Chrissy Jones was already freakingthe fuck out when Mei backed out of the room.
I knew because the camera caught the exact second her face changed.
The 360 degree lens embedded in the light fixture gave me a perfect view of everything - the bed, the fire burned down to embers, the sheets tangled around two bodies that should never have been there together. Audio came through clean, her breathing sharp and uneven the moment the door clicked shut.
Her eyes darted to it.
Good girl. She was smarter than she looked.
“Oh my God,” she whispered.
Beside her, Ben was still asleep.
Not Mr. Stonewood. Not the architect of the Game. Just a man… scarred, bare, one arm heavy across her waist like it was already a habit. Like entitlement earned through something softer than fear.
Chrissy’s hands flew to her hair. She pushed herself upright, twisting to look at the door, then the walls, then the ceiling, like she was looking for a way out.
“Jacob,” she hissed.
She shook him harder than was necessary. Panic had stripped the tenderness from her touch.
“Jacob. Wake up. We’ve been caught.”
His eyes snapped open. For half a second, he was still Jacob, confused, warm, and reaching for her on instinct. Then her words landed. I watched him process them and wake fully in real time.
“What?”
His voice was rough with sleep.
“Mei saw us,” Chrissy whispered. “She saw you, saw us together, naked, in my bed. She said she has to report it to Mr. Stonewood.”
Ben responded only with thunderous silence. He pushed up into a sitting position and stared down at his hands, his mind probably scrambling through every possible ramification of last night’s recklessness on his part, and hers.
I leaned back in my chair, fingers steepled, eyes never leaving the screen.
Ben’s face went blank, not with panic or fear. No, that expression was pure calculation.
“Shit,” he muttered, already scanning the room the way he always did when reality intruded. His gaze flicked up to the ceiling light. He found the camera immediately. Of course he did.
“Don’t,” Chrissy said, grabbing his wrist when he started to rise. “Don’t do anything that might get you fired or hurt or worse. Please.”
She was crying now, not pretty tears, not dramatic ones. These tears were the kind that came from knowing you’d just stepped off a cliff and couldn’t see the bottom yet, but it was rushing up to meet you faster than you could possibly imagine.
“I ruined everything,” she whispered. “I was so close. I was so goddamn close.”
Ben swore under his breath, low and vicious. He dragged a hand down his face, fingers digging into his scar like he could scrape the night away.
“This is on me,” he said.
That was new, and dangerous.
“You have to leave,” Chrissy said frantically. “Now. Before?—”
“Too late,” he replied flatly.
She shook her head.
“No, no, you don’t understand. If Mr. Stonewood finds out?—”
