All Chapters of Under His Roof, Her Game : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

89 Chapters

Bianca

ELARAI heard the car doors before I saw anything. Soft thuds outside the main entrance, two, maybe three. I wasn’t even supposed to be near the hallway, but I’d been carrying folded towels from the laundry room and… I don’t know. I guess I just froze when the sound reached me. My body reacted before my mind did.A new arrival. Another one.My stomach tightened, sharp and cold, like I swallowed a fistful of ice.The house had been strangely quiet since the last woman left. “Left,” I remind myself, even though the word feels weird in my mouth now. People keep leaving, and yet the house never feels emptier. It just feels tense, like all the walls are waiting for the next explosion.I took a tiny step backward, thinking maybe I should hide, but then I heard Mateo’s voice. Low. Calm. Too calm.“Bianca.”That one word slid into the hallway like a knife. It made me go still, like he’d said my name instead.So that’s who she is, I thought. Bianca. I held onto the name quietly, the same way I

The slip

ELARAI woke up to the smell of smoke.Not fire. Not the dangerous kind. Just something burnt in the kitchen. My heart still jumped anyway. It always did when I smelled smoke. There are memories buried in that smell—old ones, sharp ones. Ones I don’t talk about.My hands shook a little as I pushed myself off the bed. The house was too quiet for morning. Usually by this time someone was shouting, arguing, laughing, something. But today… silence. A heavy silence.I slipped into the hallway and made my way downstairs, my bare feet cold on the steps. I kept thinking maybe Bianca was cooking, but that didn’t make sense. Someone like her wouldn’t go near a stove. She probably didn’t even know where the pans were kept.When I reached the kitchen doorway, I saw Mateo standing by the counter with a pan in his hand and a frustrated look on his face.And Bianca… well, she wasn’t cooking, but she was certainly supervising. Leaning against the island, arms crossed, expression amused.“I told you t

The body be the lake

ELARAI was in the hallway when the shouting started.Not just normal shouting — not the irritated, everyday noise that lived in this house. This was sharp. Heavy. A voice breaking on the edges of anger.Mateo’s voice.For a second, I just stood there listening. The walls in this mansion were thick, old stone, but his voice still cut through like a blade. Something wasn’t right. Something was different today.I stepped forward, slowly, carefully, almost like the floor might break under me.The closer I got to the main foyer, the louder it became.“Who found her?” Mateo roared.A man answered, low and shaky, “Luca, boss. Luca and two others—”“And you didn’t think to radio first?” Mateo’s voice snapped like fire.“No, sir. We—we didn’t know if—”A glass shattered. Hard. Loud. Like it exploded.I flinched and pressed myself back against the wall.I didn’t want to go closer. I didn’t want him to see me. But a small part of me—the part that had learned to track danger from childhood—moved

Watching

ELARA I always feel it before I see it…that strange heaviness in the room.Like the air folds around me and suddenly becomes colder, tighter, harder to breathe through.That’s how I know he’s watching me.Mateo Navarro doesn’t need to speak to be heard.He doesn’t need to move to be felt.He just… stands there. Or sits there. Or leans against something in that quiet, unreadable way of his.And the worst part is—I never hear him coming.It's been two days since Valeria's body was found. I was in the upstairs hallway, pretending to read a book I couldn’t focus on. My hands were actually shaking so much I could barely hold the pages still.Then I felt it.That pressure.That awareness.Like someone was standing inside my shadow.I looked up and nearly dropped the book.Mateo was at the opposite end of the hallway, shoulder resting against the wall, arms crossed loosely over his chest. He wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t frowning. He wasn’t anything. Just… watching me with those dark, unreadab

Bianca's night gone wrong

ELARAI sat on the edge of my bed with a book open on my lap. I wasn’t reading. I was just staring at the same page, pretending, like I always did when the silence felt too heavy.Somewhere downstairs, Mateo was in his office. I could hear the soft, steady tapping of his keyboard through the vents. He always typed angrily, like every email offended him personally.I tucked my legs under me and pretended to keep reading.It was peaceful, in a strange, uncomfortable way.And then—A shout cut through the quiet.A real, sharp shout.Followed by another.I froze before I even understood the words.“OPEN THE GATE! OPEN IT NOW!”My heart jumped painfully. For a moment, I couldn’t move. It felt like the floor under my feet shifted. The kind of fear that happens before your mind even catches up.Then I heard heavy footsteps pounding across the gravel outside. Fast. Too fast.Something was wrong.Really wrong.The voices grew louder—guards yelling to each other, a car engine sputtering, radio

