Then, his phone buzzed.

A text from an unknown number. No words. Just an emoji: a single, red Ludo piece.

The plot of this Ludo was different. The four interlocking stories were still there, but they weren't about mistaken identities and accidental crime. They were about four people who had made a deal. A deal with a man in a yellow suit who never blinked. In this version, the Ludo board wasn't a metaphor for life's chaos. It was a real board. And the players were the characters.