Page 35 of Curve Balls and Second Chances (Pickwick Pirate Queens #1)

T hat evening, Briana poured another glass of wine and sat by her window, enjoying the faint breeze stirring the curtains.

She hummed, content. The game had been a perfect stage.

The whispers were stronger now, loud enough to sting but soft enough that Rose couldn’t fight back without naming the very thing she wanted hidden.

It was working.

But Briana wasn’t finished.

She pulled a notepad from her purse and jotted down a few lines, testing the shape of them. An anonymous note, just vague enough to plant deeper suspicion. Something that could slip under a coffee shop door, or appear in a church pew, or get tucked into the box of pies at the farmers market.

A secret wasn’t truly power until it was dangled just out of reach.

And Briana intended to dangle it until Rose broke.