Page 71 of Billionaire’s Game

“And it’s time for the brain challenges. Ladies, you’re up!”

Magnus and Pete watched from the audience while Dr. Alexandra Joseph and I answered question after question. We were tied by the end of the round. I was just excited that I’d been able to keep up with her.

I said as much to her when we stopped for a commercial break.

She laughed. “Why are you surprised? You were light years ahead of me when you were just a teenager. It was me who was trying to keep up with you during that brain round.”

“You remember me?” I couldn’t believe it.

She smiled. “Of course, I remember you. You were one of the smartest young ladies I’ve ever had the pleasure to teach. And I’m happy to see you developed so much grit and confidence over the years. You’ve grown up to be quite a force to reckon with, but then again, I always knew you would be.”

Before I could say another word, the commercial break was over and our partners were taking our places.

“Good luck,” I said to Magnus, and he just grunted. Yeah, he hated me. My hurt heart at the idea, but could I really blame him?

I turned around to look at the audience, some of them had large handwritten signs in their hands that supported various charities, or the signs were hello to the host. Many read, “Good luck, Ophelia’s Angels!” and one even read, “Magnus Deacon, you’re hot!” I laughed, wondering if Magnus had seen that sign yet and suddenly I had a very, very good idea. Dr. Joseph had said I had been a force to reckon with. And I was going to prove her right.

I signaled for the production assistant Celeste and asked her for exactly what I needed. She looked at me as if I were crazy, but I put my hands together and begged her. “Pretty please, Celeste.”

She grudgingly went away and came back with a black marker and a huge piece of paper that was about half the size of my body. I gave her a big smile and got to work.

As big as I could, I wrote exactly how I felt. Then, I positioned myself near the middle of the audience, right in Magnus’s line of vision.

He was in the middle of answering a question when he caught sight of my sign. He frowned, missed the question and Pete answered it instead.

It lost us the lead and I started to regret my sign, but I saw the unmistakable smile on Magnus’s face as his eyes met mine.

He took his eyes off mine and focused on the next question and to my surprise, he got question after question right. And finally they were tied, but the end of the game was nearing.

“With only ten seconds left in the game, now it’s time for the bonus round,” said the host. “Winner takes all.”

Silence descended over the audience. “Magnus, Pete, the first person to answer this question correctly wins the game. Are you ready?”

The hush over the crowd was deafening and the tension that filled the building was unreal. No wonder Brain Pain was so popular. The drama was more than I could bear.

And finally, the last question was read: “What is the capital of Uzbekistan? Is it Buenos Aires, Tashkent, or Bukhara?”

I knew this one and it took so much self-control not to scream it out.

Both guys hit their buttons at the same time it seemed, but according to the host, Magnus had been faster.

“Is it Bukhara?” he said with a smile, totally confident.

I slowly let my breath out as I sunk into my chair.

“Sorry, Magnus, you’re wrong. Pete, you have the opportunity now to win the million dollars for your charity if you can tell us the correct answer.”

Pete smiled, looking just as confident as Magnus did a minute ago.

“Is it Tashkent?”

The host took a deep breath and then yelled, “Congratulations to our winners, the Cycle Psychos!”

I clapped politely, but felt terrible for Magnus and more so for Ophelia’s Angels. I was sorry it had come to this. We had failed.

I saw Magnus hug Dr. Joseph and shake Pete’s hand. The host said goodbye to the audience and then Magnus made his way to me.

I was suddenly nervous, and I wanted to hide behind my sign. Speaking of which, he stopped in front of me and reached for my sign.

“Nice sign. It was very inspirational.”

“Not inspirational enough. It distracted you, otherwise, you would have easily won.”

He shrugged. “It’s not every day that a woman tells you that she loves you in front of a live studio audience.”

I looked down at my sign, written from the heart. It simply read, “I love you, Magnus.” He pulled the sign out of my hand and pulled me toward him.

Nervously I licked my lips and said, “I’m sorry you lost.”

He pulled me closer to him, wrapping me in his arms. “I didn’t lose today. As far as I’m concerned, because I have you in my arms, I won.” And with that, with the production assistants and stragglers from the audience still remaining, he leaned down and kissed me and what followed was deafening applause.