Publisher's Synopsis
David Morgan thought a fresh start in a new city would mend his fractured family. After his wife's repeated affairs and the growing distance from his teenage daughter Emily, David uproots them for a promising job and a chance to rebuild. But city life proves just as isolating-Emily resents the move, Liv slips back into old patterns, and David's efforts to reconnect fall flat.
During weekly jogs through a quiet city park, David notices two old men who always play chess at the same table. One week, only one man remains, his black briefcase perched on his lap. Curious, David stops, and the man offers an invitation: play a game of chess, but with a twist. David must write names-people he loves, fears, or resents-under each piece. Losses on the board will trigger consequences in real life.
Skeptical, David agrees, viewing it as a harmless distraction. But after losing a few pieces, David is stunned to learn that people tied to those pieces begin to die-a former colleague, then a neighbor. The old man remains cryptic, only hinting that the game chooses its own outcomes and that David has far more to lose than he realizes.
Desperate to regain control, David tries to quit-but the old man warns that the game cannot be abandoned. If David refuses to play, the board will claim pieces at random, and no one is safe, not even Emily. David spirals, torn between his need to protect his daughter and his fear that he may have already doomed those closest to him.
As David struggles to outwit the game, he realizes one of the pieces holds the old man's own name-a desperate move he made before fully believing the stakes. Now, with lives on the line and his daughter's safety at risk, David sees only one way out: win the game. But defeating the old man means more than mastering chess-it means facing the consequences of every choice he's made, including those that drove his family apart.
In a final confrontation, David risks everything in a match where each move could be his last. The game ends-but with a twist David never saw coming. The old man is gone, but the black briefcase remains, and with it, the lingering question: can the game ever truly be over-or has David become its next keeper?
