Chapter 159 Chapter 159

Chapter 159 Chapter 159
The storm had settled into a steady, heavy rain by evening, the thunder moving further off but the water still coming down hard enough to rule out any travel. Mark had declared the roads “a mess” after checking the local updates for the fifth time, and Laura had responded by pulling out an old stack of board games from the hall closet.
“If we’re stuck inside, we’re doing it properly,” she said. “Game night no screens please and no radar refreshing every ten minutes.”
They set up at the dining table. The good lamp was on, a bowl of popcorn sat in the middle alongside the remains of a simple pasta dinner. Mia’s leg rested on a second chair, boot propped on a folded blanket. Sophia had claimed the seat beside her. Mark shuffled cards with the seriousness of a man who still believed he could win at every game he owned. Laura organized the pieces of a worn board game she insisted was “the only fair one in the house.”
The first round was loud in the best way.
Mark accused Sophia of cheating at cards within ten minutes. Sophia denied it while openly rearranging her hand. Laura kept a running commentary on everyone’s strategy and refused to go easy on her own daughter. Mia played one-handed, laughing when her father tried to bluff with a terrible poker face and losing anyway. For a while the storm outside became background noise. The house felt full and ordinary and safe.
They switched games then switched again. Mark told the same exaggerated story about the time Mia had overturned an entire Monopoly board at age twelve because she was losing. Sophia demanded proof. Laura confirmed it was true and added that Mia had also hidden the dice for two days afterward. Mia covered her face with one hand while the other three laughed at her expense.

In the middle of the third game her phone sat face-down on the table beside her water glass. She had checked it twice already since dinner. Both times the result had been the same no messages, and no missed calls, Kai’s name still marked offline.
She tried not to look at it again but she failed.
During a pause while Mark argued about a rule, Mia turned the phone over. The screen lit up with the same empty status and there was no green dot and no new activity. The message she had sent that morning still showed as delivered but unanswered. The calls still went nowhere.
Sophia noticed the shift in her posture.
“You’re doing it again,” she said quietly, under the noise of Mark and Laura’s debate.
Mia set the phone back down. “He’s been offline since last night. That’s not normal for him. Even when he’s busy he usually surfaces by now.”
“Victoria knows. She said she would try to reach him.”
“I know but it’s been all day. The storm is here, not there. The track isn’t under flood warnings the same way we are. He should have seen the messages by now.”
Sophia watched her for a second, then looked at the phone like it might offer a different answer if she stared hard enough. Mark won the point he had been arguing and started dealing a new hand. Laura asked if anyone wanted more popcorn. The ordinary sounds of the game night continued around them.

Mia picked up her cards but didn’t really see them. The worry sat small and steady under her ribs, not the sharp panic of the lipstick night, but a quieter, heavier thing. Kai was not the type to go completely dark without a reason. Not for this long. Not when she had told him about the storm and the delayed return and the leg. Between turns she unlocked the phone again and tried calling once more. Voicemail with no ringing.
Sophia leaned closer. “Okay you’re officially worried, not just checking.”
“I don’t want to make it a thing in front of them,” Mia said, nodding slightly toward her parents. “But yes, I’m worried.”
Sophia set her own cards down. “Then we make it a thing in a useful way. Give me the phone.”

Mia hesitated, then handed it over. Sophia stood, stepped away from the table toward the hallway where the noise of the game was softer, and made a short call of her own. Mia couldn’t hear every word, but she caught the tone direct, practical, the same voice Sophia used when she decided something needed handling. When she came back she sat down and returned the phone.
“I spoke to Victoria,” Sophia said, keeping her voice low enough that Mark and Laura’s conversation covered it. “She’s been trying him too still no answer on her end either. She’s going to contact the house security directly and have someone do a physical check. If he’s there, they’ll confirm it. If he’s not, they’ll find out where the car last registered or if the track has any record of him signing in today.”
Mia’s fingers tightened around the phone. “She’s sending someone to the house?”
“She’s arranging it. I told her I would stay on it from this side until we hear something concrete. You’re stuck here with a broken leg and a storm. You don’t need to be the one refreshing a screen every five minutes.”
Mark glanced over. “Is everything alright over there?”
Sophia answered before Mia had to. “Just checking weather updates for the other side of the city. Making sure no one needs to panic about roads tomorrow.”
Laura accepted the explanation with a nod and went back to sorting game pieces. Mark shuffled again, already declaring that the next round would restore his dignity.
Mia sat with the phone face-down under her hand. The worry hadn’t disappeared, but it had somewhere to go now. Sophia had taken the practical piece of it and moved it outside the room. The game continued. Laura laughed at something Mark said. Sophia deliberately lost a round to keep the peace and then claimed she had done it on purpose. Thunder rumbled far off, almost polite.

Mia played her next turn with only half her attention. The other half stayed on the quiet fact that Kai was still unreachable, that someone would now go to the house to look, and that she was here warm, dry, surrounded by her parents and her best friend with nothing to do but wait for the storm to finish and for a message that still refused to arrive. Sophia caught her eye across the table and gave a small, steady nod. They were looking into it for now, that had to be enough.