Mind Games - Page 221

“I do.”

“That’s the first step in the plan. I won’t do anything without telling you. It’s gone. He’s gone.” For now.

Thea laid her hand on his cheek. “When I have that game plan, I’ll tell you. I think I’m going to need your help.”

“You’ll have it.”

Chapter Twenty-nine

She’d approach it as she would any game concept.

When Ty left, taking a joyful Bunk with him, she gave it an hour. If she thought of it as a game, it calmed her.

Because the risk wasn’t just losing, having your avatar destroyed. There’d be no rematch, no restart.

All or nothing this time.

But she laid out the concept as any other. She drew herself, she drew Riggs. Then drew others.

While she’d build the game for only two players, others would take key parts.

She imagined the worlds they’d inhabit and started her basic research.

Then she set it aside. Riggs wouldn’t dominate her life. And if she succeeded, he’d never come into it again.

Rather than pin her notes and images to her board, she put them in a file. Just hers for now. There would be no beta testing, no consultations.

All or nothing, she thought again, and grabbed a jacket.

As she walked down the lane, she imagined absolute freedom, the kind she hadn’t felt since the night Riggs murdered her parents.

Despite him, she’d found happiness, contentment, fulfillment. But what would it be like to have that freedom?

She intended to find out.

Bunk spotted her first, and galloped up the lane. With a cheer, Bray scrambled after.

When he launched himself at her, she swung him up and around.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so busy.”

“No more so busy.”

She pressed her face to the sweet curve of his neck. “No more so busy.”

As she held the boy, Ty stepped out onto the porch.

This was hers now. It could be hers tomorrow, and the next day and the next. That was worth the risk.

* * *

She worked through the week, rejecting scenarios, refining others. Every time Riggs pushed, she pushed harder. Did she worry him? she wondered. Did he have some whiff she planned something?

Let him sniff, she thought as she paced her studio. Let him sweat.

She didn’t intend this game to be fair or equitable. She just intended to win.

She studied every pitfall, every obstacle, every move and countermove. Some, she knew, she’d have to deal with on the spot. Her opponent had a surplus of guile and viciousness.