Page 1

Six Years Ago

“G o ahead, underestimate me, Mitch. That will be fun,” Rebecca Stark said to her brother Alex’s closest friend in her best sultry voice. She picked up the dice from the coffee table to roll them during their spirited game of Monopoly.

“You know, Alex,” Mitch said, his eyes never leaving Rebecca’s face. “I think she might be the scariest of all the Starks. Watch out.”

Alex and Rebecca’s family owned a large hotel empire. Ironically, they were playing a game that involved properties and hotels. Things were getting interesting in life and the game.

The fourth player was their cousin Spencer, who was from Texas.

He went to Wharton with Alex and Mitch and was too laid back to know he was the designated sacrificial lamb.

That little news item had been determined before they even opened the Monopoly box.

Sometimes, Rebecca felt bad about starting the game by knowing Spencer was a pawn, just not today.

Mitch owned Rebecca’s favorite properties on the board: Boardwalk and Park Place.

Each dark blue property had a red grand hotel sitting proudly on them, and Mitch sat back and watched Rebecca, a spider about to pounce on her fly.

While Alex was flashy, Mitch was quiet and contemplative.

Strategic. The man matched Rebecca in competitive spirit, and she loved it.

Heck, she’d cared about him since her brother had first brought him home four years ago.

But lately, her crush had turned a bit more serious.

Despite the fact she was now eighteen, Mitch had never looked at her as anything other than Alex’s little sister.

“If I roll an eight or ten, I’ll be staying at my own place tonight,” she said, looking at Mitch. Her properties might be the cheapest land on the board, but she owned them and had developed them to the game’s limits.

“A six will put you on Boardwalk, and it is the most common dice combination,” Mitch said as he watched her, and she felt it, his eyes taking in every little detail, which made her want to blush. Correct that. She was blushing.

Her brother and Mitch were each twenty-four, getting their master’s degrees in management, and about to graduate from Wharton Business School in Philadelphia.

They lived together in an apartment near campus.

But the Stark family home was much closer to New York City, which meant endless access to parties, nightclubs, and women, not to mention laundry service and good food.

“I’m feeling like you need to take a walk on the Boardwalk. Stay at my lovely hotel,” Mitch teased her, his mouth forming an easy smile. “I’ll give you a complimentary cocktail and massage. Heck, I’ll even waive the valet parking fee.”

“You wish,” she said back to him, purposefully not looking at him. He could massage her any time he wanted. Really, if he snapped his fingers, she’d gladly be naked for him. He just didn’t know it.

Spencer chuckled; she suspected that he knew about her infatuation with Mitch…damn it. He might look all mellow and did not have the killer gene of a Stark because he was from their mother’s side, a Whitlow, but he was more devious than he looked. His country bumpkin was actually city slick.

“Come on, sell Pacific to me. I’ll give you $600 for it,” Alex ordered with a little whine in his voice as he looked longingly at the green property just down from Mitch’s monopoly.

Was he underestimating her intelligence again? She would take him down with only the anger a little sister could manage and execute.

Rebecca stopped jiggling the dice in her hand and looked at him as if he’d grown a third head.

“Let me explain the rules to you since you seem to have forgotten. First, this is my turn. You are not supposed to conduct your business on my turn. Remember that, because the next time you do it, I’m going to fine you $500. ”

“You can’t do that,” he protested.

“Really? Vote of the players. All in favor of fining Alex for trying to conduct business when it isn’t his turn, please raise your hand.”

Mitch and Spencer raised their hands, and Mitch actually winked at her.

“We have a majority. The fine is in play. Next time you do it, $500 to Free Parking in the center of the board,” she said. “Second, if you want my land, the price is $3,000, and I want free rent on the green properties for the remainder of the game. Third, that is my final and best offer.”

Spencer whistled. Mitch shook his head and said to Alex, “Damn, if I were your dad, I’d groom her to run the business. She is ruthless. Got to say, I kind of like it.”

Spencer nodded with a chuckle. He held up his hands to Rebecca, and said, “Respect.”

Alex ignored his cousin and Mitch. “Okay, you give me no choice. Your offer is ridiculous, so I will bury you, big sister.” She was his younger sister, but the nickname had been a joke between them because she always acted older.

“You and what army, bro?” She dropped the dice and didn’t even look at them as her green eyes bore into her brother’s of the same color.

