Page 48 of Ace of Hearts

Levi

July

Las Vegas, USA

Rose has moved back into the suite. Even though she’s gone back to her old room instead of sleeping with me, I’m still able to breathe more easily. Now that I’ve got her back, I realize just how much I missed her.

Li Mei and Lucky still share a bed. Everything’s like it was before, almost.

Last night, saying I needed to sleep, I left them all in the living room explaining everything to each other and catching up on what’s been going on over the last few days.

But I could hear them through my bedroom walls: first, Rose apologizing, then my friends telling her it’s water under the bridge, and she’s part of the team now.

Most importantly, she promised that she really will do everything she can to stop gambling.

That’s why I’ve decided to fire her. There’s no way she’s coaching me on how to play poker if that brings back her old demons.

I practice in my room with Li Mei and Thomas all day while Lucky keeps Rose amused by making her watch romantic comedies.

“We have something to tell you,” Lucky says once we’ve all gathered in the living room for dinner.

Rose frowns.

“It sounds like you’re about to break up with me.”

“I’m not; I promise. This is for keeps, baby,” says Lucky, making finger guns and pointing them at her with a seductive wink. Li Mei rolls her eyes, and they all turn to me, waiting patiently. I look Rose straight in the eyes and explain gently.

“We’re planning to bring Tito down.”

I didn’t know how to tell her. She must have suspected something, though probably not the extent of our plans. I don’t just want him to lose the tournament. I want him to go to prison for his crimes.

I’m sure Rose guesses what I’m thinking. I’d rather tell her than do it all behind her back. And yet, as much as she may hate him, he’s still her father.

“You don’t have to help us. If you’d prefer, we won’t talk about it in front of you. I just wanted you to know.”

I also don’t want her to think I don’t trust her. I know she won’t rat on us to Tito anymore. Rose thinks about it, then nods.

“What are you planning?”

The others seem surprised. Not me. Tito made a huge mistake when he reported his daughter to the police: he had her love and her unending loyalty, and instead of cherishing them, he ground them into the dirt.

And those feelings are never eternal or unconditional.

If you don’t feed them, they can’t survive.

Plus Rose hates being trampled on, no matter who’s doing the trampling.

“He’s planning to cheat again,” I say.

“In the final? In front of everyone, even the cameras?” she asks indignantly. “He must be completely crazy!”

“He isn’t stupid,” Thomas interjects. “He’s planning a sophisticated cheat, using infrared contact lenses and invisible writing on the cards.”

Rose opens her mouth in astonishment. She says it’s impossible, that this isn’t some kind of thriller, that these things don’t happen in real life. At least she makes us all laugh.

“Just to win a poker game?” she says. “Seriously?”

“Not just a poker game. Twelve million dollars.”

That convinces her. Tito isn’t the first to cheat in a poker tournament at this level, and he won’t be the last. He’s a good player, and he’s rich, cunning, and knows the right people. There’s every reason for him to cheat if he’s not confident that he can win honestly.

“How do you know?”

“We’ve been keeping an eye on him for weeks now. One of his cronies, a croupier here, was ... sympathetic to our cause.”

“How much did you give him?” says Rose mockingly.

“Way too much,” says Thomas with a sigh.

We explain everything to her, and she listens attentively as we try to work out a plan. She suggests alerting the casino, but I reject this, explaining that denouncing him now is the last thing we want.

“The tournament would be canceled, and we wouldn’t be able to win.”

“Even if we do it after we’ve won?” asks Lucky.

“It amounts to the same thing,” says Rose, understanding now.

“It’s not just Levi’s victory that would be undermined, but the whole tournament.

We don’t know how long Tito’s been cheating, but it’s probably since the beginning.

Which means that some players may have been eliminated when they shouldn’t have been. ”

Exactly. So the aim is to stop Tito from cheating rather than call him out.

“Simon, the croupier, is reliable. Now we just need to decide what we do next.”

We order food and eat around the low table, making our plans. It’s as though nothing ever happened. Rose smiles and jokes with everyone; everyone, except me.

We’re cordial to one another, but the atmosphere is tense, with neither of us daring to make the first move. Still, we have to talk about it sometime.

She knows how I feel about her, and I know, despite her lie in the lift, that she feels the same way.

