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PROLOGUE

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I know what you did.

I had been ignoring these texts for two weeks. Cryptic, taunting messages from unknown numbers. I thought it was a prank, someone messing with me. It didn’t take long for me to realize this wasn't some kind of perverse joke. Whoever was texting my phone seemed to take great joy in my misery and paranoia, like we were playing a game.

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Are you ready?

The latest message glared back at me as I sat on the Crawfords’ couch, scrolling through Netflix in an attempt to drown out my thoughts. They were deviating from their usual taunts, and that worried me. I looked toward the staircase and listened for any signs of movement. I had tucked Esther in two hours ago, so she should have been sleeping peacefully, tucked under her pink quilt with her stuffed bunny, oblivious to the dark, messy world adults lived in. She didn’t deserve to grow up in a house of lies. I didn’t deserve to be sitting there.

The Crawfords were at some fancy convention dinner, their lives perfectly polished to match their immaculate home. Gianna was nothing but warmth and the kind of kindness I swore couldn’t be real. Mickey had the effortless charm of your typical CEO. They were a gorgeous couple. Only I knew the cracks beneath the surface. Or maybeIwas the crack, the irreparable blot in their picture-perfect life.

My phone buzzed again, forcing me back to my current reality.

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You’ve been tagged.

“Tagged?” I shook my head with a bitter laugh and backed out of the thread as another text came in, refusing to read it. I was on the verge of losing my mind. I tossed the phone onto the coffee table and stood up, needing to move, to do something other than sit there. I headed for the kitchen, my thoughts windmilling. How could anyone knowmy secretunlessItold them? Mick certainly wasn't going to announce he'd fucked me all over this house for seven of the eight months I had been babysitting his six-year-old daughter. And there was no way Gianna was aware of anything. She would've taken him to the cleaners, and I would be out of a job that came with room and board.

I grabbed a glass and filled it from the sink. The cold water was heavenly as it slid down my throat, but it didn’t wash away the creeping sense of anxiety. I needed to pull myself together. I tilted my head back and ran my hand through my hair, freezing when I heard a light tapping sound. I swiftly turned, eyes darting to both doorways.

“Esther?”

I took a slow step forward, my bare feet shuffling over the polished floor. The tapping came again, a little shorter this time, followed by a soft thud.

“Es, is that you?”

Getting no response, my grip on the glass tightened. Was someone in the house? No, that was impossible.

The Crawfords' security system was set to alert when any door or window opened and announced when someone was approaching. If anyone were inside with me, they would've had to of been here almost all day. I waited expectantly for the sound to come again, sighing when the silence stretched.

“Get a grip,” I whispered harshly.

All of this is because someone may have miraculously uncovered my deceit. Regret gnawed at me, guilt right on itsheels. Neither was strong enough for me to end the arrangement with Mickey. I was under no illusions when it came to our relationship. One day we would have to stop, but if I had my way, it wasn’t going to be anytime soon because although I did feel a bit guilty, the pros outweighed the cons. Sex was off the charts. The extra padding in my bank account was a nice bonus, too.

Mick wasn’t close to ending what we had either. He loved the thrill of it all, his perfect wife and slutty mistress under one roof. There were shared looks when we all ate dinner. Sometimes when they were having a pool day, he’d find an excuse to come inside, and then we’d fuck fast and hard in my bathroom. More often than not, he crept into my room at night while Gianna was sleeping right down the hall. We made a game of how quiet I could be.

I knew the ever-regal Ginna Sterling wasn’t letting him fuck her ass. I gave him all the things she wouldn’t and never pressured the man to leave her for me. I wasn’t a fool. Mick wanted to get his dick wet with his kid’s nanny, not blow up his life. I didn’t mind that at all. It was a win-win situation for both of us right now. I wasn’t going to let some rando behind a screen ruin it for me.

I turned to set the glass down, and the tapping came again. This time it was much closer than before. I whirled around.

“Esther, if that’s—.” The rest of my words got lost in a gasp.

A person was standing halfway across the kitchen, dressed in all black with their face covered by a pale mask. My breath hitched. All the reasoning I’d just done that no one could be inside the house, made a cruel mockery of common sense. I stepped back, my hands scrambling behind my back for anything that would help me.

“What do you want?” I yelled at them, my voice trembling.

They canted their head, the motion slow and deliberate. In their hand, a knife caught the light, sharp and gleaming. Theperson tapped it against the doorframe only once this time, and I belatedly realized they had been doing some sort of countdown. Terror crashed into me. I turned and ran, skirting around the counter to get back to the living room.

Find the phone.

Hide.

Call for help.

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