Page 104 of Played
"Dylan isn't a complete idiot."
"That sick bastard," Colleen whispers.
"He groomed her. Slowly. Efficiently. Like he had all the time in the world." My stomach twists. "He made her believe she was different. That what they had was real."
Colleen flips to another page, her hands trembling. "Dylan noticed. He kept asking her who this guy was. Told her something felt off."
"Dylan's a scumbag, but even he saw through it." I lean back against the counter, arms crossed. "He was jealous, yeah. But he was also worried. Look at this one.”’
Babe, this dude's playing you. why's a grown man so interested in a 15-year-old?'
"And she defended Daniel." Colleen's voice cracks. "Told Dylan he was controlling. That he didn't own her."
"Daniel convinced her Dylan was the problem. Classic manipulation. Isolate the victim. Make her believe everyone else is the enemy."
"Jesus Christ, Liza."
"I know."
She looks up at me, eyes red-rimmed. "You think he hurt her? You think he—"
"I don't know. But I think he's capable of anything."
Colleen presses her palms to her face, breathing hard. "I should've known. I should've seen the signs. She was always so secretive, defensive. I thought it was just teenage rebellion."
"You couldn't have known. Daniel's good at what he does. He fooled me, too. He played all of us."
She drops her hands, staring at the texts like they might rearrange themselves into something less horrifying. "We need to take this to the police."
"Agreed. But we need more. These texts prove Claudia was seeing someone older. They don't prove it was Daniel."
"Then we get more." She exhales slowly, shaking her head. "What do we do with the phone?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you."
"Throw it in a dumpster," she says without hesitation. "The guy's an asshole. Cheated on my niece. Karma."
I blink. "You sure?"
"Completely." She leans back, crossing her arms. "I can't believe you had to kiss that guy. I'm so sorry about that."
Heat crawls up my neck, and I get the urge to vomit for a long second. "Yeah, well… you owe me."
"I absolutely do… no argument there."
We both smile, the energy sharp and oddly freeing despite everything hanging over us. The absurdity of it all—the stolen phone, the fake flirting, the kiss—clashes with the horror of Claudia still missing.
Colleen's laughter fades first. "But seriously, Liza. This thing with Daniel… it's bigger than I thought."
"I know."
"We need to figure out what he did to her… if he did anything.”
My stomach twists. "I know. I'm sure he had something to do with her disappearance."
Colleen's shoulders cave inward, and the mug slips from her fingers, landing on the table with a thud. Thankfully, it's empty.
"Hey." I move around the table, crouch beside her. "We're going to find her."
