The Sudoku match between Zoey and Joseph was set.
They sat side by side at the dining table, each with an identical puzzle in front of them.
Alan, playing referee, held his phone to time the game. With a steady "Go", he began the match, and both Zoey and Joseph picked up their pencils and got to work.
Joseph wore a smug, confident smile, certain he'd win. In his mind, there was no way he'd lose to Zoey—a woman he saw as little more than a high-maintenance stripper.
But Zoey was far more than he knew. A top student from a prestigious university with a sharp mind for numbers, she'd been tackling advanced Sudoku since she was a child.
As she focused on the puzzle, her mind worked quickly, filling in each square with quiet certainty. For the first time in a long while, she felt herself sl
