“You did. She called me ‘Stella at all times,’ and she wasn’t around to hear me say it. They were watching us while we were outside.”

“Huh.” Nicole crossed her arms. “And if everything means something, that must have been a clue. But about what?”

Stella closed her left eye and stared at Nicole with the right.

“What are you doing?” Nicole laughed.

“Thinking very, very hard.” She grinned as she opened her eye.

Jewel had lined them up like ducks in a perfect row. At her mercy with nowhere to go but home. Dangling a $500,000 carrot in front of them was a near-perfect way to ensure compliance. Everyone had to play, but only two would win. Group work until it wasn’t. Disqualification was also on the table, so elimination rounds weren’t out of the question. Everyone seemed game, but to what extent?

Winning the prize money for The Cruelest Jewel could potentially be life changing—for someone else. If Stella won, her parents would simply take it and put it in a trust fund or something equally inaccessible to her. Maybe she’d get access when she was twenty-one. Actually it would probably be closer to twenty-five. Anything to keep her under their thumb because she didn’t need her own money since they had so much of it. It was hard to hate the people who literally gave her everything, and yet, somehow, she found a way.

If money were the only goal, what would happen to Stella, who didn’t really care? Would she be the first one in the group sent packing?

Unacceptable.

Stella decided she needed a partner. Someone invested enough to cover up her disinterest. Someone interesting enough to keep her attention.

Alex and Luna seemed to be a package deal. Harlow felt annoying—a sycophant like that could never be trusted. And mysterious player six wasn’t an option yet.

“Does this game matter to you?” Stella asked Nicole. “Any of it?”

“Yeah. Winning would be better than the best get-rich-quick scheme I’d ever be able to think of. I mean, I’m not willing to do anything to win, but as long as it’s chill, I don’t see the harm in trying. You know, when in Rome and all that.”

Nicole could be the last player standing. Stella could be the one to help her get there. A new companion, and she’d get to stay the whole weekend. What better way to cement a friendship than having a hand in helping them become fabulously wealthy?

Now all Stella had to do was figure out how to make it work. Making friends always seemed so easy in books. Trying in real life was … strange. Like a curious-rumbly-feeling-in-the-pit-of-her-stomach strange. Should she ask? Say, “Hey, so you’re mine now, deal with it,” and see what happened?