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We walked downstairs, my sneakers squeaking a bit on the marble stairs. Everyone was gathered in the dining room again, helping themselves to a buffet of breakfast items. From my experience, breakfast in Italy consisted mostly of coffee or lattes and crusty bread or hard rolls with butter and jam. Then there was Slash’s personal favorite when he was in Italy, an almondbiscottatethat he dipped in his coffee.

Slash stopped to chat with his brother Stefan when we came in, so I grabbed a latte, added more hot milk, and put a couple of thick slices of bread on my plate. Thankfully, there was no required seating for breakfast, so I sat at the table next to my mom and dad, who were talking with Mia and Tito while sipping their coffee. A bit farther down the table, Father Armando chatted with Oscar and Juliette. All of them waved when they saw me.

I waved back awkwardly.

“Good morning, darling,” Mom said, leaning over and kissing both of my cheeks. She hadn’t done that before, so it seemed she had effortlessly adapted to the Italian method of pecking people’s cheeks as part of a greeting. “How’d you sleep?”

“Like the dead,” I said, smearing some jam on my bread. “How about you guys?”

“Wonderfully, although your father and I got up around four thirty this morning. But we lit a fire in the fireplace and enjoyed a leisurely time of just lying around and talking. I can’t remember when we did that last. This place is absolutely fabulous.”

She looked beautiful and relaxed, dressed in white slacks and an emerald-colored sweater, green studs at her ears. Her complexion glowed pink, and her blond hair was pulled back at the nape of her neck. I’d gotten used to her beauty over the years, but I noticed the others in the room stealing glances at her. I wondered if she enjoyed the attention or whether it was just something she’d learned to live with. Maybe I’d ask her sometime.

My dad, on the other hand, looked more like me, with a hint of shadows under his eyes and his brown hair rumpled. But his hazel eyes sparkled when he looked at me, and I knew he looked forward to the challenges as much as I did.

“Guten morgen, Lexi,” Tito said, lifting his coffee to me in a toast. “Ready for a fun day?”

“As ready as I can be. How about you?”

He lifted his hands. “Gut.I just hope I’m not the weakest link. I don’t want to be the reason Gio and Vittoria don’t get their honeymoon.”

“I can’t ever imagine you being a weak link, Tito.” I took a bite of my bread. An explosion of tart blueberry jam exploded in my mouth. It tasted so delicious I closed my eyes. “Jeez, Italian food is so good.”

“It’s obscenely delicious,” my mom agreed, nibbling on a croissant. “I could easily eat my way through Italy.”

“That’s totally my plan,” Dad said, lifting his piece of bread to mine. I grinned and tapped it to his before we both took a bite.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.” I looked over to the entrance to the dining room and saw Brando Porizio, our gamemaster, standing there. “If I may have your attention, please.”

I took a quick sip of my latte as the chattering in the room tapered off.

“We are quite excited to begin the games with you,” he said. “As you may already know, all twelve of you must participate for the games to continue. What you may not know is that we’ll have two separate escape challenges going on at the same time. You’ll be split into two teams to work on the puzzles concurrently.”

I shot a worried look at Slash across the room. Two concurrent escape challenges? If we were split up, how would that affect our accuracy at the puzzles? Or worse, if we were together, would the other group be able to handle the puzzle?

“Please talk a minute among yourselves to form your teams,” Brando said. “Once you decide on the teams, I’ll announce the challenges and you can decide which team will tackle which escape room.”

We gathered in a huddle, and for a minute, no one said anything. Finally, Slash spoke, apparently the leader by default. “Does anyone have a preference on which team they’d like to be on?”

His question was met by silence and shrugs.

“Well, then the team division will be random.” He looked around the group. “Lexi, you take your parents, Tito, Mia, and Oscar in one group. I’ll take Stefan, Alessa, Gio, Vittoria, and Mama. Everyone okay with that?”

I noticed he’d done his best to keep most couples together, which would have a certain comfort element. He’d split up his parents, but I knew Oscar better than Juliette at this point, so maybe he took that into consideration when pairing Oscar with me. Plus, since Slash had given me both of my parents, I couldn’t help wondering if he was purposely avoiding my dad. That didn’t seem like something he’d do, but it was a possibility.

“The teams have been formed,” Slash told Brando.

“Excellent,” the gamemaster replied. “Now, regarding the escape rooms. One challenge is outside in the garden, and the other is inside the castle. Please assign your teams to the preferred challenge.”

“I’d prefer to be outside,” Oscar said.

“I agree,” Tito said. “Outside over inside any day for me.”

“Me, too,” Mia said.

Slash looked at me, and I shrugged. Didn’t matter to me one way or the other. “Team A will take the outside challenge,” he said.

“Perfect,” Brando said. “I’d like to encourage Team A to return to your respective rooms for an extra sweater, a light coat, or hat, as today it’s quite windy. While you are in your rooms, please empty the contents of your pockets, including any wallets and cell phones, and leave them in your room. You should have nothing in your pockets or on your person other than a watch or personal jewelry. Team B, since you are not returning to your rooms, please put personal items in the basket on the table. I assure you, your items will remain safe. Thank you for your cooperation.”