Page 44 of Ace of Hearts

Levi

June

Las Vegas, USA

When I get back to the suite after a long day of poker, I sense immediately that Rose has been there. My instinct is proved right when I go into our room and find her dresser and side of the closet empty. Even the ring, which was on the floor in the corridor, is gone.

I stand in the middle of the room for a few minutes, not knowing what to do with myself. I feel completely empty. I stayed up all night, playing cards alone in the living room, not even taking the time to clear up the mess we made.

I haven’t got the strength to do anything at all.

Glimpsing Tito’s face out of the corner of my eye today was enough to make me want to throw up. He looked relaxed, triumphant almost. Strange. Why would he be triumphant if his plan had just blown up in his face?

Could it be that Rose actually did rat on me? I decide to take a cold shower to clear my head. I wonder what she’s doing. Is she asleep in the next-door suite? I guess we’re officially enemies from now on.

I don’t like that idea. I’d rather not have to see her strutting around for the next few days.

After my shower, I head to the kitchen to make myself something to eat.

I notice two peppers sitting in the fruit bowl, and I’m about to take one when I see they have Post-it notes stuck to them, labeled in Rose’s writing: green pepper on one, red pepper on the other.

I see she’s done the same with the apples.

I pull off all the Post-its and throw them in the bin. I’ve lost my appetite. I’m about to go back to my room, but when I walk past the living room, I see the others sitting around the low table. The conversation breaks off when I join them, and they all turn to look at me.

“What’s going on?” I ask tonelessly.

Lucky looks as though he’s about to cry. His eyes are full of pity as he gazes at me. Li Mei bites her lip pensively. I can guess what’s happened.

“You told them?”

Thomas shrugs. “I had to.”

I nod. Lucky launches into a tearful tirade about how he should have seen this coming; he’s failed in his duty as a friend; he even ordered friendship bracelets for all five of us, and so on.

Li Mei is sitting next to him, not saying anything, but I can see from her pursed lips that there’s plenty she’d like to say. She looks at me, and I raise an eyebrow, inviting her to go ahead.

“It’s ... disappointing,” she says sadly.

“Yes, it is.”

“Do you think ... she was pretending the whole time?”

“I know she was.”

She doesn’t seem totally convinced. That annoys me. I don’t want to have to ask myself that question again. There’s no way I’m going to let myself harbor doubts—they only lead to false hope.

“Did you have feelings for her?”

Her question comes from out of nowhere. All three of them look at me. I hate showing my emotions, but I have nothing to hide from these three. So I thrust my hands deeper into my pockets and nod.

The worst part of it is, I’ve still got feelings for her. They didn’t disappear when she did, unfortunately. That would have been too easy.

“Did she explain why she did what she did?” Li Mei asks.

“Tito’s her father. That’s reason enough, isn’t it?”

To my surprise, it’s Thomas who answers, “Not necessarily.”

Am I dreaming, or is he taking her side? I glance at him questioningly, but he doesn’t elaborate. I tell them that Rose needed money and attention from a daddy who didn’t praise her drawings when she was little. A total cliché.

“She’s probably with Tito right now,” I say.

Li Mei shakes her head.

“I bumped into her earlier, when she came to get her things.”

My heart pounds in my chest. I manage to keep myself from asking how Rose looked, what she was wearing, how she was doing. That girl wound you around her little finger and broke your heart, you absolute imbecile!

“ She told me she was going home.”

“What?” Lucky exclaims. “Home where?”

“Her home. Italy.”

I hide my surprise—and deep disappointment—as best I can. Is that why I didn’t see her with Tito today? I assumed she was keeping a low profile, but that wasn’t it.

“When?”

“This afternoon. She’s probably on the plane by now.”

I should be relieved. I won’t have to see her anymore. That’s what I wanted, isn’t it? I clench my teeth in annoyance. I must have been kidding myself when I decided that ... because the very thought of never seeing her face again makes me feel terrible.

Why is she leaving? Doesn’t she want to help her father win the jackpot? It doesn’t make any sense. The final is soon. Leaving now would be a waste.

