Page 28 of Wicked Games

Zach entered first. The rest of us followed him, taking in the drawing room with wide-eyed wonder. It was a large and elegant space filled with ornate furnishings, oil paintings, and statues, all warmly lit by a bronze and crystal chandelier that hung from the center of the wood-paneled ceiling. An enormous wooden table sat in the middle, laden with silver trays of food, coffee and tea pots on warmers, and glass juice jugs. Chairs with carvedfeatures and purple velvet cushions surrounded the table. There were twelve altogether, and four of them were occupied.

Maverick sat at the head of the table, with Hudson to his right. A lanky blond guy was on his left; presumably Rhys Whitmer. A beautiful girl with smooth brown skin and catlike green eyes sat next to him. I recognized her as Kiara Swift, famous influencer and owner of the finsta account that posted all the nasty stuff about me a few weeks ago. She was also Jasmine’s best friend.

“Oh my god, babe!” She sprang up and hugged Jasmine as soon as she spotted her. “I’ve been waiting for you!”

While the two of them embraced, the rest of us looked over at Maverick, Hudson, and Rhys.

“Did you guys find anything?” I asked.

“And when did Kiara get here?” Brooke added.

“She was in here when we came to check it out,” Maverick said. “Apparently, she woke up at six and came straight down here. She said she figured she’d wait for the others to show up.”

“Fair enough.”

“There’s also this.” Maverick pointed to an embossed card in front of him. “Name cards.”

I squinted at each card in turn until I found mine at the opposite end. April went around the table carefully examining each card. Then she went to her assigned spot and pulled out the chair. “There’s twelve of us, if these cards are accurate,” she said. “Nine of us are already here, and there’s also Courteney Phang, Tate Salinas, and Evan Holt.”

“Yeah, I know. I read them earlier.” Maverick leaned forward. “Did you see the other three anywhere?”

“No.” April shook her head. “They must be in their rooms.”

“I guess so. Oh, and there’s one more thing,” Maverick gestured behind us, and we all turned to look.

A huge flatscreen TV hung on the wall. It was off, but a tiny red light at the bottom let us know it was plugged in somewhere and presumably working.

“Did you find a remote anywhere?” April asked, scanning the room again.

“No. We looked everywhere,” Rhys said. “There’s nothing in here. Not counting the furniture and the food.”

Hudson still hadn’t said a word. He’d been glowering at me from his spot at the table since the second I walked in, but I kept pretending not to notice. Fuck him.

April opened her mouth to speak again, but she was interrupted by the arrival of the final three—Tate, Evan, and Courteney. It was obvious who Courteney was, because she was the only girl in the trio, but I wasn’t sure who was who when it came to the guys. Both were tall with pale skin. One had prematurely receded brown hair, and the other had curly ginger hair.

“Oh, thank fuckingGod, there’s food!” one of them said, making a beeline for the table. He snatched up a croissant from a tray and lifted it to his mouth.

Rhys stood and knocked it out of his hand before he could take a bite. “Don’t be such a dumbass, Tate!” he said. “This shit could be poisoned!”

So that was Tate, meaning the redhead was Evan.

Maverick stood, jaw set like granite. “We’re all here now,” he said. “Let’s try to figure out what the fuck is going on.”

Everyone started talking at once, so Maverick briskly clapped his hands to attract everyone’s attention back to him. “One at a time!” he said. “Let’s go around the table and say how we got here. We might have different stories. Rhys, you first.”

The twelve of us shared the same story. We were all given letters in black envelopes inviting us to the so-called Galileo Society, and each of us had shown up at the mansion on4 Sutherland Drive for the interview, only to find ourselves drugged by the welcome cocktail.

“We all had different times written in our letters, right?” April asked, looking around the group. “So they could take us one by one.”

“I think so.” Maverick nodded curtly. “Let’s go around the table again and say what time we were given.”

April was right. Every single one of us had received a different time in our invitations, fifteen minutes apart.

“Who was the first to arrive?” April asked, cocking her head. “Hudson, right?”

Hudson simply grunted, and Maverick nodded. “Yeah, at 7:00. That was the earliest time anyone said.”

“Who gives a fuck?” Rhys said, eyes narrowing. “The time doesn’t matter.”

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