A Game?
1291 Words
REYNA'S POV
I didn’t even hear the clock tick for most of the afternoon. My head was too full, too loud. After Marcus left, the whole house felt strange, quiet but tense, like something was hiding in the walls and watching me.
I sat on the edge of my bed, my hands open on my thighs. I felt restless. My legs kept moving on their own, bouncing slightly as if my body wanted to run somewhere even though my mind didn’t know where yet.
I kept thinking about what I found in Jeremy’s things. That receipt. That stupid small paper that shouldn’t exist. He told me he was home that night. He swore it. He said he didn’t go anywhere. But that receipt proved he lied. And if he lied about that… what else?
My heart twisted. I hated that it still hurt. I hated that my chest still felt tight when I thought about it. I hated that I ever loved him enough to ignore the signs.
I stood up and walked to the window. The sun was bright, painting the garden gold. The groundsmen were trimming the flowers. The fountain was running. Everything looked normal. Peaceful. All that beauty sitting on top of something rotten.
I pressed my hand on the glass.
“I’m done being blind,” I whispered to myself.
Saying it out loud made my shoulders drop a little, as if I had been carrying a heavy box inside me all morning.
Jessica. I kept coming back to her name.
There was something she knew. I could feel it in my bones. She looked too calm at the police station. Too prepared. She wasn’t scared. She was ready. People who are innocent panic. People who are guilty plan.
I walked back to the bed and sat again. My fingers played with the blanket.
I knew I had to talk to her soon. But I couldn’t walk up to her and demand answers. She would laugh in my face. She would scream. She would twist things, like she always did. Jessica liked to feel powerful. She liked when people begged around her.
If I wanted to get close to her, I had to make her drop her guard.
I took a deep breath and tried to imagine her in front of me. Her eyes narrow. Her arms folded. That small, ugly smile she always made when she thought she won.
“Jessica,” I said softly, practicing.
The word tasted bitter in my mouth.
“I’m not calling to fight. I just…” My voice cracked a little. I frowned. That wasn’t right. Not too weak. Not too desperate.
I tried again.
“Jessica, I know you hate me. And I’m not calling because of the past. I just… I’m tired. I’m tired of all this, and I want peace.”
I paused. No. Still wrong. Too soft.
One more try.
“Jessica,” I said slowly, as if I was choosing every word with care. “You won. I don’t want to fight anymore. I only want the truth. That’s all. Please… help me understand what really happened that night.”
I felt the air shift. That was it.
Calm. Torn. Honest enough to sound real. Weak enough to feed her ego but not enough to make her suspicious. I let myself imagine her reaction, her eyebrows lifting, her lips curving into a small smile, her thinking she finally broke me.
Good. Let her think that.
I practiced two more times, smoothing my voice, removing the anger, the pain, the bitterness until only the calm torn sound remained. It almost scared me how easy it was to slip into that tone.
My phone buzzed suddenly, making me jump.
I looked at it. Nothing. Just a notification from an app.
I let out a shaky laugh. I was too tense.
I placed the phone on the nightstand. I would reach out to Jessica soon. But not today. I needed to be ready. I needed to understand more.
I went downstairs to drink water. My throat had been dry since morning. The house staff went quiet when they saw me walk into the kitchen. Not rude, but careful. They always acted like this around me. Like they weren’t sure if talking to me would get them into trouble.
I forced a small smile, grabbed a glass, filled it with water, and leaned against the counter.
My mind was still spinning when the front door opened.
I froze. Nicholas walked in. He wasn’t supposed to be home yet.
He loosened his tie as he stepped into the living room, his brows pulled together like the world annoyed him. His hair looked slightly messy, like he had been running his hand through it all day. His shirt sleeves were folded up, showing his forearms.
My heart made an annoying skip, the kind I pretended not to notice.
He looked at me. His steps slowed.
“You’re awake,” he said simply.
“I’ve been awake since morning.”
His eyes scanned my face in that quiet careful way he had. He didn’t rush. He never rushed when he was trying to read me.
“You look… different,” he said.
“How?” I asked.
He shrugged one shoulder. “Just… different.”
I didn’t know if it was a compliment or a warning.
He walked past me, poured himself a glass of water, and leaned against the counter across from me. For a moment, we stood facing each other with the counter between us. The silence wasn’t heavy. It wasn’t angry. It was… searching.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“What did you do today?” he asked.
My stomach tightened. I didn’t want to lie. But I also couldn’t tell him everything. Not yet. So I said the truth he could handle.
“I was thinking about Jeremy,” I said.
His jaw tightened a little. “Why?”
“Because things don’t add up,” I whispered.
He looked away, running his thumb over the glass rim. His silence felt louder than words.
Finally, he said, “Reyna… if you start digging, you have to be careful.”
I frowned. “Why?”
He looked at me then, and for the first time today, his eyes held something sharp. Something real. Something… warning.
“Because most people aren’t who you think they are.” His voice dropped lower. “Even my family.”
A chill ran down my spine.
I opened my mouth, but he pushed off the counter and finished his water.
“I’m going to shower,” he said quietly. “We’ll talk later.”
He didn’t wait for my answer. He went upstairs, leaving me standing there with questions burning holes in my mind.
That night, I couldn’t sleep. I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. My heart felt full and messy. Nicholas knew something. He wasn’t just guessing. He wasn’t warning me because he cared about the family name. He said it like someone who had seen things he couldn’t unsee.
That scared me. And somehow… it also pushed me forward. I reached for my phone, brushing my thumb over the screen.
I could message Jessica right now. I could start the whole plan tonight.
But something told me to wait. Something inside whispered that rushing would ruin everything. I placed the phone back down.
Seconds later, my phone buzzed. My heart jumped. I grabbed it fast.
A message from an unknown number.
My throat went dry.
“Jessica wasn’t alone.
Be careful who you trust.
...A friend.”
My hand shook. I looked toward the hallway where Nicholas’s room was. Someone else knew. Someone was watching. And the game had already started.
- Writer
