The air was thick with anticipation within the dimly lit casino, the gentle hum of slot machines mixing with the murmur of excessive rollers at the poker tables. Ava stood at the center of the chaos, her heart pounding, the burden of her decision pressing on her. She wasn’t here to gamble with cash tonight—she was playing together with her coronary heart.
Across the room, seated at a private table, changed into Marco DeLuca. The person anybody whispered about. An excessive-stakes gambler with a reputation as bloodless as the steel-grey suit he wore. His dark hair became slicked again, and his sharp eyes were focused on the cards in front of him. But it wasn’t his money or his popularity that had drawn Ava into this risky sport. It turned into their beyond—an electric-powered connection that had sparked between them years ago before their lives took separate paths.
Ava took a deep breath, her heels clicking towards the polished marble ground as she made her manner toward him. Each step felt like of venture, every heartbeat a bet positioned at the unsure future. Marco hadn’t visible her in years, and the last time they’d parted, it was whatever however pleasant. However tonight, the whole lot became on the road.
As she approached the table, Marco’s eyes flicked up, catching hers. For a breakup second, his expression softened, but the bloodless, calculated mask quickly returned. He leaned returned in his chair, tossing some chips onto the pile inside the middle of the desk.
“I didn’t expect to see you right here, Ava,” Marco said, his voice clean and controlled, although there was an aspect to it. “You’ve been averting me for a long time.”
Ava swallowed, trying to steady her nerves. “I’m not here to keep away from you anymore.”
She sat down across from him, her palms tracing the brink of the poker desk. She had rehearsed this conversation in her head in one thousand instances, but now that she became in front of him, the words appeared more difficult to find.
Marco raised an eyebrow, his eyes narrowing. “So what’s modified? Last time we saw each other, you made it pretty clear you desired not anything to do with me.”
Ava’s coronary heart tightened. That remaining assembly has been a mess—a whirlwind of misunderstandings, arguments, and unresolved feelings. She had walked away, questioning it became for the great, however, the distance made her understand how a great deal she still cared about him. Marco wasn’t simply another participant within the casino of life; he changed into the only one she had constantly guessed her coronary heart on, even when she attempted to persuade herself in any other case.
“I made a mistake,” she admitted, her voice quiet however firm. “I idea walking away turned into the proper desire, however, I was wrong.”
Marco’s expression didn’t trade, however, his eyes softened barely. He leaned forward, resting his elbows at the table, reading her with the same depth he reserved for the maximum high-stakes video games. “And now? What are you right here for, Ava?”
She took a deep breath. “I’m here due to the fact I nevertheless love you. Because I don’t need to gamble with our future anymore. I need to be with you.”
The load of her confession hung in the air between them, heavy with unspoken history and unresolved anxiety. Marco’s gaze by no means left hers, and for a second, Ava concept he might stroll away, similar to what she had years in the past. But then, slowly, a small smile tugged on the corner of his mouth.
“,” he said, his voice low, “I’ve been having a bet my complete life, but I by no means guess on you coming back.”
Ava’s coronary heart skipped a beat, hope flickering to lifestyles. “Does that mean you’ll take a risk on us once more?”
Marco’s eyes darkened, not with anger, but with something deeper, something extra dangerous. “Loving me comes with risks, Ava. That. My world isn’t easy.”
“I recognize,” she said softly, achieving throughout the desk to take his hand. “but I’m not afraid anymore.”
Marco’s arms tightened around hers, and for the first time in years, the icy wall among them started to melt. He stood up, pulling her lightly to her toes, his gaze never leaving hers.
“You’re certain?” he asked, his voice severe, though there was a trace of vulnerability beneath his calm facade.
Ava smiled, her heart racing, however with exhilaration now, now not worry. “I’m all in.”
Marco’s lips quirked into a grin, and without another phrase, he pulled her close, his hand slipping around her waist. The tension between them, built up over years of distance and doubt, snapped as he leaned down and kissed her. It became a kiss filled with all the matters they hadn’t stated, all of the feelings that they had tried to deny.
Once they sooner or later pulled aside, the world around them appeared to fade away. The sounds of the online casino, the clatter of chips, and the murmur of players disappeared, leaving simply the two of them standing at the threshold of something new.
“I wager this is a specific kind of excessive-stakes recreation,” Marco said with a smirk, his hand nevertheless on her waist.
Ava laughed, her coronary heart mild for the first time in a long time. “this is the simplest recreation that matters.”
As they walked out of the online casino collectively, hand in hand, Ava knew that she had subsequently won the maximum essential gamble of all—love.