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“No, but why do you think it’sme?” I push off him, tilt my chin, and meet his stony glare. “You might be superstitious but so am I. And evenIknow coincidences can exist, so why are you so sure it’s me causing you all this bad luck?”
His jaw ticks. When his eyes coast over my head to the black horizon, I think he’s going to shut me down. But then a reluctant puff of air leaves his lips, and his gaze falls back to mine.
“Mama was as stupid as you.” He flicks an irritated look to my necklace. “God, fate, karma—she believed in all the things she couldn’t see. When I was still struggling with my first-ever casino, she came to visit me in Vegas. Dragged me to this fortune teller on Fremont Street.” He runs a hand over his jaw, shaking his head at the memory. “She was a cartomancer—read fortunes with playing cards. At the time, I thought it was total horseshit, but my mama was sold. Anyway, I watched on while the gypsy drew her the Jack of Diamonds, followed by the Ace of Spades.” He pauses, searching my eyes for any sign of recognition, but I only shrug. “Combined, they’re known as the death duo, apparently. Anyone who draws both cards consecutively is destined to die.”
Ice threads through my veins. “Did she…”
His jaw tightens. “Three weeks later. Poisoned at a fair.”
My vision dims. My hand fumbles for Rafe’s, and I bring it to my mouth. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper against his knuckles. My eyes lift to his. “Is that why you’re superstitious?”
A humorless smirk touches his lips. He stretches out his palm and cups my face. “Not quite. After she drew the cards for my mama, the fortune teller told me she had a reading for me, too, but I was too pissed to listen. I thought it was all bullshit, anyway. But then, with both parents dead within a week of each other? I needed answers. So, after the funeral, I skipped the wake and flew back to Vegas to get them.” He swallows, tracking his thumb with a pained expression as he runs it over my cheek. “I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t for her to put two cards in front of me and tell me I could choose my fate if I so wished.”
“What were the cards?”
“King of Diamonds, or King of Hearts. She told me that in this life, I’d only have one or the other—success in business, or success in love. The caveat was that it could never be both.”
Something sickly spins my stomach. “And what did you choose?” I croak, my mouth drier than it should be.
He smiles sadly and stretches his hands to sweep over the menacing silhouette of the yacht behind him.Hisyacht. “You know the answer, Penelope.”
My heart beats double-time, a question more loaded than a gun shooting up my throat. “You chosethisover being in love?” I jerk a thumb to the ship, wave the watch on my wrist in his face. “Materialistic shit over true feelings?”
The words are desperate and venomous, floating between us like soap bubbles. I wish I could pop them as easily. He regards me with suspicion. “You don’t believe in love either, remember?”
Yeah.Grinding my teeth so nothing else stupid can escape my lips, I wait for him to continue.
“I returned to the fortune teller when I was jaded and confused. My parents had just died; their love meant nothing now.” He pauses. “Well, it wasn’t really love, but I didn’t learn that until later. And Angelo had just told me he wasn’t returning to Devil’s Dip to take over my father’s role as capo, which meant I wouldn’t be his underboss. All I had was a hotel room in Vegas and a shitty casino that was barely earning enough to keep the lights on.” He shrugs carelessly. “I had nothing to lose and a lot to gain, so I tapped the King of Diamonds.”
A few heavy seconds pass. The wind fills them with the faint hum of laughter and Mariah Carey’sAll I Want for Christmas is You.
“So, you’ve explained why you’re richer than God himself, and why you don’t usually fuck the same girl twice,” I say sharply, “but I don’t get what this story has to do with me?”
Rafe runs his tongue over his teeth, his focus shifting behind me. I swear, he hasn’t moved an inch, but he suddenly feels further away. “As I was leaving, she told me that, just like every action has a reaction, every fate card has a doom card. A card that, if you let into your life, it’ll ruin you. Bring you to your knees.” He laughs, like he’s just remembered a private joke. I have a feeling I wouldn’t find it funny.
“What was the card?” I grind out.
He glances at me quickly. “The Queen of Hearts.”
The deck spins in a haze of black, gold, and green. “Queenie.”
I’m brought back to rights by a soft tug on my hair. “The red-haired lady,” Rafe says pensively, staring at my strands around his fingers. “Of course, I thought she was talking shit and my mother’s death was a coincidence, but then almost overnight my casino had all this interest from investors. My bank balance grew as fast as my reputation, and within three years, I owned most of Vegas. If the gypsy was right about my mother and about the King of Diamonds, then why wouldn’t she be right about the doom card? For years, I avoided red-haired women like the plague, just in case.” He tugs sharply on my strands, his stare hardening as it meets mine. “Then you stomped down the stairs of the Blues Den. Red hair, stolen dress, an attitude I wanted to fuck out of you.” He shakes his head. “You were magnetic, and I couldn’t resist giving you the time of day. You turning up at my brother’s wedding could have been a coincidence. It’s a small town, after all. And the port explosion; we had it coming, but when I saw you at the hospital and realized you’d been there, my skepticism began to wane.” He glances along the deck, his jaw ticking. “I didn’t give you a job as a favor to Nico, but to convince myself I was only being paranoid.”
I let out a shaky breath. Fuck, I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that. “Well, I knew you didn’t hire me because of my bullshit resume,” I say weakly.
His smile doesn’t touch his eyes. “The night you started, I lost forty grand on the tables and had to sever ties with one of my most lucrative investments. And then it never fucking stopped, Penny. Every call and email I got was bad news. Shares sliding, stocks crashing. My first casino got hit. Christ.” He runs a careless hand through his hair. “Griffin tried to kill me yesterday.”
I blink. “What?”
His hand slides up to the nape of my neck, his squeeze cutting me off. “A story for another time.” We breathe in each other’s air for a few seconds, my pulse beating off-kilter in my ears. With a heavy puff of breath, Rafe drops his forehead down to mine, his imposing silhouette obscuring the outside world. “I don’t care how lucky you think you are,” he murmurs. “To me, you’re the unluckiest girl in the world.” Instinct pulls me away from him, but he only tightens his grip on my neck. “But you’re also the prettiest. The funniest. The fuckingrudest.You’ve ruined my life but I’m not strong enough to stop you.”
As his admission tickles my top lip, panic rises up my throat. I can’t pin down its source; all I know is that it’s deep-rooted and desperate.“Go back to her,” I whisper. “Go back to the gypsy and ask her to reverse it or something.”
Keeping his grip on my neck, he slides his other hand around my waist and rubs a thumb over the small of my back, where his name is fading. “I can’t. You’re not the only one who likes to start fires, Queenie.”
Maybe it’s just the wind, but now my eyes are stinging. His next words feel like a punch to the throat. “We always knew this was only temporary, right?” His gaze sparks with bitter amusement. “We wouldn’t want you falling into that trap now, would we?”
My vision blurs at the edges. All I can focus on are his eyes searching mine. I hope he can’t see the realization behind them. I take a steadying breath, choke down my emotion, and nod.
