Page 107 of The Final Gambit

I caught Toby’s gaze. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly, urgently.

“Don’t be.” Toby reached out to cup my face. “I see so much of your mother in you.”

That felt far too much like good-bye. From the moment Eve had arrived at the gates of Hawthorne House, I had been determined toget him back. And now—

“Will I…” The words stopped, like the question was gumming up my throat. “Can I see you?” I asked.

You have a daughter, I could hear myself saying.

I have two.

Blake didn’t give Toby the chance to reply. He shifted his attention to Eve. She basked in it, like he was the sun and she had the type of skin that didn’t burn. For the first time, instead of looking at her and seeing Emily, I saw something very different.

An intensity that was Toby’s.Blake’s.

“If I win this game…,” she said, steel and wonder in her tone.

“It’s yours,” Blake confirmed. “All of it. But before we begin…” Blake lifted a finger, and a member of his security team rushed over. “Could you fetch our other guest for Ms. Grambs?”

Grayson.I didn’t let myself fully believe that he was okay until I saw him, and then I let myself think about what I’d won—not just his freedom, but a promise that no one I cared about would find themselves aguesthere again.

“Avery.” Grayson’s blue-gray eyes—his irises icy and light against the inky black of his pupils—locked on to mine. “I had a plan.”

“Reckless self-sacrifice?” I retorted. “Yeah, I got that.” I pulled him close and spoke directly into his ear. “I told you, Grayson, we’refamily.”

I let go of him. The board was set up a final time. Eve was white. I was black. With tens of thousands of diamonds glittering between us, we faced off in a game of greatest stakes.

Based on Eve’s level of play against Toby, I hadn’t anticipated the challenge I soon found myself facing. It was like she’d watched my game against her father, internalized a dozen new strategies, and learned how I saw the board.

She’s playing to win.I was desperate to save Oren, and I had no idea how much of a crimeIhad committed by not reporting Sheffield Grayson’s death. But Eve? She was playing for the keys to the kingdom—for wealth and power beyond imagining.

For acceptance from someone she was desperate to be accepted by.

The rest of the room faded away until I couldn’t hear anything but the sounds of my own body and couldn’t see anything but the board. It took longer than I’d anticipated, but finally, I saw my opening.

I could have her in check in three moves, checkmate in five.

Just like that, I could walk away from here with Grayson, knowing that Vincent Blake had that many fewer ways of coming at me.

But he’ll still come.

The assaults on my financial interests, the paparazzi, playing games and boxing me in.He’ll just keep coming.That thought grew louder in my mind, pushing my focus from my match against Eve to the bigger picture.

For me,thiswasn’t the ultimate game.

I could win, and I would still walk out of here no better off than when Tobias Hawthorne had died. It would still be hunting season. A man who Tobias Hawthorne had so feared that he had left a virtual stranger his fortune would still be gunning for me.

Even without violence, even with our physical safety guaranteed, Vincent Blake would still find a way of destroying anyone, everyone, and everything that stood in his way.

This win right now against Eve—it wouldn’t be enough.

I had to play the long game. I had to look past the board, play ten moves ahead, not five, think in three dimensions, not two. If I beat Eve, Vincent Blake would send me on my way, and he’d do so knowing that I was more than he’d given me credit for. He’d adjust his expectations in the future.

You’re young.Tobias Hawthorne’s voice rang in my mind.You’re female. You’re nobody—use that. If I gave Vincent Blake an excuse to continue underestimating me, he would.

I’d come here with a plan in mind. The tournament hadn’t been a part of that plan—but I could use it.

Playing chess wasn’t just about anticipating your opponent’s moves. It was about planting those moves in their mind—baiting them. After listening to the recording the old man had left for us, Xander had marveled at the fact that Tobias Hawthorne had foreseen exactly what we would all do after his death, but Hawthorne hadn’t just foreseen it.