Aย person stopped breathing when they were awestruck or terrified. When they were hiding and any sound could give them away. When the world around them was on fire, the air thick with smoke.
Jameson and I scoured every single smoke detector in Hawthorne House.
โYouโre smiling,โ I told him, disgruntled when the last one turned up nothing.
โI like a challenge.โ Jameson gave me a look that reminded me that Iโdย beenย a challenge for him. โAnd maybe Iโm feeling nostalgic for Saturday mornings. Say what you will about my childhood, but it was never boring.โ
I thought back to the balcony. โYou didnโt mind being set against your brothers?โ I asked.ย Against Grayson?ย โBeing forced to compete?โ
โSaturday mornings were different,โ Jameson said. โThe puzzles, the thrill, the old manโs attention. Weย livedย for those games. Maybe not Nash, but Xander and Grayson and me. Hell, Gray even let loose sometimes because the games didnโt reward perfection. He and I used to team up against Nash, at least until the end. Everything else our grandfather didโeverything he gave us, everything expected of usโwas about molding the next generation of Hawthornes to be something extraordinary. But Saturday mornings, those gamesโthey were about showing us that we alreadyย were.โ
Extraordinary, I thought.ย And a part of something.ย That was the siren call of Tobias Hawthorneโs games.
โDo you think thatโs why your grandfather left me this game?โ I asked.
The billionaire had set my game to start if and only if I met Eve. Had he known that I would start questioning his almighty judgment in choosing me the moment she showed up? Had he wanted to show me what I was capable of?
That I was extraordinary?
โI think,โ Jameson murmured, relishing the words, โthat my grandfather left three games when he died, Heiress. And the first two both told us something about why he chose you.โ
Donโt breathe.ย We didnโt solve the clue that night. The next day was Monday. Oren cleared me to go to school so long as he stuck to my side. I could have called out sick and stayed home, but I didnโt. My game had proven an effective distraction, but Toby was still in danger, and nothing could keep my mind off that for long.
I went to school because I wanted the paparazziโthat my opponent had so kindly set on me like dogsโto take a picture of me with my head held high.
I wanted the person who had taken Toby to realize that I wasnโt down.
I wanted him to make his next damn move.
I spent my free mods in the Archiveโprep school forย library. I was almost done with the calculus homework Iโd ignored over the long weekend when Rebecca came in. Oren allowed her past.
โYou told Thea.โ Rebecca stalked toward me.
โIs that such a bad thing?โ I askedโfrom a safe distance. โShe isย relentless,โ Rebecca muttered.
Proving the point, Thea appeared in the doorway behind her. โI was under the impression that youย likedย relentless.โ Only Thea could make that sound flirty in these circumstances.
Rebecca grudgingly met her girlfriendโs eyes. โI kind of do.โ
โThen youโre going toย loveย this part,โ Thea told her. โBecause itโs the part where you stop fighting this, stop fighting me, stop running away from this conversation, and let go.โ
โIโm fine, Thea.โ
โYouโre not,โ Thea told her achingly. โAnd you donโt have to be, Bex. Itโs not your job to beย fineย anymore.โ
Rebeccaโs breath hitched.
I knew when my presence wasnโt necessary. โIโm going to go,โ I said, and neither one of them even seemed to hear me. In the hallway, I was informed by an office aid that the headmasterโs office was looking for me.
The headmasterโs office?ย I thought.ย Not the headmaster?
On the way there, I made conversation with Oren. โThink someone tipped the school off about my knife?โ I wondered how seriously private schools took their weapons policies when it came to students who were on the verge of inheriting billions. But when Oren and I got to the office, the secretary greeted me with a sunny smile.
โAvery.โ She held out a packageโnot an envelope, but a box. My name was scripted on the top in familiar, elegant writing. โThis was delivered for you.โ