“Ten and doubles puts her on Baltic. How the hell does she do that?” Mitch asked. “I had the massage table ready and a lovely beverage waiting.”

“I’d say the dice are loaded, but we are using the ones that I brought back from my recent trip to Vegas,” Spencer said.

“Aw, thanks, Mitch, but I’m staying at my own place tonight. Feel free to come over and deliver the cocktails,” she said sweetly.

Alex rolled the dice next and landed on Boardwalk.

“Ah, damn it. How much?” he asked Mitch.

“$2,000 or one of your green properties.”

“One of the greens and free rent next time I land on Park Place or Boardwalk.”

Mitch looked agitated, held out his hand, and then said, “Fine.”

Alex handed over one of his green properties, and Rebecca shook her head. They were going to gang up on her. She knew it. Now she, Alex, and Mitch had one of the green properties each.

Turning to Spencer, she said, “Battle lines are being drawn in a way that is unpleasant to me. I’ll give you free rent on any of my properties for the rest of the game if you do the same with yours. I need to stockpile money for my next move.”

“Deal,” he said, and they shook on it.

“Hey,” Mitch said. “Wait a minute, maybe I want to partner with you, Bex, and we take down Alex and Spencer. Don’t be hasty. Listen to my offer.”

He’d never called her a pet name before, and she liked it. This moment would be burned into her mind forever. Bex . It was cute. And it had come so easily she had to wonder if he’d come up with it earlier.

“Hmmm…intriguing. Okay, I’ll listen to your offer, and you had better get creative with it.”

Mitch smiled, his dimples showing. “Partner with me, and I’ll take you to your choice of restaurants in New York for lunch next Saturday. You name it, and we will go. Or I will take you to Neiman’s and buy you the perfume of your choice. I know you like perfume.”

Alex put down his money and held up his hand.

“What the hell is going on here?” Alex asked. “You can’t seduce my little sister with food and perfume outside of the game. Who says she’d enjoy your company? I don’t like this.”

“I thought we had a deal, Rebecca,” Spencer added. “What is going on here? Are you showing a weakness to Mitch’s feminine charms?”

“I’m like a brother to Bex. She can trust me,” Mitch said, and Rebecca immediately felt deflated. He wasn’t a brother to her. No how, no way. It was like he was challenging her. Well, she was up for it. She was already picking out her outfit in her mind for next Saturday.

“Sorry, Spencer, Mitch is taking me to lunch next Saturday in Manhattan. He made me a better offer. Do you want to up the ante?” Say no. Spencer and Alex looked offended. Rebecca was elated as she laughed and shook Mitch’s hand.

An hour later, Alex threw down what remained of his cash, all $5s and $1s. “You are both assholes,” he said, which made Rebecca and Mitch smile.

A figure appeared in the doorway, Victoria Stark.

Hands on hips, the matriarch of the Stark family spoke in a tone that would freeze water.

“And here I was, just to announce that it is twenty minutes until dinner, and I’m greeted with vulgarity by my own son.

That’s it. This ‘to the death Monopoly’ with hard feelings has got to end.

There is a reason it has been banned by the royal family. ”

“Mom, we are just blowing off some steam,” Alex complained. “We aren’t the royal family.” It was a well-known fact the British Royal Family was forbidden from playing Monopoly.

“He’s blowing off steam because he is a sore loser,” Rebecca added. “Mitch and I won.”

“Unfairly,” Alex protested. “Mom, he enticed Rebecca to be his partner, and they teamed up against us. He bribed her with lunch in New York City next Saturday.”

Victoria smiled and looked at Mitch. “Smart. Good for you, Mitch. You two have fun. Where are you going?”

“I was thinking it would be fun to act like tourists and go to Katz Deli,” Rebecca said.

“I’d have held out for Tavern on the Green, but hold that in reserve for next time,” Victoria said with a wink. Her mother was a troublemaker.

Rebecca smiled and said, “So noted.”

“Wait until I have my new job secured, then I’ll take you to Tavern if I stay in New York,” Mitch said, looking at Rebecca, who had to hide her sadness. These fun weekends at her parents’ house were about to end because graduation was but three weeks away for Alex and Mitch.

“You two,” Victoria said with a shake of her head and left the parlor.

“Hey,” Alex called, “What’s for dinner?”

His mother reappeared, smiled at her son, and said, “Crow.”