What did that mean? That he expects me to react, not act. That he thinks I’ll never look ahead.
I forced myself to stop, to slow down, to think. All around me, the others were fighting loudly about next moves. But I shut out the sound of Jameson’s voice, of Nash’s and Xander’s, Oren’s, everyone’s. And eventually, I circled back to the Queen’s Gambit. I thought about how it required ceding control of the board. It required a loss.
And it worked best when your opponent thought it was a rookie error, rather than strategy.
A plan took shape in my mind. It ossified. And I made a call.
CHAPTER 75
What did you just do?” Jameson looked at me the way he had the night he’d told me that I was their grandfather’s last puzzle, like after all this time, there were still things about me, about what I was capable of, that could surprise him.
Like he wanted to know them all.
“I called the authorities and reported that human remains had been found at Hawthorne House.” That much had probably been obvious if they’d overheard me. What Jameson was really asking me was why.
“Far be it from me to state the obvious,” Thea cut in, “but wasn’t the point of digging that up to make a trade?”
I could feel Jameson reading me, feel his brain sorting through the possibilities in mine.
“I have another call to make,” I said.
“To Blake?” Rebecca asked.
“No,” Jameson answered for me.
“I don’t have time to explain,” I told all of them.
“You’re playing him.” Jameson didn’t phrase that as a question.
“Blake said to bring him the body, and it will be returned to him.
Eventually. And when it is, I won’t have broken any laws.”
It was easier thinking of this like chess. Trying to see my opponent’s moves coming before he made them. Baiting the moves I wanted, blocking attacks before they happened.
Xander’s eyes widened. “You think that if you’d taken him the remains, he would have held the illegality of that move over you?”
“I can’t afford to hand him any more leverage.”
“Because, of course, this is all about you.” Thea’s voice was dangerously pleasant—never a good sign.
“Thea,” Rebecca said quietly. “Let it go.”
“No. This is your family, Bex. And no matter how hard you try, no matter how angry you manage to get—that’s always going to matter to you.” Thea lifted a hand to the side of Rebecca’s face. “I saw you back there with your mom.”
Rebecca looked like she wanted to get lost in Thea’s eyes, but she didn’t let herself. “I always thought there was something wrong with me,” she said, her voice breaking. “Emily was my mom’s world, and I was a shadow, and I thought it was me.”
“But now you know,” Thea said softly, “it was never you.”
Mallory’s trauma was Rebecca’s trauma—probably was Emily’s, too.
“I am done living in the shadows, Thea,” Rebecca said. She turned to me. “Bring on the light. Tell the world the truth. Do it.”
That wasn’t my plan—not exactly. There was one move that would let me protect the people who needed protecting. One sequence, if I could execute it.
If Blake didn’t see it coming.
Reporting the body was just step one. Step two was controlling the narrative.