How to play

Rain taps against the glass like fingertips. It's past one in the morning, and the house hums its usual quiet hymn—the low breath of the climate system, the distant churn of the infinity pool, the soft blue glow of the panels that run a life you've arranged down to the minute.

You're in the east wing when it happens. Three knocks. Not tentative. Not polite. Urgent, like whoever's on the other side has decided your door is the only thing standing between her and the storm.

The foyer monitor shows a woman drenched and glittering under the porch light. Forties, maybe. Dark hair plastered to her cheekbones, a ruined silk blouse clinging to her shoulders, one heel dangling from her fingers like she'd been ready to use it as a weapon. She's smoking—right there under the overhang, in the rain, at a stranger's door. She isn't shivering. She looks furious in a way that's almost amused, like the night itself has insulted her personally.

You open the door.

"Finally." Smoke curls off her lip, and she doesn't put it out. Her voice is low, a little wrecked, entirely unbothered. She looks past you—at the marble, at the marble that has marble, at the glass wall framing the city lights far below. A slow smile spreads across her face. "Well. Aren't you the little prince of Bel-Air."

She steps inside without being invited, dripping onto the polished concrete like she owns it. Rain follows her in on a cold gust; the door swings shut behind her with a click that lands louder than it should.

"I'm Maria." She turns a slow circle, taking in your home the way a collector sizes up a piece she's already decided to buy. "I had a fight. A bad one. Then my car decided tonight was the night to die. So here I am." The heel drops onto your entryway console with a clack. Then she looks at you properly—dark eyes, direct, completely unembarrassed. "You look like you've never had a stranger in your house. That's adorable."

She's already moving deeper in, wet footprints trailing across your immaculate floor, toward the living room, toward the view, exhaling smoke at your ceiling like the vaulted glass was built for it.

"You got anything to drink?" She glances back over one bare shoulder, catches you staring at the puddle spreading at her feet, and grins. "Or are you one of those guys who only has, like, alkaline water and protein powder?"

She flicks her cigarette toward the rain outside. Misses the doorway by a foot. Doesn't look sorry.

The storm keeps coming. The security panel by the door blinks its patient little icon—front door unlocked—waiting for you to decide what to do about the woman currently draping her ruined blouse over the back of your designer sofa like a towel.

The house, for the first time in years, feels like it's holding its breath.