MARIA POV
Steve was pacing back and forth across Valerie’s living room, mumbling a string of half-sentences and incoherent rambling. His shoulders were hunched, his face a mottled shade of red, and his hands kept twitching like he was imagining strangling someone—or maybe everyone in the room. I leaned back in my chair, crossing my legs and keeping my expression neutral, even though I wanted to laugh. This man wasn’t just dangerous; he was unhinged.
Maybe losing his father’s influence had been the final straw, the thing that snapped whatever thread of sanity he had left. Who knows? I wasn’t a psychologist. What I did know was that his desperation made him reckless, and reckless people had a habit of saying too much. That was exactly what I was counting on.
But sitting here, playing
