Page 219 of Gathered Sparkle

“It would be,” she agrees.

“All right, Nicholas, the moment of truth.” Levi gestures toward him. “Show everyone the card you have in your hand.”

Nicholas flips the card over, holding it up.

It’s a Three of Spades.

The crowd bursts into laughter, the tension breaking as Levi dramatically slaps a hand to his forehead. “Uh-oh.”

Koen lets out an exaggerated sigh, crossing his arms. “Nothing is going as planned tonight.”

The crowd chuckles but looks around at each other, believing that this is all a big shit show.

Which it is, but a planned one.

“I’m such a dummy.” Levi snickers, shaking his head as the laughter subsides. “But wait, here’s the thing. Nicholas isn’t holding your card, Veronica.” He grins mischievously, his eyes scanning the audience. “Because everyone else is. Folks, check the cards you’ve hidden on yourselves. Go ahead, pull them out. Do any of you have Veronica’s card, the Ace of Hearts?”

There’s a ripple of movement as people dig into their pockets, jackets, and purses before shouts and gasps punctuate the air.

“It’s an Ace of Hearts!” someone yells, holding up their card.

“Mine is too!” another voice joins in.

“Ladies, gents, and nonbinary friends, please,” Levi beams, raising his hands. “Hold your Ace of Hearts up high! Show me your cards!”

The audience bursts into chatter and laughter as dozens of people hold their cards aloft, each one an Ace of Hearts, and I let the drone fly over the sea of them.

It’s fucking impressive.

“And that, my friends, is what we callmagic.”Levi grins. “Please keep the card up in the air. Don’t put it away. Can you do that for me?”

The crowd is eating it up. To them, it really is magic.

But it’s a fucking chess game, every move calculated, every piece carefully placed. They’re laughing, cheering, blissfully unaware that the true target of tonight’s spectacle isn’t them. It’s the woman standing next to Levi, looking not as nervous as she did moments ago but still somewhat aware that this night has gotten out of her hands entirely.

Alaric’s voice crackles through the comms. “I’m in position.”

I tap my earpiece. “Hold.”

A soft thud from Jinx’s crate has me glancing down and muting my mic to talk to her. “Patience isn’t your strong suit, huh?”

She gives me a judgmental look like I’m dragging this out for fun.

“Yeah, yeah.” I smirk. “Go ahead and tell me how you’d run this better.” Another lazy blink before Jinx levels me with a look of the kind of silent superiority only cats and Levi can pull off.

Glancing back at the monitor, I watch the crowd waving their cards like banners, and I feel a flicker of satisfaction.

This is only the first crack in Veronica’s foundation.

And by the end of tonight, we’ll make damn sure it crumbles.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Novalee

The wind on the rooftop slices through my thin, long-sleeved shirt. I release my breath slowly as I pull a dark cloth over the security camera next to the exit, stretching it tight to block the lens. The fabric clings to my sweaty palms, but I secure it in place, hoping it’ll hold long enough to keep me off the radar.

Getting up here had gone perfectly, every step falling into place like it was scripted. Sylus was right. It seems even the employees couldn’t resist the spectacle. Most of them are either on the street below or pressed to the windows, catching glimpses of the show. The empty hallways made it easy for me to slip through unnoticed, using Belmont’s master key card and Sylus’s button combination to summon the elevator straight to the rooftop.

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