The night before
That evening, I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling as my mind spun in circles. The air in the room felt too thick, pressing down on my chest like a weight I couldn't escape. The phone beside me glowed faintly in the dark, a reminder that everything I knew was about to change. Sleep teased the edges of my mind, but it refused to stay. My thoughts raced. What if I had gone too far? What if there was no way back?
Just as I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness, the phone buzzed, sharp and intrusive. I grabbed it with shaky fingers.
A message from S.
"Just a little push. Tomorrow, everything will change."
I swallowed hard, my throat dry. I wanted to believe I'm just not doing the wrong thing.
The Next Morning
The moment my eyes opened, my hand instinctively reached for my phone. Lately, checking my Instagram has become a reflex—since I met s. Today was no different. I scrolled mindlessly until a message from S appeared, waiting for me like a coiled snake.
"You've made it this far. Don't let me down."
A strange unease settled in my stomach, cold and heavy. I stared at the screen, heart pounding against my ribs.
For the first time, doubt whispered its way into my mind. What if all this is a lie? What if S was leading me into a trap, playing me like a puppet?
The thought clawed at me, leaving me breathless.
I needed answers. My fingers hovered over the screen before I typed, "If after I'm freed, what do you intend to gain?"
I waited, every second stretching into eternity. The response came almost immediately.
"That's for Leonardo and I to settle," the message read.
But before I could fully process it, it disappeared, replaced by another.
"Nothing to worry about."
My stomach twisted violently. A score with Leonardo? A grudge? Something was horribly wrong, I could feel it. My palms grew damp, and I rubbed them against the sheets, trying to ground myself.
Then came another message.
"You said Leonardo has two guards at the back gate, right?"
Panic shot through me like a cold blade. I never told him that. I was sure of it. My fingers flew across the screen.
"I never said that."!
There was a pause—too brief to offer any relief.
"You didn't? Oh, my bad!"
The casual tone of his reply made my blood run cold. My heart raced, every beat a thunderclap in my chest. I knew in that instant: I had made a terrible mistake. My head spun, the walls closing in around me.
I needed to back out. Now.
"Hey, you know what? I don't think I'm interested in all of this anymore," I typed, my fingers trembling. "I was just mad at Leonardo for a moment. That's all."
I held my breath, praying for an easy way out. *Please, just let me go.*
The reply came, swift and unforgiving.
"You can't back out now, Kimberly. If you do, your brother will pay."
The ground seemed to fall away beneath me. My chest constricted, and my breath came in shallow gasps. My brother. He knew about my brother. How? My fingers fumbled on the screen, but before I could respond, I did the only thing I could think of: I blocked the account.
It didn't help. The fear stayed. The walls seemed to close in around me, suffocating me with the weight of what I had just triggered.
I scrambled out of bed, legs wobbling beneath me. "I need to tell Leonardo. I need to tell him now."!
*******
I tore down the stairs, my heart thudding against my ribs with every step. Fear fueled my movements, pushing me forward as if the devil himself was chasing me. I couldn't think clearly—only that if I didn't act, my brother would suffer.
I found Leonardo sitting at the kitchen table, sipping his coffee and reading the morning paper. The calmness of the scene felt surreal, like a dream I didn't belong in. For a moment, I just stood there, my breath hitching in my throat. It had been weeks since I'd seen him like this—or maybe I hadn't noticed. I'd been too consumed by *S.*
Leonardo looked up, his cold eyes locking onto mine. But there was something different about them today. They weren't just cold—they were searching, as if he already knew.
"He knows." The thought hit me hard, making my pulse race even faster. Or maybe it was just my guilty conscience filling the silence with things that weren't really there.
"Leonardo, we aren't safe," I whispered, my voice cracking under the weight of my fear. "I—"
*BOOM!*
The world erupted before I could finish.
The force of the explosion threw me across the room, slamming me into the wall. Pain shot through my back as I crumpled to the floor, the breath knocked from my lungs. Dust filled the air, stinging my eyes and burning my throat.
For a moment, all I could hear was the ringing in my ears. Then the second explosion hit, louder than the first, making the walls tremble.
I lay where I had fallen, too stunned to move. My mind screamed at me to get up, but my body refused to obey. Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision as the full weight of what I had done crashed over me.
I heard Leonardo's voice barking orders—his tone sharp and controlled, even in the chaos. Enzo and the others scrambled to follow, their footsteps thundering through the house.
Then another explosion. And another. Each one louder than the last, until the world became nothing but sound and smoke and fear.
*********
I curled into myself, pressing my forehead to the cold floor. I couldn't stop the tears from falling, couldn't stop the fear from swallowing me whole. My body shook with silent sobs as guilt and panic tangled in my chest. "This is my fault. This is all my fault."
Leonardo was out there, fighting a battle I had unknowingly set into motion. And my brother—God, what would happen to him?
I had thought I could control things. I had thought I could play the game. But now the game was playing me, and the piece
s were falling faster than I could catch them.
And I didn't know if there was a way to fix it.