Chapter 89: Untitled Chapter

Kendrix hated waiting. She hated it more than she hated being scared, because fear at least makes your body do something. Fear makes your heart slam against your ribs and your hands move before your brain catches up. Waiting just sits on you. It piles on, hour after hour, until your lungs feel too small and you can’t get a full breath without it hurting.

The mansion was wrong. It was too quiet. Definitely not a peaceful quiet. The kind of quiet that makes your ears ring. Everyone moved like they were trying not to crack the air. Like if they spoke too loud something would break.

No one laughed. No one started stupid arguments over coffee. No one slept. You could see it in their faces. Every time a phone buzzed, three heads jerked up at once. Every time a door clicked open, hope hit the room and died before it even had a chance to sit down.

Maya and Antonio had been gone for twenty hours.

Twenty. Kendrix had counted. She had counted in her head, on her fingers, on the wall with her thumbnail. Twenty hours and no call. No proof. Nothing.

She sat in the surveillance room with her knees pulled up to her chest until her legs went numb. Skyler hadn’t moved from the monitors in so long his eyes looked red at the edges. Bash kept pacing the same three steps, back and forth, like if he stopped the world would too. Roberto stood by the window with his hands in his pockets. He wasn’t looking outside. He was looking at nothing, and that was worse. When Roberto went quiet like that, it meant he was already ten moves ahead and hating all of them.

They hadn’t said a word in almost ten minutes when one of the screens lit up.

An incoming Call. The room went dead.

No one breathed. No one reached for the phone.

Skyler exhaled like he’d been holding it in for hours. “That’s him.”

The line connected before anyone touched it. Static rolled through the speakers, ugly and loud, and then Victor's voice cut through it. Calm. Smooth. Like he was calling to check if they’d gotten his package.

“Hello, daughter.”

Kendrix’s whole body locked.

For a second the room wasn’t there. The monitors, the chairs, the other people…gone. She thought she had made it up, because she didn’t have memories of him. She had stories and warnings other people fed her until she choked on them.

But she knew that voice. Victor.

No one spoke. She could feel Bash’s eyes on the side of her face. She could feel Skyler watching her hands. Roberto went so still he might as well have been stone.

Victor chuckled, and it was soft, almost fond. “Well. I expected a better reaction than that.”

Anger hit her, hot and fast, and it wasn’t clean. It was messy. It crawled up her throat because he didn’t sound like a monster on a call. He sounded easy. Comfortable. Like Maya and Antonio weren’t tied to chairs in some room she couldn’t find. Like he had every right to say “daughter” and mean it.

Her mouth opened, then she closed it again.

No. That was the trap. If she screamed, if she begged, if she even swore… he would have it. He would have her.

So she folded her arms across her chest until it hurt and said nothing.

“Interesting,” he said, conversational, like they were talking about the rain. “You have Roberto’s discipline.”

Roberto’s eyes narrowed for just a fraction.

Victor noticed. Of course he did. “I see you’re there too,” he said, and when Roberto didn’t answer, his voice got lighter. “Still protective after all these years.”

Kendrix’s stomach turned over. It felt like someone had their hand in her gut.

“Isn’t this interesting?” He dragged the words out, and she could hear the smug smile in it, the way his mouth curved around the question.

Kendrix didn’t think before she answered. She just couldn’t. “No. It’s pathetic.”

The room went quiet.

Victor paused for just half a second. But she caught it. She had thrown him off. Good.

She stood up. Her knees almost buckled, and her hands were shaking, and she hated them for it. “You kidnapped two innocent people because you wanted attention.”

No one moved. No one cut in.

Victor laughed, low and soft. “Attention?”

“That’s all this is,” she said. Her heart was hammering so hard she could feel it in her teeth, but she kept going. “You wanted everyone scared. You wanted Roberto angry. You wanted me to watch it and fall apart.”

Kendrix stepped closer to the speaker, close enough that her breath fogged the metal. Like if she got near enough she could see him through it. “But all you’ve done is prove you’re exactly what everyone says you are.”

He didn’t answer. The silence stretched.

That scared her more than shouting would have, because men like him always have an answer. They always have a knife waiting. When they don’t use it right away, it means they’re picking where to cut.

Then he sighed. Soft. Almost sad, like he was disappointed in her. “Oh, Kendrix.”

Hearing her name in his voice made her skin crawl. It felt wrong and dirty.

“You really think this is about attention?” His voice dropped. The humor was gone. “I’ve spent years watching people lie to you.”

“What?” The word came out before she could stop it.

He ignored it.

“I’ve watched them build stories.” His voice drifted, almost gentle. “Stories about monsters. Stories about villains. And stories about fathers.”

Something ugly moved in her chest. Not doubt. Never doubt. Just anger, thick and hot, because he was standing there trying to rewrite it in real time, while she listened.

Victor's voice got softer, which was somehow worse. “I wonder... have you ever asked why everyone is so afraid of me?”

Roberto finally spoke. His voice was ice over steel. “Careful.”

Victor laughed right away, and it was bright. “There’s the Luca I remember.”

And that’s when it suddenly clicked. This wasn’t about Maya. It wasn’t about Antonio. It wasn’t even about her.

He called because he wanted back in the room. Back in their heads. He wanted to sit at the table again, to remind them he was still here, still watching, still pulling strings they pretended he couldn’t reach.

And from the sound of his voice…He thought he was winning.