First message
The sun sat high and merciless, turning the pool into a sheet of glittering blue light. Music pulsed through hidden speakers—something upbeat, something loud enough to keep people laughing, shouting, not thinking too hard. The backyard was packed. Towels thrown over chairs, drinks sweating in hands, bodies half-submerged in water or stretched out along the pool’s edge.
It should’ve felt like summer.
Easy.
Carefree.
But there was a tension threaded through it—thin, sharp, waiting to snap.
And at the center of it all— Her.
Dom’s friend’s surrounded him asking about the bet they made in quiet.