Page 33 of Wicked Games

Damn.She had a point. I still thought everything on the table was probably fine, but I wasn’t willing to risk my life for ‘probably’.

When I remained silent, Kiara smiled victoriously and waved a hand at the coffee pot. “So… who’s brave enough to try?” she asked. “Carey’s just proved she isn’t. April, how about you? You were just saying how much you need a drink, right?”

April gnawed on the inside of her cheek, eyes wavering between me and the coffee pot closest to her. “You really think it’s okay?” she whispered.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Maverick snapped. He stood and grabbed one of the coffee pots and one of the juice jugs. He poured himself a cup of each and gulped both down. “There,” he said, wiping his chin. “If I drop dead in the next couple of minutes, you’ll know Kiara is right.”

We waited with bated breath for a few minutes. Nothing happened. Maverick was totally fine.

With that, we all dug in, filling ourselves with delicious pastries, fruits, bacon, eggs, and coffee. I could tell everyone was still a bit worried about potential poison or drugs in the food, but April was right—if we were really going to be forced into some crazy challenge scenario in the next few minutes, we’d need our strength and energy.

“I’ll give these psycho kidnappers one thing,” Tate said through a mouthful of food. “They’re excellent caterers. These are the best damn croissants I’ve ever had. The bacon is top tier too.”

“Yeah, thanks for the grub, Kiara,” Evan said, smiling smugly at her before turning his attention to me. “Or should I be thanking you, Carey?”

“Oh my god, shut the fuck up!” I snapped, eyes narrowing. I was so done with these preppy assholes judging me when I’d never done anything to any of them, apart from Maverick. “I don’t know what the hell your problem is, but you really need t—”

I was cut off mid-tirade by a shrill beeping sound, followed by an automated voice. “Please proceed to the gaming room in five minutes.”

Zach stood abruptly. “Where the hell is the gaming room?” he asked, eyes flashing with fear. “And where’s that voice coming from?”

Rhys stood too, narrowing his eyes as he moved around the left side of the drawing room. “I’m pretty sure all the statues and paintings in here are bugged,” he said as he leaned in to examine a large marble bust on a plinth. He stood up straight again and shook a finger. “Yeah, see? The eyes. There’s a small red light in one of them.”

“You think it’s a camera?” Brooke asked, forehead wrinkling.

“Of course it is. Looks like there’s a tiny microphone in the mouth, too.” Rhys looked back at the table. “I bet this whole house is filled with cameras and speakers so the Game Master can watch us and communicate with us. The phones are just an added touch.”

Maverick strode over to the other side of the drawing room and started examining the bronze sconces lining the damask wallpaper. “Rhys is right. And it’s not just the artwork. It’sthe light fixtures too. There are surveillance cameras fuckingeverywhere,” he finally said. “I can’t believe we missed this earlier.”

“Well, we weren’t expecting to be forced into some weird hybrid of Big Brother and Squid Game,” April said. “So I don’t blame you for not noticing until now. None of us did.”

“So, my other question,” Zach chimed in. “The gaming room. Where the hell is it?”

I shook my head. “No idea. I guess we have to go and find it.”

“Let’s go.” Maverick snapped his fingers. “We can search the place for the rest of the cameras and mics later.”

Everyone murmured their agreement and stood. When we stepped out of the drawing room, a resounding gasp filled the hall. “It’s open,” Jasmine said breathlessly.

She was referring to one of the previously sealed hallways that ran out of the spacious foyer. The steel shutter had rolled upward, revealing a long hall lined with doors. Every door was sealed except for the first one on the right, which had a sign on it.Gaming Room 1.

“Well, there it is,” April muttered. “Who’s game to go in first?”

“Are you seriously making game-related puns right now?” Kiara said, rolling her eyes.

“No, I didn’t even realize,” April said, voice laced with anxiety. “I just meant… who wants to go in first? Because I sure as hell don’t.”

“I’ll go,” Maverick said. He headed into the hall, opened the door, and stepped into the room. “Huh,” he said. “This is weird as fuck. Come and look, guys.”

We all marched into the room after him, eyes wide as we took in our new surroundings. The walls were painted black, and strange metal fixtures hung from the ceiling along with a series of gears and pulleys that were embedded in the ceiling itself.Each fixture hung directly above one of twelve large gray squares on the floor, arranged in a three-by-four grid. The squares had our names embossed in the center, and each was surrounded by four smaller squares—red above, blue to the right, yellow below, and green to the left.

“What the fuck is this shit?” Rhys said, heading over to the square with his name. “Anyone?”

“No idea,” Courteney murmured, heading over to her own square. She knelt to examine it. “I don’t see anything here, except the name.”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Zach said, flashing a worried look at me, April, and Brooke. Our squares were all in different places. Mine was at the bottom right corner, April was in the middle of the second row, Brooke was on the left of the third row, and Zach was in the top left corner.

The door suddenly slammed shut behind us, and the thudding sound was followed by a loud click.

---