“I definitely and graciously must give credit where it is due. Stella guessed correctly. Almost nothing got past you. Stories have always been the heart of Golden Rule, and I wanted to create a new one for a new beginning. You didn’t deliver the option I thought you would, but your interpretation of step five was very entertaining, nonetheless. Separate the team with a story of your own creation. I honestly did not see that coming.”

“Neither did we.” Olive laughed. “You were so good, so convincing, we started to think that maybe Jewel really did make a game within the game and didn’t tell us. I started crying because I thought I would have to play the game to prove we were innocent.”

“Because that’s absolutely something she would’ve done. I love you and I hate you and I love you,” Ethan said to Jewel, and then turned back to Stella. “We didn’t know what was going on or how to react to it, how to stop you—whew. You really got us good.”

“I do aim to please.” Stella preened.

“Detour aside, you would have earned a final present after the challenge that would have solved step five in a different way,” Jewel said. “Naturally, The Cruelest Jewel had more than one possible ending that ultimately would lead to White Day. Everything was always meant to connect back to my announcement post.”

Olive said, “You guys figured out two of them: Play the game to rescue Jewel. Play the game because it is a game.”

“When we figured out those were the options you decided on, we had a plan in place ready for each one,” Ethan said.

“But then, you went rogue,” Jewel said. “I tracked you, Stella, as you showboated your way around the White Drawing Room and watched you prepare the secret passage opening. I decided to play along and sent in the paintball brigade to punish you for breaking my story and to reward your initiative.”

“Reward? You think being held at paintball gunpoint is a reward?” Harlow asked.

“Every choice each of you made changed the potential ending. Your choices would then be used against you. Stella’s ending could be no different. I honored her by playing along,” Jewel said. “I’d also laid the groundwork for a possible revenge ending based on a party game I hosted years ago, a really fun one involving a murder, a haunting—I’m really looking forward to seeing that one someday.”

“Someday?” Luna asked. “There really is going to be another Golden Weekend?”