The Player (The Game Maker #3) - Kresley Cole Page 0,75

on their scam, we were still well short, even with Lucía’s watch and my car.

“We can’t do this without you. You need to settle on your play today. Lose the ring”—adding more deception to the heaping pile of it—“or lose the guy.”

Divorce.

“If you walked now, you could tell his lawyers you’ll sign away your rights, but only for a speedy settlement. Say ten mil by the weekend? They’d consider their client’s enormous exposure, and I bet they’d pay it.”

As if Dmitri would ever let me go . . .

Karin added, “Or you can lose the ring and put off the divorce decision.”

I worried my lip. “It’s a symbol. What if I jinx this marriage by giving it up? What if Lady Luck is actually smiling on me to this extent? How will she feel if I spat in her eye?”

“Jinxed? Your ‘relationship’ is built on lies,” Karin said, getting exasperated. “You don’t have a choice. You can’t keep the guy and the rock.”

My sister made me sound greedy, like a gull. “I would never leave the family in a lurch—you know that—but there’s another option. I ask him for the money.”

In that scenario, I would anonymously return Lucía’s watch. What if it had sentimental value? Like I’d attached to my ring?

Oh, and I wouldn’t report the Porsche stolen.

All told, I’d need . . . three mil.

She imitated me: “Hi, Dmitri, I know we’ve only been married a week, but I need a blank check for a fortune, and I can never tell you why. Though this would definitely spur any sane man to investigate me, please don’t. ’Kay? Thanks, baby.”

I didn’t want to frame my dilemma as how much I love my parents versus how much I trust a virtual stranger to give me millions.

He was unbelievably generous, but could he sign a blank check—with no questions asked?

If he refused, he’d be suspicious once I lost my ring. Even if he said yes about the money, he might still investigate my family more intensively.

I would be risking everyone I loved, rolling the dice on a man I’d known for mere days—a man with a troubled past.

One who didn’t seem interested in divulging much more about it.

So far, I’d garnered only tidbits of his background. When I’d asked him about his parents, he’d said, “I loved my mother dearly.” His gaze had gone distant, but his eyes had been full of affection. “My brothers were older and often off by themselves, so I spent most of my days with her. She taught me how to play chess and ride horses. She used to sing to me.” Yet he’d refused to talk about his father at all.

Though I still had no idea how his parents had died within two years of each other, I hadn’t pressed. He believed once he shared his secrets, I would share mine, and I wanted to postpone that as far into the future as possible. Read: indefinitely.

Karin said, “If he finds out we played him, he could get that postnup overturned. You would be left with nothing.” She sighed into the phone. “Pete knew this would happen. He told me to remind you we’re a different breed.”

The only thing we can’t cheat is fate. . . .

Dmitri had already been betrayed by someone he’d trusted, likely his abuser, a person who’d targeted and deceived him.

I had targeted and deceived him. My family had manipulated him, arranging for him to run afoul of my ex. Despite our motivations, how could he ever get over the similarities?

I recalled his eyes dimming as he’d said, “We always find out in the long run, do we not?”

“Vice, I’m going to tell you something I’ve never revealed to anyone.” Karin paused, then said, “I considered coming clean about all of us to Walker. I would’ve bet the house that he loved me. He’d told me he did.” I pictured the adoring way that man had looked at her. “He and I have a child together, and he still deserted me and Cash. I know how easy it is to get blinded.”

On the surface, Dmitri and Walker had a lot in common, both so rich and proud. Would Dmitri react like Walker? Would I react like Karin and never get over the heartache?

Did I believe in that Sevastyan devotion? Or the tears she’d shed?

“Text me your plan,” she said. “Today.”

“Tell me how you would play this.”

She didn’t hesitate. “I’d ignore my starstruck infatuation, shuck his thrall, divorce the guy I barely know before