And anyway, she has no fucking right to do this. It’s too easy. She takes my heart, tears it in two with her bare hands, and runs off when I tell her I refuse to take any more? Not fair. She should at least stay until enough time’s passed for me to start hating her.

“It’s for the best,” I say abruptly, trying to silence my own thoughts.

Nobody else says a thing.

We don’t talk about it anymore after that. Rose’s name is banned in our suite. The atmosphere is strange, almost incomplete, as though something were missing. Or someone. It’s like our little gang can’t be the same now that she’s gone.

I shut myself in my room and practice every evening. I know they’re talking about me behind my back, but I let them do it. Nobody’s heard any news about Rose. Tito’s always alone when we see him, proof that Li Mei was right.

She’s really gone.

Lucky is knocked out just before the semifinals. Only Li Mei, Thomas, and I are still in the race. Lucky doesn’t let it bother him. In fact, he seems to enjoy lapping up the sympathy from his ex. She’s been much gentler and more patient with him since the accident.

I still can’t stand the sight of Tito. His smile makes me want to throw up.

One day, when I return after several hours of play, I find Li Mei and Lucky on the sofa, watching something on the computer. I move to join them before realizing the figures on the screen are Rose and me. I stop short, confused.

“What are you doing?”

They jump simultaneously. When Lucky sees me, he gives Li Mei a violent nudge, and she slams the computer shut, not even trying to be subtle.

“We’re ... watching porn,” she blurts out in a panic.

I raise one eyebrow and scowl at them. I definitely recognized our outfits and the plain white backdrop. I guess our video interview for Glamour must have come out. I’d completely forgotten about it.

“You’ve come back at the perfect time!” she continues, jumping up to fetch her cell phone. “I’ve made you the best playlist ever. I’ll send it to you now.”

“A playlist? Why?”

She gives me an innocent look that doesn’t fool me for a second. “Just because. To help you sleep.”

Lucky nods vigorously and jumps up to fetch a bulging plastic bag, which he hands to me. “I want to lend you a few of my DVDs too.”

“Lucky, I’m not in the mood for porn right now.”

“It’s not porn!” he exclaims indignantly.

Now that I think about it, that should have been obvious. Porn’s not Lucky’s usual fare.

I don’t know what to say, so I thank them and go to my room, shutting the door behind me like I do every evening. I open the bag and find the Bridget Jones trilogy, no surprises there, along with Romeo + Juliet , Pride and Prejudice , and Titanic . I put them aside wearily.

I sit on my bed and open up Li Mei’s playlist. I don’t usually listen to music much, but I guess it can’t hurt, and I could do with some distraction.

I glance over the titles, none of which rings any bells with me: “The Story of Us,” “White Horse,” “Back to December,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “Picture to Burn,” “I Knew You Were Trouble” ... all by the same artist, strangely.

I ignore the titles, which sound ominous, and listen to a few tracks out of curiosity. I stop after the fifth. As I suspected, they’re all about breakups.

I guess Lucky and Li Mei are trying to tell me something.

I’m about to go to bed when my phone vibrates. It’s Li Mei, asking if I’m asleep yet.

I know we’re not supposed to talk about this, but I think you should watch the video.

It takes me a while to realize what she’s talking about.

I was there, Li Mei. I know perfectly well what happened that day, and what we said.

Are you sure? I don’t think you saw everything. Especially the way she looked at you when you were talking to the camera.

I freeze, my heart pounding.

That doesn’t mean anything. She was acting. It was all a lie.

Did she tell you that? Or is that just what you’ve assumed?

. . .

Levi, there’s no way she can have faked that. I think we might be wrong about her. OK, she messed up, but Rose is a human being. And what if she fell in love along the way too? What if she’d decided to take your side but you didn’t give her time to explain?

I stare at her message for what feels like ages, my teeth clenched.

I so want to believe her. That’s the danger.

Hope is growing inside me. Li Mei’s right.

I never really gave Rose a chance to explain.

She did tell me she’d changed sides, but I refused to believe her, because I was too scared, too angry, hurt, and disappointed.

I didn’t want to listen to her. I just wanted to hurt her.

What if I was wrong?

