Page 55 of The Grandest Game

Their team had only one hint to last them the entire night, but Gigi wasn’t about to argue.

“We’re not taking the damn hint.” Knox slammed out of the booth. “We’re saving it in case we need it down the line.”

“No,” Brady said, his tone muted, his presence anything but. For the first time, Gigi was keenly aware of just how much largernerdy Brady was than the more intensely physical Knox. “Push the button, Gigi,” Brady said quietly.

She scanned the room for the panel and found it—directly behind her on the floor.

Knox took two ominous steps forward. “Don’t.”

Gigi looked at Knox. She looked at Brady. And then she looked back at the panel with the buttons. She inched toward it.

Something seemed to snap in Knox. He lunged forward, but Brady wasfast. Gigi never even saw Brady move, but suddenly, his body was a shield—or a brick wall.Between Knox and me.

Knox took a swing. Brady absorbed the hit without blinking, then pushed Knox back. Gigi’s heart leapt into her throat. She wasn’t scared of Knox—she didn’t have the good sense to be—but based on his wild eyes, she also wasn’t entirely sure thatKnoxwas driving the bus.

He surged again, and Gigi knew suddenly: Whatever advantage Brady’s size gave him, it wouldn’t last.

“Push the button, Gigi. This chamber is too small. We need to get him out of here.”

Before Gigi could do anything, Knox went suddenly, eerily still, assessing his opponent.

“I don’t need you tohandleme, Daniels. All you have to do is stay the hell out of my way.”

“You can’t do closets, Knox.” Brady was implacable. “You can’t do basements. You can do small rooms, but not if they don’t have windows or some form of natural light.”

“I can do whatever the hell I have to in order towin.”

Gigi couldn’t help hearing that as a warning.

“You think you’re the only one who wants to win this?” Brady shot back.

They grappled. Brady held his own. Knox pulled back, seeming to have regained some measure of control, but there was still something leonine about the tension in his face.

“I know why you want to win this, Daniels.” Knox’s leg snaked out, and Brady hit the floor. Knox stood over him. “Even with twenty-six million dollars at your disposal, you’re still not going to be able to find Calla. She chose to leave. She doesn’t want to be found.”

Brady climbed slowly to his feet. “Push the red button, Gigi.”

Knox swiveled his predator’s gaze toward her. “Don’t you do it, little girl. You could be giving away the whole game.”

I am not, Gigi thought, her voice steely in her own mind,a little girl.She took a step toward the panel.

“This isn’t about Calla.” Brady drew Knox’s attention back toward him.

Knox pushed Brady back. “It’salwaysCalla with you.”

“This time,” Brady said, shoving Knox into the side of the metal chamber hard enough for Gigi to hear the impact. “It’scancer.”

Time stopped then, and so did Knox. The fight drained out of him. Gigi couldn’t move, either.

“My mama,” Brady said, his voice hoarse. “Stage three. Ask me if there are treatments available, Knox. Then ask me if we have insurance.”

Suddenly, every reason Gigi had for playing this game felt utterly insufficient.

“No.” Knox stared at Brady for four or five seconds. “No.” Knox turned and drove his fist into the chamber wall. Hard. Gigi’s heart leapt into her throat as Knox did the same thing again. And again. The sound of flesh hitting metal was horrific. The impact had to be tearing Knox’s knuckles apart, but, if anything, the pain seemed to spur him onward.

Brady grabbed Knox, twisting his arms behind his back, pinning his body flat against the wall, as he looked over his shoulder and calmly met Gigi’s gaze. “The button, Juliet.”

Gigi hadn’t even known that Brady knew her real name, but she didn’t have time to dwell on that.