, his hands resting on its back and his chin on his hands, watching Ririko sit down at the long table.

He wore a self-satisfied grin.

Ririko looked at the burgers. "Where did you get all these?"

She had meant to ask where he had "stolen" them, but that no longer mattered.

Jerome shook his head. "I just kidnapped the cook."

He casually explained how the Clown Army had driven to a fast-food restaurant's drive-through, kidnapped a kitchen worker and brought him straight to the castle, then given him a knife and some ingredients to prepare this entire table of food.

"This way, you can have burgers every day," he concluded.

Ririko hadn't expected them to have skipped robbing the fast-food restaurant and simply kidnapped the cook...

Red-Haired Dog really was clever. He knew this was the least likely approach to attract attention. After all, a cook going missing in Gotham was utterly commonplace.

"Try one?" Jerome lifted his chin, signaling for her to hurry up and eat a burger.

Looking at the little mountain of burgers in front of her, Ririko was already starting to feel sick of them.

She picked up the nearest one and gently opened the greaseproof wrapper. The burger had been cut in half, its cross section revealing a butter-toasted bun, lettuce, pickles, a beef patty seared crisp outside and juicy inside, and melted cheese...

She took a small bite.

Meat juices spread through her mouth. The savory cheese and tangy pickles balanced each other perfectly.

It was exactly like the burger at Arkham.

She raised her eyes to Jerome. The way he watched her eat was exactly the same as back then, too.

[Current infatuation value: 12/100]

Red-Haired Dog really does have a few tricks up his sleeve.

"Let's play a game once you're done eating." Jerome sounded a little impatient, not wanting to rush her but not wanting her to take too long, either.

Ririko swallowed her mouthful of burger.

"I have a fun game," she said in a beguiling tone.

Jerome's head poked a little farther over the chair back.

"What game?"

"It's called the 'Servant Game.'"