I hold up the cards. “Choose one and then write whatever you want on it, before turning it face down. Then I can’t cheat. I’ll turn around.”
Mars tilts his head, and his hair tumbles over his eyes. “Anything…?”
I nod.
“I’ll write my wish…dream.” Mars gives a small, tender smile.
I turn around. “Done?”
“Yeah.”
I turn back.
I shuffle the cards again, before raising my brow. “Turn over the card. That’s yours, right?”
Mars flips over the card, revealing an ace of hearts…with nothing written on it.
His mouth falls open, before he whistles. “That’s not my card.”
“How did that happen? Hmm, where could your card be? Why don’t you check your inside pocket? The one with your poem in it?”
Mars stares at me in disbelief. “But you never touched me.”
He still checks, however, pulling out the poem.
Then he chuckles. “You’re a fucking wonder, Ro.”
Mars’ card is now attached to the bottom of the poem with the word written in his handwriting over the diamond in the center:ROSA.
My stomach curls with dread.
The alliance with Rosa Billionaire contains my sweet brother’s hopes and dreams.
Yet I have researched Rosa. Rumor has it that she’s a pampered elite who is flashy and cruel.
She will eat him alive.
I grab Mars’ hand, pulling him to his feet. “We can’t be late for our flight. Our baggage has been sent ahead.”
“How did you do that?” Mars is still staring at the card in amazement.
“A magician never reveals their tricks.” I shove my brother ahead of me up the stairs.
Then I take up the proper stance behind him as his bodyguard, checking my gun at my waist.
Mars hurriedly shoves the poem into his suit inner pocket, before pushing open the door into the corridor of the main Adonis Hall.
The light hits me first as it always does.
I blink.
Adonis Hall is a startling mansion of gleaming marble, elegant antiques, and crystal.
The wide corridor’s walls are wood paneled with the repeating emblem of a wild boar.
Sharp sunlight shines through high arched windows, which look out over the vast winter rose gardens. Stone borders run as scars between skeletal rose bushes and frost laced trees. A marble fountain stands in the middle with the water frozen mid-motion.
Fiorella is blocking the end of the corridor.
