Page 52 of Billionaire’s Game

I turned to Magnus with a look of incredulity on my face, “He’s an Olympian. He brought home at least four gold medals last year. He’s a competitive swimmer.”

Magnus’s face showed no sign of recognition. He just shrugged. And then I looked at the other contestants and instinctively grabbed Magnus’s arm in excitement. “Oh my God, do you see that woman over there? With the blue shirt and dark jeans?”

“Uhh yeah… my arm.” He grimaced.

I looked at him. “What?”

“You’re killing my arm.”

“Oops. Sorry,” I said, letting go of him. “I’m just really excited. She’s like one of my heroes.”

“Oh really?” he said, finally showing some interest. He honestly looked bored and a little down. I wondered what all that was about. He was probably missing Violet, I thought before telling myself to stop being obsessive about something that was none of my business.

“She’s a scientist. I took a class with her years ago as part of an exchange program. I was like sixteen at the time.”

“Was she good?”

“Yes, she’s amazing.” I sighed. “She probably doesn’t remember me. I’m sure she’s had thousands of students.”

“Maybe she does. You should go over and say hello.”

I shook my head, feeling intimidated. “No. It was a long time ago and she has her own show on the Science Channel where she discusses everything from DNA to human sexuality. She’s a genius.” I frowned. “We’re going to lose.”

“Do you know who that guy is?” Magnus asked me. I looked in the direction of where he was pointing and saw a tall lanky dude, shooting daggers with his eyes. And those daggers were directed at Magnus.

I shook my head. “He doesn’t look familiar.”

“That’s my former partner.”

“Former? Is that why he’s looking at you like he wants to step on your face and push you into an early grave?”

Magnus laughed so hard at my statement that others turned in our direction to see what was so funny. I couldn’t help but laugh, too. I was pretty funny, I guess.

“He hates me. That’s for sure. We parted ways at least five years ago and he started his own company which is swiftly becoming one of my chief competitors. He’s doing well for himself.”

“Oh man, did you fire him?”

“No… I gave him two choices and he chose the option to leave.”

“So in other words, you fired him?”

“Kind of.”

“Let’s see… We have an Olympian, a scientist, and your sworn enemy as competitors. I think our chances of winning have just gone down to nil.”

“No biggie. We can take them.”

“You’re way too confident.”

“I don’t know any other way to be. Ready to do this, partner?” He raised his hand to high-five me when someone shouted, “Magnus! Lesli! Over here!”

We looked in the direction of the voice to see Violet struggling to get away from not one, but two security guards.

“Can you tell these guys to let me go? They think I’m some sort of stalker.”

“She’s not allowed on the set,” a security guard said to us.

“You’re not allowed on the set,” I echoed. What could I say? I was a rule follower.