00:01Did you actually think you could bring me down?
00:06My heart lurched and right behind the surge of humiliation
00:09came a flash of something else relief.
00:11So the milk hole, the moment his apple moved hard against his collar,
00:15that whole scene he'd allowed me to lay out, indulge me to the final line.
00:19I understood then that in this game called The Hunt,
00:22I'd lost half and won half.
00:24To stay alive, I'd have to climb onto the thicker,
00:27more dangerous of the two thighs at the table.
00:29My phone buzzed.
00:30I read the message, then pushed open the heavy oak doors of the conference room.
00:35His secretary was halfway through a low report on Seb's latest moves.
00:38I didn't hesitate.
00:40Like a quiet vine that knew exactly where it was going,
00:43I walked straight up to Elias and laid my cheek against his ear.
00:47I could feel the secretary's startled glance,
00:50and I ignored every other person in that room.
00:53When the secretary excused herself, I laid the cards on the table.
00:56I told him, Serafina was sitting in a cafe right now,
01:00waiting for ironclad proof of his cheating.
01:02Elias gave a thin, bold laugh.
01:04The contempt in it for his wife's gambit made the air go thin.
01:09Mr. Elias, plan A failed.
01:11She'll always come up with a B.
01:13Better to keep the crisis you've already mapped me,
01:16then guard against the next one you can't see coming.
01:20I take both salaries.
01:23I block her plays for you,
01:25and while I'm at it, I watch her people.
01:32You want to draw two paychecks?
01:34And you want me as your shield,
01:36between you and every collector at your door?
01:39You couldn't bear to see me end ugly, could you?
01:53What's the fun in pretending to take the bait?
01:55Wouldn't it be more interesting to actually take it?
02:02An hour later, I walked into the corner cafe on time.
02:06Serafina was sitting in the shade of the window,
02:09holding a slim rectangle between her fingers, my work ID.
02:12I dropped it in the garage the night before,
02:15when I'd stumbled into her and Arthur.
02:17I forced my heartbeat down,
02:19and ran a clumsy lie about a dead phone battery.
02:22Looked up at the woman across from me,
02:24and she wasn't the wounded wife anymore.
02:26She was a long game player who'd been sharpening the knife for years,
02:29and was almost done.
02:30She warned me that if I didn't bring her something fatal soon,
02:33she'd be a worse problem for me than every enemy I already had.
02:36I walked out.
02:37The cold cut into my collar.
02:39As I turned the corner,
02:40I caught it, Arthur, with his arm around Serafina,
02:44slipping out the cafe's side door.
02:46Her hand, gold-tipped nails and all,
02:48was inside his overcoat.
02:50Now, like the world had stopped existing around them,
02:52I pulled my phone out.
02:53My fingers shook as I tapped the shutter.
Comments