The monster in her eyes

ELARA I didn’t even understand what was happening at first.One moment Bianca was shaking in a guard’s arms, crying like her soul was breaking…and the next, she was pointing at me like I was the monster in her nightmares.“IT WAS HER! ELARA ATTACKED ME!”Her voice… God, it ripped straight through my chest.I don’t know if I gasped or cried or just froze. Everything inside me felt loose, like my bones had turned into water. The air left my lungs because… how could she say that? Why? My body reacted before my mind did.I stumbled back against the wall, clutching my bandaged arm like it hurt more than it really did.“W-What?” My voice cracked. It didn’t even sound like me. It sounded like a child.“Bianca… why would—why would you say that?”The whole foyer exploded with noise.Guards shouting.Bianca sobbing.Maids whispering.Mateo swearing under his breath, rushing forward like a storm.Everything blurred together.I covered my mouth with my hand as tears spilled down my cheeks, hot

What if I'm right

THIRD PERSONBianca woke up screaming again.She didn’t even realize it was her own voice until her throat burned and a maid rushed inside, almost tripping over the edge of the rug.“Miss Bianca— you’re safe. You’re in the Navarro mansion. It’s morning.”Bianca pressed a hand to her chest. Her heart felt like it was trying to escape her ribs. Every breath came out thin, broken, like she hadn’t actually slept at all.“Sorry,” she whispered, though she didn’t know why she apologized. “I… I thought someone was…”The maid nodded politely, but her eyes flicked—just for a second—toward the corner of the room, the place Bianca kept imagining someone stood last night. Watching her. Breathing slowly. Not moving.The maid left. Close the door. Soft click.Bianca swallowed. The silence felt wrong. Too heavy. Too aware.She pulled the blanket around her shoulders and tried to sit up. Her legs shook. Her palms were still sweating, and the memory—God, the memory—was like a knife scraping the inside

The shadow Mateo chased for me

ElaraI knew something had changed the moment I opened my eyes that morning.Not because of a sound. Not because of a light.But because… someone was watching me.You know that heavy feeling? That strange pressure in the air?That’s what I woke up to.At first, I thought maybe it was Mateo. He had been restless the night after Bianca’s outburst. Pacing. Drinking. Whispering to his men. I thought maybe he came into my room early.But when I looked toward the door, it wasn’t him.It was a man.Tall. Lean. Dark hair that fell a little over his forehead, as if it always refused to stay in place. He looked young, maybe mid-twenties. His arms were crossed, and he was leaning against the wall like he belonged there.His eyes met mine the second I sat up.And he smiled.Not a sweet smile.Not a cruel one.Just… friendly. Like we were strangers on a train and he wanted to start a conversation.I froze.My fingers clutched the blanket so tightly I felt the fabric burn against my skin.“Good mor

The seed of suspicion

ELARA The house felt different that morning. Every hallway carried a strange hush, like the walls were listening, waiting. I sat up slowly, rubbing my arms. My room was cold. Too cold. I pulled the blanket around me even though I wasn’t actually shivering.I don’t know why, but the silence made me uneasy. It reminded me of the few seconds after Bianca’s scream—when the world didn’t know what to do with itself yet.I slipped out of bed, washed my face, tied my hair back. I forced my hands to stop trembling. I’m good at that—turning off my reactions. But today they were stubborn.A knock came on my door.Not sharp. Not loud. Almost polite.Dario.“Miss Elara?” he called. “Mateo wants you downstairs. Now.”Of course he did. Things were moving faster than I liked. Bianca’s driver had been found dead in the ditch. Stab wound. Throat slit. The kind of mess that made cops feel important.“Is something wrong?” I asked, opening the door just a crack.Dario stood there, arms crossed, eyes scan

A soft voice that cuts deep

ELARAI waited until after dinner, when the house felt too quiet. Mateo was still in his office, arguing with someone on the phone. Dario stood somewhere behind me as usual, silent and stiff like a shadow glued to my back.And Bianca’s door… was right across the hall.She hadn’t left her room in two days. I could still hear her voice sometimes — that broken “IT WAS HER” echoing inside my skull.Poor thing.I smoothed my hair behind my ear and took a slow breath, one that felt too calm for the moment. I shouldn’t be this steady. A normal person would be shaking. But my hands weren’t even cold.“Dario,” I whispered.He stepped closer. “Yes, ma’am?”“I want to check on Bianca. Alone.”His brows twitched. “Sir Mateo asked me to stay close.”“Yes,” I said softly, tilting my head. “Close. But not… here.”His jaw tensed. He didn’t want to disobey Mateo, but he also didn’t want to disappoint me either. I didn’t need to push harder.I simply gave him a small smile — small, tired, insecure.He

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