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He let me think I was in control. That I had the upper hand.

It was all an illusion.

Everything that has happened to this point shifts.

The Halstead death.

That night we killed the wrong man…or the man we were allowed to believe was wrong.

The silence afterward.

The foundation.

The gala.

Delaney.

Samson’s disappearance.

The phone.

Audrey.

Ella.

Hazel.

The blood on the bracelet.

VexleyARC.

All of it.

A board.

A single board.

And Cain has been sitting across from me the entire time, letting me believe I was playing.

My father didn’t change the plan.

Cain didn’t blunder.

I was never the player.

I was the pawn.

Tonight, I am exactly what Cain let me be.

A pawn advanced far enough to be sacrificed.

43

ELLA

One hour earlier

I run because if I slow down, I’ll go back.