The situation is fraught and complex, like something out of a Shakespeare play, but I want to give myself a shot at this.

I’ve spent too long pushing away all the good things that have come my way, thinking I haven’t deserved them.

I’m tired. I want Rose. Maybe I don’t deserve her, either, but I’ve decided to be selfish in this. If I’m going to hell anyway, why hold back?

Except it’s never the right moment. Every time I manage to get her alone, either I get cold feet or someone interrupts us.

So I have to make do with the briefest of interactions—my hand brushing hers as we both move to pick something up at the same time, or hesitant smiles exchanged from opposite ends of the table.

Every day is torture. I hardly recognize myself.

“What are you waiting for?” Li Mei complains one evening when she finds me playing cards alone on my bedroom floor.

I grunt in a way that’s meant to mean “leave me alone,” but Lucky comes in, too, and shuts the door behind him.

“I agree. What the hell are you playing at?”

“I have an important poker final tomorrow, remember? That’s what I’m playing at.”

“It looks more like you’re chickening out. This isn’t like you. You usually do what you need to do without worrying about the details.”

I clench my jaw. “Exactly—this is different. This time, I don’t want to mess up.”

Lucky gazes sympathetically at me. He’s all ears. This kind of drama is right up his alley. The moment anyone starts discussing their love life, he’s there.

Li Mei says her piece, too, telling me not to drag my feet if I don’t want to risk Rose’s changing her mind.

“And after this, what?” I retort. “The tournament ends, and what happens next? She lives in Venice, and I live in Saint Petersburg.”

“So what? Love doesn’t recognize borders.”

“My mother will be out of prison soon. I need to catch up on lost time with her. And I have to think about the Rasputin. I haven’t got time for ...”

“Blah blah blah, pathetic excuses,” Li Mei murmurs. “Long-distance relationships do exist. Take Lucky and me.”

“OK, let’s talk about that.” I smile maliciously. “What are you planning to do, anyway? Lucky’s studying in Los Angeles, and you’ve got the Rasputin in China. How’s that meant to work, exactly?”

They look at each other and shrug. They don’t appear to be as concerned as I am.

“There’s such a thing as phone sex, you know? We have Skype and Snapchat now. And if everything goes as planned, we’ll be so loaded, we can take a plane every month to see each other if we want to.”

I make a disgusted face, but deep down I think they’re sweet. At least they’re trying to find ways around their problems. Li Mei’s right; I’ve just been making excuses. I can’t let Rose get away. There’s no way she’s going back to Italy before I’ve at least tried to win her back.

“I don’t know how to tell her,” I admit miserably. “I’ve already tried, but ... I don’t think it was very effective.”

Li Mei shakes her head despairingly. “You act like you’ve never done this before.”

“I haven’t ever done this before. The only girlfriend I’ve ever had was while I was still at school.”

They stare at me in astonishment.

“Levi . . . you’re twenty-seven!”

“Yes, I know how old I am, thank you. So what? Sex I can handle; it’s just relationships I haven’t been too hot on ... I haven’t really had time to focus on them these last ten years.”

“My God.”

I scowl at them. It’s not as unusual as all that. They’re making a huge fuss over nothing. But it occurs to me now that I know nothing about Rose’s romantic past. Has she got much experience? What kind of man does she go for?

“You’ve got a lot to learn, then,” says Lucky, putting his hands on his hips. “You need to watch ...”

“Don’t you dare say Bridget Jones !”

“Bridget Jones.”

I smile sarcastically, making Li Mei snort with laughter. Lucky starts to chatter to himself excitedly. He leaves the room, telling me to wait. I’m almost certain he’s gone to get his computer so that he can spend the rest of the evening torturing me.

“I thought he was too young and sentimental for you?” I say to Li Mei, who sighs and smiles weakly.

“He is. But ... I still love him. I can’t help it. So I’ve decided to roll with it. Who knows; maybe it’s just what I need.”

I nod pensively. She’s right. The heart has its reasons. Mine wants Rose despite all the obstacles, and who am I to argue with it? If I don’t try, I could regret it for the rest of my life.

We spend the next two days preparing.

