Ready or Not

Grace is getting married. It's a big step, but she's excited with a slight tinge of nervousness. The nervousness, of course, is caused by the fact that her fiance's family is incredibly rich. Old money makes people turn a blind eye to those who don't have it. Grace feels the members of the Le Domas family appraising her and whispering about her less affluent background, about how she lived in a foster family. They obviously think she's nothing more than a pretty blonde gold digger. Grace might have thought the same thing in their place. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Of course, she won't like that she has money for the first time in her life. But she loves Alex de Lomas very much. And she is looking forward to the prospect of becoming part of his strong, tightly woven family. However, Grace does not suspect that the Le Domas clan also has its own secret. It's a kind of tradition. No, more like an obsession. Le Domas like to play games. They made their family fortune selling everything from card and board games to owning professional sports teams. And their traditional ritual is to get some ancient box after the wedding of any family member to play a game. The whole family, young and old, gathers and participates in the game. It can be checkers, tic-tac-toe or "Monopoly". It can be any game. A new family member simply listens to a crazy story about a magical device and an ancient oath, takes out a card from a carved and filigree box, and then plays a game written on the card.