CHAPTER 88

CHAPTER 89
Chapter 89:
Reynolds’ POV
“They broke quicker than I thought,” I said, watching the screen as Kane led them silently down the corridor, their silence louder than screams.
A technician beside me tapped a button, replaying the scene of Kelly’s confession. Then Caroline’s. Then Gina’s.
“I told you,” I murmured. “You don’t need bullets to kill loyalty. Just a mirror and the right lighting.”
I leaned back in the leather chair. The surveillance chamber around me pulsed with low lights, each wall a living screen tracking their every step. Cameras blinked from the vents. Mics embedded in the floor. They had no idea they were still inside my simulation.
“Sir,” one of the guards spoke cautiously. “Should we initiate the next phase?”
“Not yet,” I said, swirling the amber liquid in my glass. “Let them breathe. Let the cracks widen on their own.”
The screen zoomed in on Gina as she trailed behind the others, her eyes flicking to Kelly every few seconds, uncertain, unreadable.
Poor girl.
She wanted revenge, validation, maybe even love—but mostly? She wanted purpose.
And I would give it to her.
Or destroy her trying.
Kelly’s face appeared next. Brooding. Controlled. Watching Kane from behind like he always had.
“Still wondering if your brother sees you,” I muttered. “Still pretending he needs you more than he fears you.”
Reynolds stood and walked closer to the main display, hands clasped behind his back. A new file appeared beside the footage: a 3D layout of the next test.
The Split Room.
The scenario would force them to separate. And once separated…
They’d learn what betrayal really tasted like.
“You’re not fighting me,” I whispered to the screen. “You’re fighting each other. I’m just the man with the match.”
“Sir,” the technician said carefully. “If they get past the final corridor…”
“They won’t.”
“But if they do?”
I smiled thinly. “Then I greet them myself.”
The technician hesitated. “That’s… risky. They’ve survived everything.”
“I’m not afraid of four broken souls pretending to be a team,” I said, stepping into the shadows of the viewing bay. “I raised better monsters than that.”
I turned just before leaving the room. “Activate The Split.”
“Yes, sir.”
As I walked down the corridor toward the armory, I thought of Raymond’s broken body on that highway. My son. My failure. His death had been a gift.
Now I had to make sure the others followed.
One by one.
Because Kane thought this was war.
But I was writing his eulogy.
And by the time they reached me—
There would be nothing left of who they used to be.
Caroline’s POV
There was a door.
Just one.
Solid steel, white light pouring from beneath it like a promise—or a threat.
We’d been walking in circles for what felt like hours. Kane hadn’t said a word since we left the mind maze. Neither had Kelly. Gina walked between them, quiet but not shaken. She kept stealing glances at him.
And he wasn’t hiding his anymore.
I stopped just before the threshold, reaching out to touch the door.
It slid open with a hiss.
Bright light blinded us for a second, then adjusted, revealing a vast white room. No corners. No shadows. Just mirrors—on all sides. Walls. Ceiling. Even the floor reflected us back in distorted fragments.
“What is this?” I murmured.
“A trap,” Kane said softly, stepping beside me. “Or a test.”
Kelly scanned the room quickly. “There’s no exit.”
“No visible one,” Kane corrected.
We stepped in.
The door closed behind us with a mechanical clang.
And the mirrors shifted.
Not our reflections—them.
Moments.
Images.
Kelly holding Gina’s hand.
Gina sleeping beside him.
Laughter. A kiss.
Kane stiffened. I turned, startled. My mouth opened, then closed again.
“Well,” I said after a pause, blinking. “That’s… new.”
Gina blushed, hard. “Okay, first—this isn’t what it looks like.”
“It’s exactly what it looks like,” Kelly said casually.
She elbowed him. “You’re not helping.”
Kane crossed his arms, amused despite the setting. “Since when?”
“Since… that night,” Kelly replied with a small shrug. “After Raymond. After Diane.”
“We didn’t plan it,” Gina added quickly. “It just… happened.”
Kane gave a slow nod. “We’ve been in worse company.”
I looked at him, surprised. “You’re okay with it?”
He met my eyes. “If someone wants to choose love in this mess, I’m not going to be the one to tell them not to.”
Gina looked stunned. Then smiled—really smiled—for the first time in days.
“I don’t trust easily,” she said. “But he makes it easier.”
“Let’s just survive this room first,” Kelly said, turning serious. “Then you can plan double dates and matching jackets.”
Kane chuckled under his breath. “God, no matching jackets.”
We walked deeper into the white space. The mirrors shimmered again.
This time, they didn’t show us.
They showed Reynolds.
Standing over Raymond’s corpse. Speaking into a comm-link.
“I gave them mercy,” his voice echoed through the chamber. “Now I give them war.”
Then the images fractured.
The room trembled.
Gears clicked beneath our feet.
And the floor split—literally.
Two walls descended from above, slicing between us in a sudden mechanical slam.
Kane and I on one side.
Gina and Kelly on the other.
“Kelly!” I yelled, slamming against the divider.
“Stay calm!” he shouted back. “We’ll find each other!”
Kane tried to find a seam. “It’s thick. No visible triggers.”
A voice crackled overhead. Reynolds.
“Time to choose again. But this time, not with your heads. With your hearts.”
The mirrors lit up one by one, each showing betrayals, secrets, half-truths.
Kelly shooting Diane.
Gina handing over the pen.
Me… doubting Kane.
Kane… hiding the fact that he almost killed Jayson years ago.
I turned to him, stunned. “You never told me—”
“I thought he was dead,” he said, jaw tight. “And if I had known Raymond took his place…”
I stepped back slightly, heart racing.
From the other side, I heard Gina scream. “Kelly, what are you not telling me?!”
“I didn’t want to be like him,” his voice was strained. “But I was made by him. Gina—”
The room buzzed.
Emotion. Pressure. Cracks forming again.
“Break them,” Reynolds whispered over the speaker. “Or they’ll break each other.”
Kane turned to me slowly.
But this time, I didn’t flinch.
I walked to him. Placed my hand on his chest.
“I’m not scared of your past,” I said. “As long as you don’t run from it.”
He closed his eyes briefly.
Then held my hand.
From the other side, silence fell.
Then Gina’s voice, clear:
“I don’t care what you’ve done. I care about what we do next.”
Kane met my eyes. “We’re still a team?”
I smiled. “We’re whatever survives this.”
The floor glowed.
The walls slid open again.