Tito has no idea what’s about to hit him. I pity him—OK, I don’t. I can’t wait to see his face when the penny drops. The only thing worrying me is Rose. She’s helping, and acting as though it’s not affecting her, but I know her better than the others do.

It does affect her, whether she wants it to or not.

I feel guilty, of course. I don’t want to be the person who destroys her family. That would make me a pretty terrible partner, wouldn’t it? But then again ... Rose and I have never had a very conventional relationship.

“Ready for tomorrow?”

Rose jumps. She’s alone in the kitchen, searching the cupboards for something to eat. She stops and leans against the counter, her arms folded.

“I should be asking you that. You’re the one who’s going to be there.”

I remain still, keeping my hands in my pockets. Rose, Thomas, and Lucky are planning to watch the final on the TV in the living room. I wish Rose were going to be in there with me, but I guess this is for the best. At least I won’t be distracted.

“No matter what Tito says ... don’t let him provoke you,” she says quietly. “He’ll do it on purpose to unsettle you.”

I know that already, but I nod seriously, not taking my eyes off hers. She’s absolutely sublime. I wonder what she’d look like wearing nothing but one of my T-shirts. The thought alone is enough to send a thrill through my whole body.

This is the moment.

“Rose.”

She raises an inquiring eyebrow. I see from her expression that she knows this is the time, too, and that she wants to get things out in the open once and for all, just like I do. I still don’t know how to start, so I improvise.

“What’s going on, between us?”

She opens her mouth but doesn’t say anything. She looks lost. I just want to hear her say it. I want to hear the words from her mouth. Only then will I be able to find a way around whatever obstacle comes between us.

“What’s going to happen in two days’ time?” I continue, trying not to fixate on the way she’s biting her lip. “I win the tournament, then what? You go home ... I go home ... and that’s it?”

“Is that what you want?”

“No. Is it what you want?”

“No.”

My pulse quickens as the tension mounts. I take a step toward her, still not taking my eyes off hers. I’m terrified, but I manage to get the words out.

“Everything I told you in the lift that day was true. I know we’ve said some terrible things to each other, things I didn’t even think and that I only said because I knew they’d hurt you.

The truth is, I’m an asshole. I don’t cope well with pain.

I always want to fight back because I’m scared that people will take advantage of me again.

And you ... you were different. I wanted it to be real, and that seemed to hurt me even more. ”

She swallows but still doesn’t say anything. I pray silently that nobody comes and interrupts my speech now that I’m finally on a roll.

“Except I was wrong. Because what actually hurt most was ... your leaving. I never want to go through that again. And I know this is all happening fast, I know we don’t know each other very well.

I know there are circumstances that mean we can’t be together, but I don’t care.

I’ve never wanted anything so badly in my life.

So I need to know if you feel the same . .. or if this is all in my head.”

I take another step closer, reducing the space between our two bodies.

I see her breathing faster, and that makes it even harder to control my instincts.

All I want is to take her in my arms and put my mouth on hers.

I don’t want to sleep alone anymore. I want her arms around my waist when I have nightmares, her fingers in my hair when I wake up, her tongue on every other part of my body.

I’m afraid she won’t believe me. She told me the other day that she couldn’t trust me, and I understand her anxiety. But she must be able to see that the mask is off now, mustn’t she?

“I know you’re sincere,” she begins in a hesitant murmur as if reading my mind.

“But, Levi, I’m a total mess. My daily life is a world away from glitzy Las Vegas.

I’m ill. I’m in debt, my father is a megalomaniac, and I’m unemployed.

Worst of all, I’m the daughter of the man who took everything from you.

What if you ended up hating me despite your best intentions?

What if every day that God gave us, you saw my father when you looked at me?

I wouldn’t blame you ... but I wouldn’t be able to stand it. ”

How could she think all of that? I move closer still, daring to put my hands on her divine hips. I feel my heart pounding.

“I’ve never hated you for being Tito’s daughter,” I whisper, my mouth brushing hers. “Never. Rose ... I just want to know one thing: Do you want me, yes or no? Nothing else matters.”

There’s a long pause while she gazes at me, so long that I start to lose confidence. I’m already steeling myself to leave her for the last time, when I feel her arms wrap around my waist and pull me to her.

“It’s real,” she whispers. “You, me, us. It’s always been real.”

The next moment, my lips meet hers.