The video isn’t hard to find on YouTube. I swallow nervously and press Play. Seeing us on the screen, side by side, smiling adoringly at each other, hurts a lot. Still, I manage to watch it through to the end. I see us exchanging compliments, laughing, and hugging one another affectionately.

Lovingly.

Because yes, we do look like a real couple.

You’ve got this amazing charisma that makes people want to follow you to the ends of the earth ... Oh, and I love your smile, says the on-screen Rose, with a shy look.

Li Mei was right. My pulse quickens, and my arms suddenly grow covered in goose bumps as I watch Rose’s furtive glances. The glances she only allows herself when I’m looking the other way. She does it unselfconsciously, unaware of the camera that’s following her every movement.

God, I miss her. My life’s as boring as hell without her, and she’s only been gone a few days. I’d never noticed that before, but I guess you only appreciate things once you lose them.

Could it be that ... Rose felt the same way I did?

It’s completely crazy, but I’m starting to have second thoughts. It’s as though I want to torture myself. I jump up from my bed. I have to find Thomas and ask him to find Rose, wherever she is, even if she’s in Italy.

I rush out of my bedroom, adrenaline flooding through me, and come face-to-face with Thomas. We both jump and stare at one another open-mouthed.

“I was just looking for you,” I say, trying to keep my expression neutral.

“Me too.”

“Oh. OK. Me first: I want you to find Rose. A phone number in Italy, an address, anything. Some way for me to contact her.”

Thomas doesn’t seem surprised. The same couldn’t be said of me when he replies. “I’ve already found her.”

I stare at him in disbelief, sure I must have heard him wrong. “Huh?”

“I’ve found her.”

“That was . . . fast.”

He glares at me and explains that he’s been looking for her for a few days now, without telling me. He’d found her willingness to give up and leave strange too.

“So?”

“So she’s here.”

“‘Here’?” I repeat stupidly.

“Downstairs. Now. At the poker tables, to be precise.”

It takes me a while to digest this information. Rose didn’t go home. He explains that she’s been at the hotel all along, right under my nose. I never saw her for the simple reason that she’s been spending all her time at the bar.

And apparently, she’s been gambling again.

Has she had a relapse?

I thank Thomas and head down to the casino. She isn’t hard to find. My throat tightens when I see her sitting at a poker table. She’s as beautiful as ever, dressed in a tight, pale-colored dress and black high heels.

She downs her drink in one gulp, vodka by the looks of things, and places a large bet in the center of the table. That makes the other players laugh, young men probably out for a stag night.

“Excuse me?” I call a waiter as he passes by. “How long has she been here?”

I point at Rose. He doesn’t need to think for long. “Since this morning, I’d say.”

Shit .

“How many drinks has she had?”

He laughs at my question. “I don’t have enough fingers to count that high!”

It’s worse than I thought. I’d have been happier if she’d gone home to her mother. Where’s Tito? Shouldn’t he be protecting his daughter from her demons?

As if by magic, he appears at my side. I stiffen, my hands balling into fists.

“Are you lost?”

“You should take her away from here,” I say curtly, before lying through my teeth. “I can’t stand the sight of her. Get her out.”

Tito looks at me, then laughs to himself. I guess I must be worse at lying than I used to be, because he sees right through me. He leans toward me and says in a low, confidential tone, “You still want her? I tell you what: if you pull out of the tournament, I’ll give her to you.”

He nearly gets my fist in his face, right then and there. And he knows it, which just makes him smile even more. How can he say something like that? She’s his daughter! He brought her here.

The most shocking thing of all is that I’m surprised by any of this. After all, this man betrayed my father and tried to run me over. He’s far more dangerous than I’d first thought, and he deserves to rot in prison for a very long time.

I’ll make sure he does .

I cast a last regretful glance at Rose. I can’t accept that in the blink of an eye she’s become a stranger in my life, someone I’ll mention in years to come as a vague memory, a wound from the past that I’m trying to heal.

I just wish she’d stayed. That she’d forced me to listen to her. That she’d fought for me.

If there’s still a chance I’ve made a mistake, I’m determined to do all I can to find that out. But in the meantime, Tito mustn’t know the truth. And so I lie, casually.

“No thanks. It’s like Taylor Swift says, ‘We are never ever getting back together.’”