Page 39 of Ace of Hearts

Levi

June

Las Vegas, USA

Another nightmare rips me from my sleep in the middle of the night. Once again, my face is wet with tears when I wake. My heart is pounding, and I feel as though I’m suffocating.

Even the warm, comforting feeling of Rose’s body curled up against me isn’t enough to make me relax. I pull myself from her arms and sit on the end of the bed, hanging my head.

For ten years, in my dreams, I’ve been reliving the moment when I pulled the trigger. Always the same scene: the moment when I saw the shock in my father’s face. When I almost saw a glimmer of regret in his eyes, maybe a hint of fear.

But tonight is different. It wasn’t a nightmare. It was a happy memory.

When I was five, my father and mother organized a surprise birthday party for me at McDonald’s. My father dressed up as Mickey Mouse. I wasn’t meant to realize it was him, but when he put his arms around me and asked what I wanted for my birthday, I recognized his smell. Isn’t that strange?

It was one of the best days I ever spent with him.

It’s too cruel. I almost prefer the nightmares .

I can’t stand this. It reminds me what a terrible person I am. I killed someone. I killed my father, the man who brought me up, the man who helped give me life. He wasn’t a good person, but he didn’t deserve to die. He loved me. And I loved him.

Because of that terrible act, my mother had to abandon me to my sad fate. I had to endure it alone, so consumed by guilt that I often wanted to die. But I didn’t die.

I can’t stop the tears from falling. I cry like an idiot in the darkness of my room, my heart heavy. I want to disappear. I hate myself.

Suddenly, I feel a warm hand on my shoulder.

“Levi?”

I try to stop, ashamed of being caught in a moment of weakness, but the concern in her voice tells me she’s already heard.

“I’m here,” she whispers, putting her arm around my bare waist.

Then there’s nothing I can do. I let it all out. I hide my face in my hands, my elbows propped on my knees, and cry without stopping.

“I’m sorry . . . I’m so sorry . . .”

She knows that my apologies aren’t meant for her. So she doesn’t say anything, just rests her cheek against my back and strokes my chest in a motherly gesture.

“I didn’t mean to . . .”

“I know; I know,” she repeats.

Rose draws me toward her, whispering things in Italian. The sound of her voice calms me straightaway. I lie down with her under the covers, my head nestled against her chest. She strokes my hair and keeps talking to me even though I don’t follow what she’s saying.

I fall asleep before my tears have even dried.

Thomas, Lucky, and Li Mei are already sitting around the small table when Rose and I join them for breakfast. We haven’t talked about what happened during the night, and I’m grateful to her for it.

“So?” Rose asks with a malicious grin, “Who dropped from exhaustion first?”

Li Mei points discreetly at Thomas. “Who do you think?”

I don’t know what they’re talking about, and I don’t feel like asking. I’m in a terrible mood. I slept very badly, despite the presence of Rose’s reassuring arms around me.

Even the memory of our steamy night doesn’t set me to rights. Even though it was paradise. I was almost ready to tell her to choose me over her stupid bastard of a father.

Because I’ve got it bad. Very bad.

Me, Levi Ivanovich, crazy about the only girl I’m not allowed to love.

“What about you two ... Did you make up?” Lucky asks.

Rose and I exchange glances. I just smile in reply, feeling calmer. Shit, she’s so beautiful. I have to play poker this morning, but all I want to do is spend the day in bed with her. We haven’t done that yet.

“Yes,” Rose says, sitting down near Thomas on the sofa.

“We all heard,” he mutters.

Thomas must have come home earlier than the others ... Thank goodness we moved to the bedroom after the first time. I feel uncomfortable and am about to apologize, but Rose seizes the opportunity to tease him.

“Just be thankful we cleaned the table after we finished,” she lies, nibbling on a chunk of watermelon.

Thomas freezes, his expression cold. “You did it on the table?”

“Yeah.”

“We eat off this table!” he roars, grabbing his plate and balancing it on his knees. “There’s no way I’m eating off a place where Levi put his ass, even if you did clean up afterward!”

“It was my ass, actually ... But if you’re worried about asses, you shouldn’t sit there either.” Rose nods toward the sofa with a grimace.

I do my best not to laugh at my friend’s horrified expression. Li Mei and Lucky burst out laughing, and Thomas gets up and moves to the beanbag, but Rose’s words bring him up short.

“Or there.”

