Page 31 of Glitched Play

This one is not mine.

Worse, it has tiny pixelated hearts around the rim.

My gaze shifts.

A cardboard box rests near the island.

Black marker stretches across the side.

MORE IMPORTANT STUFF

I stare at it.

Then stare at the mug again.

Evidence.

Proof.

Someone else is here—in my space.

The thought sends an uncomfortable awareness through my chest. Maybe Parker and my family were right. I don’t like people in my spaces and maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to Dara’s plan. When she asked, I said OKAY thinking about how easy it would be for her to work fourteen hours a day if she didn’t have a commute.

A soft sound reaches my ears, breaking me from my thoughts.

Footsteps. Bare feet against tile.

I close my eyes briefly. Because Dara didn't just put someone in my penthouse. She put someone in my penthouse who owns decorative mugs.

This is how empires collapse.

seven

. . .

Maci

Encrypted Voicemail: Rune

Most games don’t tell you where you’re going. They just make it interesting enough that you want to find out.

How can my hands be shaking when I’m carrying a thirty-pound box? I squeeze it tighter as the elevator opens directly into a penthouse.

Not a hallway.

Not a lobby.

Not some normal human entryway where a person can gather herself before stepping into a private space.

Nope.

The doors slide open, and suddenly I'm standing inside Witt O'Ryan's home. Actually, Dara didn’t say he lived here. She said the company owned it.

Suddenly my two suitcases, three boxes, a backpack stuffed with cables, are no longer the most interesting part of my day.

For a second, all I can do is stare.

The penthouse is insane in the way only ridiculous wealth can be insane. Floor-to-ceiling windows wrap around the living area, showing off the Austin skyline like the city personally agreed to be his screensaver. The furniture is expensive but minimal, all clean lines and dark fabric and smooth wood surfaces that look like nobody has ever spilled coffee, dropped a controller, or eaten nachos while gaming at two in the morning.