Chapter 22 Untitled Chapter
Silence hit the car differently after that.
Kendrix stared at him in bewilder. “I’m not an object.”
“I never said you were.”
“Well…you’re treating me like one.”
Roberto didn’t deny it. That silence again.
Kendrix looked away, jaw locked tight.
Hospital bills she didn’t understand. Times things went too smoothly. Moments she thought were luck. Now they felt arranged.
Her voice dropped. “Did you do everything?”
“Not everything.”
That didn’t help.
“Antonio. Maya. The hospital. The car outside campus. The…”
“Kendrix.”
His voice cut in, quieter now. That stopped her for half a second.
She leaned forward. “Were my problems even real? Or did you just manage them from behind the scenes like some…”
“Like some what?” he interrupted.
That made her pause. For the first time, there was something in his voice. Not anger. Not softness. Something restrained.
Kendrix swallowed. “Like you owned it.”
Bash exhaled quietly in the front seat.
“You were never owned.” Roberto said.
Kendrix laughed dryly. “That’s not what it feels like.”
“Then what do you call it?”
“I don't know. Maybe you should tell me.”
Roberto looked at her. Outside, the city kept moving.
“Protection that you never had to survive alone.”
It should have sounded comforting. But it didn’t. Kendrix looked back out the window. Her reflection stared back, faint in the glass. More different now. Or maybe she was just seeing it differently.
Her voice dropped. “So I never had a choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
She turned back sharply. “Really? Because it feels like every version of my life was already written before I entered it.”
The silence was longer this time. The car kept moving. Then Roberto spoke again. “You were never meant to see all of these.”
“That still doesn't answer anything.”
Roberto looked away briefly. “I know.”
The car turned onto a wider road with the lights thinning out. Heading back toward the mansion. Back toward everything she couldn’t un-know.
Kendrix leaned back slowly. Her voice came quieter now. Almost tired.
“So what now?”
Roberto didn’t look away. “You stop running from what kept you alive.”
Kendrix let out a small, empty laugh.
“That’s not comforting at all.”
“It’s not meant to be.”
And for the first time since everything started, Kendrix realized the scariest part wasn’t that he watched her life. It was that he believed he had every reason to.
. .
The mansion looked the same. That was the problem. Same hallways. Same floors. Same guards in the corners pretending they weren’t listening.
But now Kendrix noticed too much. The front doors opened before Roberto touched them and footsteps moved upstairs the second she stepped inside.
A maid appeared with water like she had been waiting behind the wall for it.
It made her skin crawl. She took the glass anyway. Her hands were still cold.
Roberto didn’t say anything. He handed his coat off and walked deeper in like the night hadn’t happened. Like kidnapping was just an inconvenience.
Kendrix stared at his back. “You’re seriously just gonna walk away?”
He stopped half way. “You need rest.”
She almost laughed.
“Right. Because this has been super relaxing.”
He kept walking without responding.
Kendrix muttered under her breath.“I actually hate him.”
Upstairs felt worse. Every camera looked obvious now. Every guard felt placed. Even the quiet felt staged and it made her stomach twisted. By the time she reached her room, she knew Nora was inside. The light gave it away.
Kendrix pushed the door open. Nora sat on the couch in a loose sweater, arm still wrapped. The bruising on her face had faded to yellow and purple.
“You’re back,” Nora said quietly.
“Apparently.”
Nora looked her over. “You okay?”
Kendrix chuckled.“Do I look okay to you?”
“No.”
“At least you’re consistent.”
Nora looked down. That bothered Kendrix more than an argument would. The room felt kind of wrong too.
Nora noticed her looking around.
“You’re thinking too hard.”
“That’s funny coming from people who built a secret life around me.”
Nora went still a little,but Kendrix caught it.
“There it is,” Kendrix muttered. “That pause.”
Nora exhaled. “Kendrix…”
“How long have you known him?”
The question came out flat. Nora didn’t answer right away. She hesitated too long.
“Oh my God.” Kendrix gasped.
“It’s complicated.”
“No, it’s not. Everyone knows everything except me.”
“That’s not true.”
“Really? Because I just found out my so called fiancé’s been around my life since I was a kid.”
Nora rubbed her forehead tiredly.“He wasn’t lurking.”
“You hear how insane that sounds, right?”
Nora stayed quiet.
Rain hit the windows, soft, then harder.
Nora’s eyes flicked to it, not like she cared about the storm. Like she heard something else in it.
Before Kendrix could ask, the door opened and Roberto walked in. His eyes moved once, glancing at the room.
“You should be resting,” he told Nora.
“I’m fine.”
“You were unconscious a few hours ago.”
“And yet here I am.”
His gaze shifted to Kendrix. “You left the house without permission.”
“I went to see Antonio and Maya.”
“I never said you could see them.”
“Sorry, should I file a form next time?”
His jaw flexed. “And now you're exposed to danger.”
“No,” she snapped. “I was taken because Kylie’s insane.”
“The two are connected.”
The rain cracked harder outside. Roberto’s eyes snapped to the balcony doors, then the hall,then Nora.
“Where are the guards on the east wings?”
“They change shift.”
“Move them.”
Nora hesitated, then left.
Kendrix stared after her, then at Roberto.
“What was that?”
“What.”
“That.”
He didn’t answer. The rain hit harder.
He walked to the window and shut the curtains fast.
Kendrix watched him guardedly.“You’re acting weird.”
“I’m acting cautious.”
“No. You were fine all night. Now you look like you want to bury the whole house.”
He adjusted his cuff once, too deliberate without saying a word.
Kendrix stepped closer. “You’re scared of something, aren't you?”
He went still instinctively, and for the first time, Kendrix felt something real under all the control.
“Go to sleep, Kendrix.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No.”
Thunder rolled outside low and heavy.
His eyes flicked to it, then the door.
Calculating and watching with a tense expression.
And it hit her, cold and sudden. Lucifer wasn’t scared of things happening to him.
He was scared of failing to stop them before they happened again.
“Go to bed, Kendrix,”he rasped.
Kendrix didn’t move.
The rain hit the windows hard enough to sound like static.
Roberto stood by the curtains, one hand near his watch like he was waiting for the next problem.
Kendrix stared at him. “You really think this is normal?”
He looked at her. “What happened tonight proved I was right.”
Kendrix laughed short. “There’s something wrong with your brain.”
He gave no reaction and that pissed her off more.
She crossed her arms. “You watched me my whole life and you still think you’re the reasonable one here?”
“You’re alive, that's what matters.”
“There it is,” she snapped. “You keep saying that like it fixes everything.”
“To me, it does.”
The answer sat wrong in her chest because he sounded honest, which was worse.