Chapter 33
Lara
Collect information and hints to solve puzzles and mysteries.
The game’s stolen, Lara.
My heart stops and my breath falters for a second. It’s like Luca’s just doused me in a bucket of ice-cold water.
“You can’t be serious right now.” I scoot forward on the swing to be closer to Luca. I wait for him to say more, for him to resolve this whole thing, and for him to tell me this is all just a bad joke. But all he does is gaze at me expectantly.
“I’m afraid so,” he says when I don’t add anything more.
I jump up and take a step in his direction.
After stopping for a moment, my heart starts beating staccato, like I just ran a sprint.
“Do you realize what you’re accusing my boss of here?
What you’re accusing me of?” I stare at him in shock.
He’s not joking. Luca really means his words exactly the way he said them.
“Yes.” His voice is matter-of-fact, and so is his expression.
He reaches for my hand, squeezing it gently as if trying to underline his words, but I shake him off.
There’s nothing left of the heat he just unleashed in me.
Instead, the cold night air creeps in through the thin fabric of my shirt and underneath my skirt, and I’m suddenly shivering.
“Novel Haven is Sophia’s lifelong dream. It’s mine, and the rest of the team’s too. It was her idea!” My voice sounds strained, because my anger is choking me.
“And how do you know that?”
I laugh again. Is he flipping serious? Images float up in my mind’s eye: the bookshelves in Sophia’s apartment that she proudly showed us at our first Christmas party.
The strange TikTok dances Nataly made us do.
Our office’s opening day. The job interview, where I nearly died from nerves—but Sophia believed in me from the get-go, and she’s stilled my fears, time and again.
“I know it from her, Luca. From Sophia. My boss and friend of two years. How do you know that’s not how it is?
So who did she supposedly steal it from? Hmm?”
“I can’t tell you that. But I have it on good authority. Please, just trust me on this.”
“This is ridiculous.” I stare at him, perplexed, searching for answers in his eyes, but all I can see is pity. He believes in his own words. Absurd and untrue though they must be. “You’re accusing her of theft of intellectual property. You’re accusing me. Do you realize that?”
“Yes. I realize how serious this is. It’s the only reason why I’m telling you. I wasn’t supposed to tell you at all, but you’ve poured your entire heart and soul into this project. I can’t pretend to not know anything.”
I shake my head vigorously. “That’s complete and utter bollocks. Did you get that from one of those tabloid rags that hate her for her success? Or from Shane, who can’t believe women are capable of using their own brains?”
Luca gives me an agonized look, like he regrets his decision to tell me. Well, I regret it too. How can the mood have changed so much so quickly? We were only just lying there, and now . . .
With a snort, I stomp past him. The torch casts my marching shadow onto the grass and the bushes. “I’m going inside.”
“Lara, wait.” Luca picks up the torch, hurrying after me.
“What for? For you to make some more baseless accusations?”
“I just wanted to warn you. You’ve noticed yourself that Sophia’s been weird these last few days.
” He reaches for me, tries to grab my arm, but I tear myself free.
I can’t believe today is ending like this.
I can’t believe that we were lying intertwined in that bloody swing just a few minutes ago, only for him to come out with these accusations a moment later.
Sure, Sophia was acting weird, but there must be other reasons for that.
There have to be. “When everything comes to light, you could be implicated too, so . . .”
“So what?” I whirl around to face him. “Did you really think I’d believe you over Sophia?
She gave me and my friends a chance when no one else would!
I see the passion in what she does every day!
” I move closer until I have to tilt my head back to keep eye contact.
“Novel Haven is my game,” I tell him emphatically.
My voice is rough and unsteady, like ocean waves in a storm, but for once, I’m grateful that it’s showing exactly what is going on inside me.
“It’s my home. It’s the one place where I don’t have to worry, where I can just do my own thing.
And you believe some stupid comment more than you believe us? ”
I stare at him, flabbergasted, waiting for him to take back what he said, but there’s desperation in his gaze.
“I had to tell you. What you do with the information is your call.”
I snort. And what I do with it is the only thing left to me now: I leave.
I knock on the door of Sophia’s room, but I’m met with silence.
I’ve already looked for her in the lounge, but neither she nor Maeve were anywhere to be found.
I pull out my mobile, about to type a message to her, but then I pause.
What the hell am I doing here? Am I seriously going to accuse her of stealing Novel Haven?
Instead of banging my fist against her door again, I smack myself on the forehead. How did I even get this far? Luca believing in some absurd rumor is one thing, but me? I should know better. Instead of typing out my message to Sophia, I set off toward my room, opening my chat with Aria and Nataly.
Lara: Nat, how do you date people without going bonkers?
Nat: Do I seem sane to you?
Lara: Touché.
Aria: What happened?
Lara: Luca said Novel Haven is stolen.
Nat: What?
Aria: Who told him that?
Lara: He wouldn’t say.
Aria: Did he say that to rattle you?
Lara: Eh, he’s not the type.
Lara: We kissed again . . . and more.
Nat: MORE?!
Aria: What do you mean more?
Nat: Did he make your lighthouse glow?
Aria: Nat.
Nat: Did he put his book on your bookshelf?
Aria: NATALY SUMMERS.
Lara: Ladies! He did not.
Nat: Did he plow your body like Nora plows the fields of Novel Haven?
Lara: Is that even a real phrase?
Aria: I’m about to send your parents screenshots of your texts.
Nat: Then I’ll tell yours there is a book on our kitchen table called “Kidnapped by the CEO Twins,” and that there is a pink sticky note at a very racy part of the book.
Aria: You wouldn’t dare.
Nat: Well, Lara?
Lara: None of that happened. Now can we please get back to the matter at hand? What am I going to do now?
Nat: I’m sure Luca was just rehashing some old bollocks he heard somewhere. Go to bed now. You’re on edge.
Aria: Yeah, I bet Shane started that rumor. It’s bollocks; Sophia developed Novel Haven with our help. The game is ours as much as it is hers.
Lara: That’s what I told him too.
Nat: Well, there you have it. Sleep tight, luvvie. I’m looking forward to having you back here so you can tell us everything in detail.
Aria: That’s right, off to bed you pop. And maybe for the rest of the trade fair, try to stay away from Luca. If you don’t, it’s guaranteed chaos.
I bid the two of them goodnight and unlock my door. The silence in my room feels oppressive. Though I’m not sure Aria is right that it’s nothing, she absolutely is right about one thing: Everything is complete and utter chaos.