Chapter 3

After a few rounds of drinks, Adrian picked up his phone for the third time.

"Something's wrong."

He stood up. "If Serena can't reach me, she won't just sit around and wait. So why hasn't anyone from the estate called?"

My father said, "They did call. Celeste said the show had to look real, so I had the calls cut off. Relax. I told the men at the door to go in right away if they heard anything strange."

Matteo couldn't sit still either. "Annie's scared of the dark, and Lana will do anything to protect her. I'm going back to check."

Celeste's eyes welled up at once.

"Matteo, you all promised you'd spend Thanksgiving with me. Now that my sister's back, I don't even get that much anymore?"

She took out an old, yellowed photo. In it, her father stood beside the bombed-out car, shielding a young Matteo and Adrian.

Matteo stopped where he was.

The life debt was like a rope. All Celeste had to do was give it a little tug, and none of them could leave.

Adrian didn't sit back down. He tried calling Nico, his right-hand man, to send him straight to the estate. He wanted Nico to see for himself that I was safe and call him back.

The phone rang and rang. No one picked up.

Adrian's expression changed.

But Celeste walked over with her drink. "You're the one who had your guys install the signal jammer. Didn't we agree the estate would be cut off tonight?"

Adrian stared at her. "The jammer only covers the inside of the estate. It shouldn't affect the guards on the outside."

Celeste's smile froze for a second. Then she dropped her head, looking hurt. "Maybe they went for a drink."

My father patted Adrian on the shoulder. "Sunrise is two hours away. If we go back now, they'll hear the cars, and the whole show will be ruined. All Celeste's father asked before he died was that I keep her happy for the rest of her life. I can't refuse her this one holiday wish."

Adrian finally sat back down, but he didn't touch another drink.

Matteo texted his wife. "Lana, if Annie gets scared and starts crying, calm her down for me. I'll be home by sunrise."

The message never went through.

He sent a voice message too, promising that next Thanksgiving he wouldn't go anywhere. He'd stay home with his wife and daughter. A red Not Delivered warning appeared on his screen. He stared at it for a few seconds, then set his phone facedown.

Even my father asked once, "How's your mother's heart been lately?"

Celeste hooked her arm through his right away. "The doctors all say she's fine. Dad, why is everyone so distracted? Is it really that hard to have one dinner with me?"

My father didn't ask again.

It wasn't that they'd never once thought about going back.

It was that every single time, at the last minute, they chose to stay.

Celeste said she needed to fix her makeup and went into the restroom.

I drifted in after her.

She didn't fix her makeup. Instead, she pulled out a second phone and sent a voice message. "No matter what happens at the estate, whether it's crying, banging on the door, or even gunshots, no one opens that door. If anyone lets them out, I'll have Dad chop off his hands."

The person on the other end asked, "What if something really happens in there?"

Celeste looked into the mirror and slowly touched up her lipstick.

"What could happen to a few pampered women?"

She deleted the voice message and strolled back into the suite like nothing had happened.

Finally, I understood. The guards hadn't stayed outside because they'd forgotten my father's orders.

Celeste had already passed along new ones.

She wanted everyone to stand guard until dawn. No one was allowed to end this game early.

Glasses clinked again in the suite.

My father, Matteo, and Adrian all said that when they got back in the morning, they'd make it up to us properly.

But the women at the estate would never see the sunrise.