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CHECKMATE THREAT 2

Author: Grace Pearl
last update Last Updated: 2025-07-09 19:13:58

POV: NATHANIEL

The email pings at exactly 2:14 a.m.

I should be asleep but I am not.

Sleep has been like a stranger recently.

So, here I am in my study, pacing in the dark, half dressed, with a glass of whiskey that is already warm and useless.

There is something clawing at me tonight. A tension I can’t name. Like something is about to snap but won’t tell me when. The silence feels rigged.

It is something I am used to now. The unrest. The tension. The constant waiting for the next shoe to drop.

My life has moved from blissful peace and control to desperate survival

When I hear the ping, I grab my phone out of habit, not interest. I am expecting some spam or another desperate board member needing reassurances. But when I open it, I freeze.

No subject. No message. Just one attachment.

I open it.

My mouth dries.

It is a photo.

An old one.

Our old family portrait. Me. My mother. My father. All of us lined up like some twisted American royalty. Except, someone has tampered with it.

My mo
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  • HEIRESS REBORN   EXPECTED BACKLASH

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  • HEIRESS REBORN   LINES NOT TO CROSS

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  • HEIRESS REBORN   HEARTBEAT CONFESSION 2

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  • HEIRESS REBORN   HEARTBEAT CONFESSION

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  • HEIRESS REBORN   COUNTER-PRESSURE

    POV: MARGOTIt’s 12:41 a.m. when my phone rings but I don’t pick up right away. I am lying in bed, half-asleep, staring at the ceiling and pretending not to be waiting for the universe to kick start again. But when I see the caller ID, I sit up."Ruth."Her name lights up my screen, and a sick feeling clamps down on my gut before I even answer. My sister never calls this late. Ever. She hates phones. Hates attention. The last time she rang me after midnight, it was about Mom’s stroke."Ruth? What's wrong?"Her voice shakes. “Someone broke in."I am already throwing the blanket off. “What? Are you okay? Were you hurt?""No. I wasn’t home, I was at the volunteer center. I came back and… my place is a disaster. Not ransacked like a robbery. Just... weird. Creepy. They didn’t take anything, M. They just tore things up. Photos. My journals. That picture of us from the boardwalk? Ripped. Drawers dumped out. The floorboards were... pried. What the hell is going on? What have you gotten me in

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