The Price of Deception, A Broken Man

break is over. Get

the fog in my head. He was standing

sappeared into the main escape room

e. I stumbled out of the hallway and back towards the staff area, my body on autopil

fo

f paper and a sleek, silver Zippo lighter. I recognized the lighter instantly. I' d given it

. The paper was a check. It mu

fold

e amount was for fifty thousand dollars. Th

housand.

e in the last two years combined. All my sweat, all my sleepless nights, all the p

excited. I couldn' t wait to get home and give the cash to Sophia, to see the relief on her

that memory felt like a f

the escape room employees walked

p that just went in?"

ourse. It' s not every day you get the

with him? I thought she wa

d-looking couple, don't they? A pe

old. Miss Mill

from thrift stores and worried about making rent. The Sophia I knew had promised me that on

he check slipped from my numb f

pped and looked at me

oly crap. That's a ch

"To Sophia Miller. Why

e looked from the check to my worn-out work clothes, my pai

d enough for me to hear every single word. "You must be the 'poor artist' boy

ost feel sorry for the guy. She' s

inal, brutal blow. I wasn't her partner. I