Chapter 25 Untitled Chapter
She stood up slowly. “You really think like this. All the time. Isn't that weird?"
He didn’t answer.
“My mother trusted this?”
“She trusted me before things went wrong.”
“What things?”
“Not now.”
Kendrix laughed, short and sharp. “There it is. Again.”
“Kendrix.”
“No. Don’t.” She stepped back. “You keep throwing me half-pieces and then act mad when I try to put them together.”
The rain got heavier, and Roberto’s jaw ticked. Barely, but she saw it.
“You’re scared of rain,” she said quietly.
Roberto’s eyes shifted to her, measuredly.
“I’m careful of rain.”
“That’s not the same.”She peered at him. “You change when it storms.”
Roberto wordlessly stared at her for a moment, then said.“You notice too much.”
Kendrix blinked. “ Hm. That’s rich coming from you.”
For a second, just a second, something like regret crossed his face and was gone fast just as it came.
“Don't push too hard.”
Kendrix didn’t respond right away. The space between them felt heavier. Not empty. Just full of stuff neither of them wanted to say.
Outside, rain kept hitting the windows like it had nowhere else to go.
Roberto kept watching her. His eyes stuck on her.
Kendrix shifted. “You always do that.”
“Do what?”
“Look at people like you’re already figuring out how it’d feel when they’re gone.”
“I don’t do that.” He said, quietly.
She paused, because that sounded too real to be a line.
She scoffed to cover it. “Sure.”
Roberto didn’t argue.
A radio crackled down the hall. One burst of static, then nothing. Just dead air.
Kendrix heard it. Her eyes flicked to the door. “What was that?”
Roberto shifted instantly. He didn’t answer, he stood up instead. That alone changed the room.
“Stay here,” he said.
Kendrix blinked. “No.”
His eyes snapped to hers. Sharper now. “Kendrix.”
“That tone isn’t gonna work.”
He moved for the door. “It’s not a discussion.”
She followed anyway.
“I’m not a kid you can lock in a room and…”
The door opened and Skyler was already there. No knock. Just that look he gets when it’s bad.
“South feed went black again,” Skyler said.
“For how long?”
“Thirty seconds. Maybe less. Same pattern.”
Kendrix stopped behind Roberto. Not because he told her to, because something in her gut said stop.
Skyler finally noticed her. He hesitated for half a second. “That shouldn’t be possible.”
“Lock internal access,” Roberto said.
“It already is.”
“Double it.”
Skyler took off down the hall.
Kendrix crossed her arms. “Okay, I’m done with houses where nothing’s ever just a glitch.”
Roberto turned slightly. “You were told to stay inside.”
“And I’ve been told a lot of things lately.”
Another burst on the radio came louder this time. A guard’s voice strained.
“North corridor…movement…”
It was cut out and silence dragged on.
Roberto didn’t move for half a second. Then he was moving.
“Bash.”
Footsteps hit the stairs, and Bash appeared, already alert.
“Yeah?”
“Seal east wing.”
Bash’s face changed. “That’s not a drill.”
“It isn’t.”
Kendrix looked between them. “Can someone translate what in the devil's name is going on?”
No one answered.
Roberto grabbed the desk phone and dialled a line.“Get the perimeter grid online.” He paused, listening to the other end. “Now.”
He hung up. The hallway lights flickered.
Kendrix caught it immediately. “Th..that’s new.”
Roberto’s eyes went to the ceiling in assessment.
Bash stepped closer. “That’s not us.”
Roberto nodded once. “External.”
“External what?” Kendrix said.
Again, no one answered her. And she was starting to hate that.
The lights flickered again, longer. A low hum rolled through the house, like the building breathed wrong. Then it stopped.
Kendrix looked at Roberto. “Tell me that wasn’t…”
The locks clicked down the hall. All of them, at once.
Bash swore under his breath.
Roberto’s voice went flat. “They’re inside the system.”
“Inside what system?”
He looked at her fully this time. No calm left.
“The house.”
Kendrix's heart thumped loud. Then they heard distant footsteps, from the east wing. It was slow and deliberate, like they knew the layout.
Kendrix’s throat went dry. “You’re joking, right?”
Roberto didn’t move. No one did. The footsteps got closer.
And for the first time, he didn’t look like he had it handled. He looked like someone who just realized the thing had been studying him back.
The footsteps stopped right outside the east corridor door. Not rushing. Not careful either. Just... there.
Kendrix felt it before anyone spoke. The air changed, like the room was holding its breath.
Bash shifted. “That’s too coordinated.”
Roberto didn’t answer. His hand twitched near his jacket. Not going for a weapon. Just adjusting, like he was re-running the whole house in his head.
Then, a soft knock came once. It felt wrong.
Kendrix frowned. “That’s it?”
Bash muttered, “That’s never it.”
“Don’t open that,” Roberto said.
Too late. The door unlocked itself. It clicked open like it was given access.
Bash looked at Roberto. “That’s your protocol.”
Roberto’s face shifted. “No,” he said quietly.
The door opened widely, and the first thing Kendrix noticed was the uniform. Not black gear. Not mercs. Clean, structured and official.
A man stepped in first. Hands out. Eyes moving fast, like he had already seen the floor plan. Two behind him. Then a fourth.
They moved like they belonged here more than she did.
Kendrix blinked. “Okay. I don’t get this part.”
Bash straightened. “That’s not ours.”
Roberto didn’t speak. His eyes weren’t on them. A small insignia was crested near their collar. Most people would miss it, but he didn’t.
The room got colder. Not tense. Just... wrong.
The lead man spoke. “Lucifer.”
No hello. Just the name.
Kendrix’s stomach dropped.
Bash glanced between them. “You know him?”
Roberto didn’t answer.
The man’s eyes slid past him, and landed on Kendrix. He checked her out like she was the last piece of a puzzle. Then he nodded once, slow. “So it’s true.”
“What’s true?” Kendrix said.
No one answered.
He stepped in further, ignoring the guns. “We’re not here for conflict.”
Bash snorted. “Yeah, that’s what they all say.”
The guy ignored him. His eyes still on Roberto. “She’s not supposed to be here.”
Silence snapped tight, and Kendrix felt it. Not confused anymore. Targeted.
Roberto spoke just one word. "Leave."
The man didn't move. He tilted his head. "As expected."
Bash muttered. " I don't like that."
Neither did Kendrix.
The man reached inside his jacket. Every gun in the hall twitched up. Roberto didn't move, he just watched. He pulled out a small device. Not a gun. A transmitter. And held it up between two fingers.
“We were told to confirm containment status,” he said, calm.
Kendrix froze. That word again.
Roberto’s voice dropped. “Who told you to walk into my house?”
The man smiled. “Someone above both of us.”
He pressed the device, and a soft tone came from somewhere deeper in the mansion, and another tone answered back.
Roberto's face changed. Not anger. Not shock. Sharper than that.
That signal shouldn't exist in his system.
Kendrix caught it. "You're lying. That's not ..."
"That's mine," Roberto cut in, quietly.
Bash went still. "What?"