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“I’m fine. Thank you for stepping up and taking some of the heat off me when I crawled out from underneath Gio and Vittoria’s bed.”

He chuckled. “Mio Dio.I noticed you were missing, and as soon as I heard the sneeze, Iknewit was you. The expression on your face when you came out from under the bed was priceless. I’ll never forget it, and likely no one else will, either. I’m afraid to inform you, it will become an important part of our family lore for centuries to come.”

“Wonderful.” I took another gulp of wine. “At least it’s better than the Lego-up-my-nose story.”

“I don’t know. That one’s pretty classic, too.” His grin widened. “So, how did you end up under the bed?”

“Alessa and Mia were hiding in the bathroom, from which it was far easier to make a quick escape. I would have told you everything in advance, but they forbade me. It was a girl thing. But all seems forgiven. Vittoria apparently thought it was hilarious, Gio has a clean conscience, and Mia and Alessa think I’m a team player. So, cheers to me.” I lifted my wineglass in a salute to myself and took a slug of my wine.

He leaned toward me, tracing my cheekbone with his fingertip. “Youarea team player.”

“If you say so. Other than Basia, and maybe Gray and Gwen, I really don’t have any other close girlfriends. Now I have more than I know what to do with.”

“Friends are a blessing,” he said, taking another sip of his wine. “And so are families.”

He was right, but it still made me nervous. “I suppose this is a warm-up to what our church wedding will be like with all our family gathered again. Except then we’ll be in the States and have your brothers, my brothers, Basia, Elvis, Xavier, Gwen, Angel, Gray, Tito, Hands, and the rest of our friends to add to the mix. I’m not sure I’m ready for that level of family.”

“I don’t think we’lleverbe ready for that, but we’ll get through it, like we do everything else.”

I didn’t disagree with that. “At least we won’t have the pressure of the escape rooms to deal with. Do you think we can finish strong?”

“I think we can. But Zachetti won’t have made it easy. I think we need to be prepared for anything.”

“I really want to win for the orphanage, Slash. For the pope, for your dad, but mostly for those children, who were once like you.” I took his hand and kissed it before holding it in my lap.

“Me, too,cara.” He gave my hand a gentle squeeze then stared into the fire. “Me, too.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

Lexi Carmichael

“Good morning, and good luck today on your final day of challenges at Castrum Augustus,” Brando announced as we gathered by the gigantic hearth in the dining room, where Dante Zachetti glared down at us from his huge portrait.

“Today, there will be two challenges for two teams in the morning. After lunch, you will take on the final escape room of your stay here together as one big team. Are you ready?”

Tito, Stefan, Mia, and Gio all shouted in the affirmative. Not surprisingly, everyone was lighthearted and confident. My dad seemed particularly happy and had stopped to chat with Slash and me twice just this morning. He’d personally thanked Slash for stepping up and taking the fall for the prank with me, even though he’d had nothing to do with it. I could hardly believe it, even though I’d witnessed it with my own two eyes. The time spent with Slash during the challenges had seemed to bring them closer. I could also see Slash relaxing more around him. Of all the benefits of competing in complex escape room challenges, having my dad and Slash get closer, especially after their rocky start, had not been one I’d anticipated.

But I greatly appreciated it.

“For the first challenges, Mr. Zachetti allowed you to select your teams and which team would go with which challenge,” Brando said. “For the next set of challenges, he permitted you to divide into teams of your choice with the challenge being assigned randomly. Today, both the team construction and the challenge will be left up to fate, except for one person, who will be assigned to Team B. Since the challenge for Team B will require someone with gaming experience, Mr. Zachetti has graciously decided to permit someone to volunteer for that duty and be placed on that team. Is there anyone who’d like to come forward?”

Not surprisingly, everyone turned toward Slash and me. I looked at Slash, and he stepped back, deferring to me. “You take it,cara. You’re the better gamer.”

That was a matter of debate, for sure, but regardless, I walked over to the gamemaster to volunteer. “I’ll be the designated gamer.”

“Excellent. Please stand to my right as the first member of Team B.” Brando then held up a black velvet bag. “For the rest of you, inside this bag are small rocks. Half are painted red, and half are painted white. You will each draw a rock. Those with a white rock will be Team A, and those with a red rock will be Team B. However, we’ll have one extra player today.” He swept out his hand to include Father Armando, who stood discreetly to the side, clad in his modest black cassock. “Mr. Zachetti would like to invite you to participate in this challenge, Father, if you so desire.”

I exchanged a surprised glance with Slash. Wasn’t that an interesting development? Did that mean Mr. Zachetti was so convinced we wouldn’t win that he was permitting us extra help? Or was there another reason?

Father Armando looked toward Slash for guidance. Slash shrugged, so the priest bowed slightly to the gamemaster. “How kind of Mr. Zachetti to invite me to participate. Of course, I’d be happy to assist either team as needed.”

“Excellent. As a result, there will be one rock not selected to ensure the team Father Armando ends up on is completely random. Now, let us start choosing teams. I suggest starting with the engaged couple.”

Gio and Vittoria stepped forward, and Brando held out the bag. “Ladies first,” Brando said, motioning to Vittoria. She dipped her hand in the bag, rummaged around, and pulled out a white rock. Gio went next and pulled out a white rock as well.

“How fitting. The first two members of Team A are the engaged couple,” Brando said, beaming. “Please stand to my right. Now, who would like to go next?”

“I’ll go,” Tito said. He reached into the bag and pulled out a red rock. Mia bounded up, also grabbing a red rock. Stefan and Alessa followed her, both picking white rocks. Slash’s mother picked a red rock, and my mother got a white one. Mom was followed by Oscar, who chose a red rock, my dad, who selected white, and Father Armando, who also picked white.