He glares at me, breathing through his nose, and sits down on the floor as a last resort. A heavy silence falls. He gives us a questioning look, and Rose raises an eyebrow. His expression says it all.

Everybody bursts out laughing except Thomas, who leaps up and shouts, “My God, what are you—animals? We have beds for a reason, you know! Do I have to avoid everything except the walls now?”

I feel as though I should tell Rose to stop tormenting him, but it’s so funny, I let her keep going. She pouts and pours herself a glass of orange juice.

“I’d avoid those, too, if I were you.”

Thomas turns and leaves, while we all cackle at this bad joke. Rose looks proud of her victory.

“He’s right, though,” Lucky says. “It’s like hearing your parents making love. Disgusting.”

“Am I the only one who got turned on?” asks Li Mei.

Lucky makes a face and tells her she ought to see a shrink. We continue eating and discussing the tournament. Only Thomas, Lucky, and I are playing today. Li Mei begs Rose to spend the day with her away from the hotel. Rose asks me if I need her, but I tell her to go have fun.

“Are you going to dock my salary?” she jokes.

“Oh, you want paid holidays now, do you?”

“Naturally.”

I roll my eyes in mock horror and head to the bathroom for a shower. It’s not long before Rose joins me, but I’m running so late, we have to content ourselves with a few kisses.

“Rose?” I say afterward.

Dressed in a black bra and a pair of cropped jeans, she turns to me. I walk over to her, holding a velvet-covered box in my hand.

“I have a gift for you too. But I didn’t really have a chance to give it to you yesterday.”

She waits, looking wary. I don’t know what I’m doing. Or perhaps I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m giving her my heart. Because I can’t deny it anymore, not after last night ...

I’m falling in love with this woman.

Is it too soon? Is a phase of denial supposed to come before falling in love?

All I know is, I can’t be without her. I’m even prepared to trust her despite everything she’s hiding from me.

She must have changed her mind, surely? There’s no way she could have faked the emotion that was on her face when I was inside her.

“Give me your hand.”

She holds it out, understanding what I’m about to do. I open the box and carefully lift out the jewel.

“My grandmother didn’t really leave me a ring, I’m afraid,” I say, slipping it onto her finger. “I chose this one myself. If you don’t like it, we can always change it ... but it made me think of you.”

It’s exactly the right size, thank goodness.

Rose stares at it, at a loss for words. I have no idea what she’s thinking.

The ring is sublime, though—dark, mysterious, otherworldly.

The central stone is a magnificent salt-and-pepper diamond, set within two crescent moons made of diamonds, six additional small brilliants.

The band is twenty-four karat rose gold.

“It’s the most beautiful thing anyone’s ever given me. But ... it isn’t for real,” she murmurs, almost making it sound like a question.

My heart thumps in my chest. I want to tell her that it is, but I don’t want to drop a bombshell like that just as I’m about to leave. So I reply, “We’ll discuss it tonight. In the meantime, make sure to show it off.”

Rose holds her hand out and gazes at it, her face reminding me of the emoji with hearts for eyes. “I fully intend to.”

She hurries off, undoubtedly to show it to Li Mei. I’m almost ready to follow when I hear something vibrate on the bed. At first, I think it’s my phone, but when I look down, I see that it’s hers, and there’s a message on the screen ... from “Papa.”

My blood freezes. I don’t want to look. I swear it. But I can’t avert my eyes from the message that flashes up, seeming to mock me.

Thanks for the tip.

I knew I could count on you.

Oh.

I was already in a bad mood, but after seeing Tito’s message, I’m off the charts. I know she probably has a good excuse. She’d better have one. Which tip does he mean? What can I have missed?

Could she have guessed what we’re cooking up with the New York Times ? If she has ... everything could go up in smoke.

I tell myself I’ll talk to her about it this evening and then try to put her out of my mind while I’m playing. Every day, fewer players remain. The competition is also getting fiercer. Today I find myself at the same table as Thomas for the first time since we arrived, which helps improve my mood.

We play for several hours. Everything’s going well when somebody suddenly pulls up a chair opposite me. It’s Tito, his face looking puffy and red. He gives me a murderous stare that probably looks just like the one I’m giving him.

Resisting the temptation to look at me, Thomas concentrates on his game. We play in silence at first, but Tito starts to talk once Thomas and I are the only two left in the game.

“You look tired. Slept badly, did you?”

I don’t deign to look at him, preferring to act as though he doesn’t exist. Unfortunately, he presses on.

