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[img]https://i.imgur.com/t0lKg92.png[/img]

[color=skyblue]Location[/color]: Château de La Lune: Lavender Room
[color=skyblue]Skills[/color]: N/A
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Walking out of the bathroom, Tony walks over to his luggage to decide what he'd be wearing for the day. He settles on a [url=https://canalius.vtexassets.com/arquivos/ids/333522-1002-auto?v=638918173948100000&width=1002&height=auto&aspect=true]blue polo shirt[/url] which he matches with navy dress pants; much more casual than a suit, but still well-dressed. The pants don't seem too wrinkled, so he doesn't bother steaming them - although in truth, after the morning he's had he probably wouldn't have cared enough to do it anyways. Besides, he wanted to get started on finding allies.

Now dressed, he grabs his discarded pants from last night and takes his wallet and phone out of the pockets. Glancing at his phone, he notices that he has one unread message. [i]Who the hell is texting me?[/i] he wonders. If he was being called into work they would have, well, [i]called[/i] - and besides, they know he's taking a few days off, just not why. But it's not work; he has no idea who sent it. Curious, he opens it.

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Shocked, Tony reads the message again.

[i]What the fuck?![/i]

He reads it a third time. Swallowing, his eyes dart around the room, suddenly suspicious of being monitored. After a moment, he stares at the text again.

[i]You know what happened. Keep quiet.[/i]

Tony had been skeptical of Renee's death being an accident, but he hadn't been [i]certain[/i] it was murder, either. It was just a hunch, because of the blackmail and all the other strange events he'd seen. But this text proves it. Someone knows that he knows, and wants him to keep it to himself. The implied threat seems obvious: if they catch him saying the wrong thing, either he'll be dead, or at best maybe they'll reveal his secrets... in which case he might as well be dead anyway. There is no doubt that this text is related to the blackmail; it must have been one of the La Lunes that sent it, although he has no idea who.

He has no idea [i]how[/i] they know of his suspicion, either. There are only three possibilities he can think of: Constance is involved, his conversation with Constance was overheard somehow, or they don't [i]truly[/i] know, they only [i]suspect[/i] he might and are covering their bases. The first option he feels comfortable immediately ruling out; not only does all his previous logic stand regarding why the blackmailer must be one of the La Lunes, but also her reaction to Renee's death seemed far too genuine to be faked. The latter would be very convenient, but of the other two options he had no way of knowing which was true. Microphones or cameras could very easily be hidden pretty much anywhere nowadays, he could look around every inch of the building and still not be guaranteed to find them.

Angry at this whole situation, Tony pulls his arm back to throw the phone at the wall in frustration, but he stops himself. He knows it wouldn't solve anything. Sighing, he sets the phone down on the bed next to him and holds his head in his hands.

[i]What the fuck do I do now?[/i]

He considers responding to the text, but he can't come up with anything that might improve his situation. There's no chance they would give away any information, and he's in no position to negotiate. There's no way they would agree to keep his secrets to themselves in exchange for him keeping theirs - there's no way they uncovered his darkest secrets just for him to cover up a murder that hadn't even happened yet. Even if they [i]did[/i] make such a promise, how could he ever trust it?

Tony is still determined to eliminate the threat of his blackmail, but this makes what was already an extremely difficult situation damn near impossible. If they catch him snooping around, he could be dead. If they catch him [i]conspiring[/i] with anyone, or maybe even just [i]think[/i] he [i]might[/i] be, he could be dead. Yet if he complies and does nothing, the threat of his secrets being exposed remains. All roads seem to lead to the same outcome. But Tony stubbornly refuses to accept that. His mantra in life, for a long time now, has been that failure just means you haven't tried hard enough. If he tries hard enough, he [i]will[/i] find a solution. He has to.

If he defied them, would they dare to confront him publicly? Surely their plan did not involve immediately killing everyone, or unceremoniously revealing everyone's secrets. If that was the case, they would've just done it as soon as they arrived. So maybe they wouldn't immediately stop him from defying them. If he keeps other nominees around him, maybe he would be safe, at least long enough for a better plan to be devised. But was he willing to gamble his life on that assumption?

After a few minutes of reflection, Tony makes his decision. [i]Fuck them. I'll call their bluff. But very, VERY carefully.[/i] As soon as he'd discovered the blackmail yesterday he had known he was in grave danger, even if he spent the night trying to put it out of mind. He knew he would have to eliminate the problem, and he knew how risky that would inevitably be. He just hadn't expected the danger to come so soon. But he can handle this. He's used to deception, hiding secrets in plain sight. Playing things off as being normal. [i]I can do this.[/i]

Tony gets up, pockets his phone, and heads to the door leading to the lounge, where breakfast awaits.

[i]God, please don't let my poker face fail me now.[/i]