Page 52 of Road to Redemption

The churning of the amusement park rides outside were making the whole place feel pretty eerie. And Spence knew how to lighten the mood.

I wrapped my arm around Kiera and pulled her toward the couch. “We’re safe here, Kier.”

“Yeah, right.” Nodding, she crossed her arms and stared at Dom who was putting wood in the floating fireplace.

When some soft music started to play from Spencer’s speaker, I felt Kiera’s shoulders relax just a smidge. It wasn’t Spencer’s usually alt rock stuff, instead it was a soft indie band. I had no idea who it was, and frankly I didn't care enough to ask.

As long as the tunes kept us all steady, I was fine with whatever Spencer wanted to put on.

Kiera leaned on my leg, letting her plump ass rest on my thigh as she kept her arms crossed. “What are we going to do now?”

Sucking in a deep breath, I looked around the place. As nice as the safehouse was, it was more like a bunker than an apartment. There wasn’t a TV in sight, at least not one I could spot.

Maybe it’s one of those bougie screens that looks like a painting.

Even then, the place was sparsely decorated. Our hosts didn’t seem like that kind to worry about keeping us entertained. Honestly, I was almost certain that they’d want to see what a few bored, caged animals would get up to.

There were pretty high odds that they had cameras inside, that they’d hear and see everything we got up to.

Fine, let them see.

The last thing I wanted was for these freaks to think that I was afraid of them.

Patting Kiera’s ass, I got to work hunting for a remote, or some sort of board game. I checked all the classic spots, under the coffee table, on the bookshelf, left on the kitchen counter.

As I pulled open the junk drawer though, I was happy to find something even more enticing.

“Now this could get your mind off things.” A smirk took over my face as I held up the deck of cards. It would help me too. In the silent moments, the reality of my parents' treachery was impossible to escape.

But a quick card game might just do that trick.

Spencer clapped her hands together. “Oh, perfect. We can finally teach our little captive how to play poker.”

Nervous, Kiera tucked a hair behind her ear. “But I’m not going to be very good.”

“That’s okay, Bunny,” Spencer winked. “We’re going to teach you.”

Dom took a seat in the dark leather Eames chair at the corner of the living room rug.

As surprised as I was, I knew that poker was really Dom’s game. Something she’d gotten Spencer and I into when we first moved into the mansion. It was starting to be a right of passage to teach her new guests how to play.

But I had a feeling this game would go a little differently.

Kiera took a seat on the couch, Spencer sitting on the floor, while I grabbed a spot on the couch’s chaise. Lady snuggled up next to Kiera, resting her huge maw on Kiera’s legs.

“First rule, don’t show us your cards and don’t tell us what you have.” Spencer grabbed the deck and started to deal out cards. Two for each of us to keep in our hands, five out on the table face-up.

As soon as Kiera looked at her cards, her face scrunched up.

Reaching into the box of cards, Dom pulled out a cheat sheet. Printed out, were all of the hand rankings.

She tossed the sheet across the table to Kiera. “Here.”

“Thanks.” Reluctant to take the help from Dom, Kiera looked back down at her cards.

Spencer went on to explain more rules — folds, calls, bets.

As she spoke, Kiera rubbed her forehead and tried to keep track of everything. But every time we raised the bets, pushing more pieces of cereal to the center of the table, Kiera got more confused.