“You can stop putting yourself to so much trouble, you know. Pretending to drink and party and screw all night just to keep me from sleeping. It’s pathetic.”

I stiffen, and I sense Thomas doing the same.

I realize he’s referring to last night, and to the sounds he must have heard through the wall.

So he knows. Rose must have told him I’m just pretending, like the good little spy that she is.

How far has she gone with her treachery?

Does Tito know I’m color-blind? Worse, does he know I’m guilty of killing my father?

Is he just waiting for the best moment to bring it up?

I can’t help it. I start to panic. I shouldn’t reply, but I’m having a bad day. I smile wolfishly and lick my lips.

“Actually, everything you heard last night was real,” I say, fiddling with my chips. “I guess you must be proud of her?”

He clearly wasn’t expecting that. He stares at me in silence. Thomas frowns, not understanding what’s going on. I don’t care about keeping up the pretense. I just want to wipe that fucking smile off his face.

“You did send her to seduce me, didn’t you? Your own daughter ... I didn’t see it coming, I must admit.”

Thomas turns his head suddenly to look at me, his eyes wide.

Tito has let his mask fall, and he looks disappointed but not particularly surprised. I place my bet and then focus my attention on him, leaning forward so the croupier can’t hear me.

“Don’t worry, Tito. Mission accomplished. And I really ... and I mean really , made the most of it.”

I wink at him to make absolutely sure he knows what I mean. Fury spreads over his face, and his fists clench on the table. Touché .

As I expected, he doesn’t move. He wouldn’t dare attack me in the middle of the tournament, for fear of getting himself disqualified.

“You’re going to regret that, Ivanovich.”

I don’t even take the trouble to reply. The croupier warns us that it’s against the rules to talk about anything except the game, and that we’ll be sanctioned if we don’t stop.

I’m distracted for the rest of the day. I change tables after two hours and meet up with Thomas later at the entrance of the hotel. He takes me firmly by the arm and walks me outside, murmuring in my ear, “What was all that crazy stuff about? Don’t tell me ...”

“That Rose is Tito’s daughter? Yes, she is. And she’s also a spy.”

He looks at me as though I’ve gone crazy, then swears to himself and scratches his beard. “How long have you known? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“For a while now. I wanted to give her a chance to change her mind. To realize her father’s a bastard ... To switch sides.”

“You’re out of your mind, man,” he fumes. “You should have gotten rid of her as soon as you found out. He’s her father , Levi. And you served up all your weaknesses to her on a silver platter!”

“It doesn’t m . . .”

“I warned you!” he goes on, furious now. “I told you to be careful, and said that she was dodgy and you were stupid! I knew she was going to wrap you around her little finger. Shit!”

I tell him to calm down. He falls silent, running his hand through his blond hair in frustration. I want to tell him she’s changed, that her feelings are sincere, that we’re in love.

But the truth is, I have no idea if any of that’s true. She might be using me, for all I know. The message I saw this morning flashes before my eyes, and I sigh in frustration.

“Don’t tell the others. I absolutely forbid you to do that, do you understand?” I say firmly, “Tonight I’ll tell her I know her secret. We’ll see what she says. I want to give her one more chance to explain.”

He shakes his head disapprovingly but accepts my conditions. Before long, Lucky joins us and starts complaining about the heat.

“Shall we go for a swim? Li Mei and Rose are getting massages. Maybe we could join them.”

“I need a drink more than I need a massage,” Thomas grumbles, avoiding my gaze.

I can tell he’s still angry with me. It’s rare that I keep anything a secret from him. I put my arm around his shoulders.

“I wouldn’t mind a drink,” I say. “What about you, Lucky? Shall we have guys’ night out, like in the old days?”

He smiles, throwing his shoulders back. “Sure! I could ask the girls if they want to ...”

“I said guys , Lucky! Which part of that didn’t you understand?”

His smile fades, and sadness spreads over his face. “Not even Li Mei?”

“Is Li Mei a guy?”

“No.”

“Then that’s your answer,” Thomas cuts in, starting to walk more quickly.

I pull Lucky after him, promising to give him some advice on how to win back his ex. I’m not going to lie; it could be difficult. But I know Li Mei well enough to be sure that she’s still madly in love with him.

She’s just ashamed to admit it.

We head toward the bar at the end of the street as Lucky complains about their evening out last night. I’m hardly listening, and the truth is, I’m completely lost in my thoughts when I cross the road.

“Watch out!”

At that exact same moment, I hear the squeal of tires.

But it’s too late.