"Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Las Vegas...!"
On Martin's private jet, a few bastards were chugging booze and cheering loudly.
These guys were Leonardo, Nicholson, and the newest addition to their gang—Robert Downey Jr.
In contrast, Martin was much quieter, seated and reading a script in his hands.
"Man, you oughta chill out. You've got too much work on your plate," Robert leaned in and said.
Martin waved the script and replied, "This one's relatively simple. All I need to do is act."
Jack Nicholson casually snatched the script from Martin's hands. "Let me see what kind of juicy story caught your eye? Ah, Wanted—an action flick?"
Jack lost interest instantly.
"Wanted?" Leonardo perked up. "I remember there's a manga with that name."
Martin took the script back from Jack and nodded. "That's the one—an adaptation of that manga. I thought it was really interesting, so I had Universal buy the rights for a film version."
"Really? Let me check out the script. If it caught your eye, it must be a real gem in Hollywood terms," said Leonardo.
Jack Nicholson was a little annoyed. He tossed the script aside and threw up his hands. "Hey, come on! We're out here to party, not to work! Can you clowns drop the job talk already and just enjoy yourselves?"
The four of them were headed to Las Vegas for a party.
Jack Nicholson was the one hosting it—it had something to do with a bet (and also something about a certain clown).
To make sure Martin and Leonardo—the "two young punks"—were properly impressed, Jack had spent a ton of money and effort on this party. He didn't want Martin distracted and missing the point.
"Alright, alright, my bad!" Martin raised his hands in surrender and turned to Leonardo. "Leo, didn't you hear the old man? Put the damn script away already."
The group kept drinking and chatting.
Robert said, "Never thought the Epstein case would end up dragging in so many big names. Speaking of which, can you guys even imagine what Stephen Hawking was doing on that island?"
"Jesus, I don't even want to picture that in my head," Leonardo grimaced.
Jack Nicholson, however, let out a sigh. "You guys probably don't know, but I actually knew Epstein. The guy really knew how to party. He once invited me to that island, but I wasn't into that kind of scene—so I turned him down. Thank God I did!"
"You knew him?" Robert asked, intrigued. "What kind of person was Epstein?"
Jack sank into thought:
"That guy was sharp. Even though he never finished college, it didn't stop him from becoming the most famous calculus teacher at Dalton School—one of Manhattan's elite private schools."
"While teaching there, he made it a point to cozy up to wealthy parents. One of them was Alan Greenberg, chairman of Bear Stearns. Greenberg liked Epstein's smarts and his business instincts and brought him into the firm."
"I got to know him through that investment firm. Back then, Epstein was just a smooth-talking kid, cheerful and a natural networker."
"I remember the very day I handed over my first investment to him, the guy invited me to this wild underground party. The thing that stuck with me the most was this bizarre body-oil slip 'n slide. They slathered more than twenty naked women in baby oil, had them lie on a long slope, and then we'd slide down over them. Ha! It was crazy fun."
"After that, we got to be close."
"He was a total player. He used those private parties to butter up rich clients and then got them to invest through him. In less than four years, he went from a nobody to a partner at Bear Stearns."
"But that wasn't enough for him. A couple years later, after building up a solid client base, he started his own wealth management firm—J. Epstein & Co. Within just a few years, he was managing over a billion dollars in assets."
"And he completely reinvented himself—from a math teacher to a billionaire."
"You guys probably don't know this, but he was real tight with Clinton. They were both wild ones. In fact, he had a very... intimate painting of Clinton in drag hanging in his house."
"Oh my God, when I first saw that painting, I nearly threw up."
"It showed Clinton in a blue evening gown, perched on a sofa with his legs draped over the armrest, pointing out of the frame. The pose, the expression—pure sleaze. Like some depraved housewife!"
"Damn it, now I've got the image stuck in my head—I'm gonna puke," Robert said with a disgusted face.
Leonardo was stunned. "Jesus Christ, are you saying Clinton might've been in on it with Epstein?"
"Who knows?" Nicholson shrugged. "But those two were definitely close."
"Epstein started using sex to bait politicians, billionaires, royalty... Almost every high-society gathering involved some dark, shady debauchery. Clinton, Trump, even Prince Andrew—they were all regulars at his parties."
"And that island of his? Totally off the rails. Word is, even a certain theoretical physicist from across the strait was a frequent guest."
Martin knew Nicholson was referring to Hawking.
"But not everyone liked that scene. Like me and Trump—we never went to that island. Didn't like it."
At that point, Robert suddenly asked, "I heard that after Epstein got arrested, he swore—if he had to go to jail, then Clinton, Prince Andrew, and a bunch of others would never escape either. Said he had dirt—like, 253 pieces of evidence. What the hell was going on with Ghislaine?"
Jack chuckled, "Robert, you're too naive. You really think Clinton was the only one playing dirty? No, no, no. Clinton's whole political career has been laced with scandal. And his wife? She turned a blind eye the whole time. Why? Because they were each doing their own thing."
"You probably don't know this, but Epstein didn't just target men. He also held parties specifically for rich and powerful women. Honestly, the kind of wild stuff that went on—those women made the men look tame in comparison."
Leonardo nodded. "Clinton and his wife really are something else. After Clinton got taken down in the zipper scandal, the two of them went around pretending to be a loving couple just to cash in. I heard they made over 230 million dollars pre-tax through speeches and appearances. That's some gold-panning operation."
Robert pressed further. "Jack, tell me straight—do you think Epstein's really going to jail? The guy's loaded, and he knows so many powerful people."
"No, no, no—you've got it backwards. Because he knows so many powerful people, and because he has dirt on them, I think he won't just go to jail—he's going to die."
"Damn!"
Leonardo and Donny shivered at the thought.
They were still too... innocent.