When Family Became a Place I Couldn’t Return To novel Chapter 230

If she could track where every card landed after a shuffle, then luck didn’t even matter.

But… was that really possible?

Nelly let a sly smile curl at the edge of her lips. She didn’t bother denying it. “The dealers all use the same shuffle. For this kind of game, it’s always the same. Two shuffles in reverse, one forward, then three cuts. No one does it differently.”

She’d paid close attention. Every table, every dealer, exact same moves.

It helped that, as a kid, her mom had nothing else to teach her but card games. That shuffling style was so familiar, it was like muscle memory. Her mom used to shuffle the cards just like this when they played their guessing games.

So, after every shuffle, Nelly could picture all the cards, where they were, how they’d fall. The first round had been just a test run. Now she was sure. The dealer’s technique was exactly her mom’s. To her, the cards might as well have been see-through. As soon as the first one flipped, she could predict the rest.

Brody’s eyebrows drew together. He kept glancing at her, trying to process what he’d just seen. He honestly never thought Nelly had this kind of talent.

“You never told me you could gamble,” he said, voice low.

“You never asked.” Nelly leaned in, her voice soft and close.

“Brody, you really are arrogant. You never take the time to look at people, to actually understand them. So who said you get to judge someone just because you think you know them?”

Nelly knew Brody better than anyone. She always hit where it hurt—she was just that precise. Before, she’d been in love with him, so even when she spotted his flaws, she never wanted to say a single bad thing.

Brody felt a weight pressing on his chest. Nelly was so much smarter than he’d ever given her credit for. Back in school, she’d acted like she needed his help, always looking like she was trying so hard in front of him. Was all of that… just another way to play him?

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