Chapter 88 Untitled Chapter
Chapter 88 Untitled Chapter
Kendrix woke up slowly and didn’t know where she was for a second. It was warm and heavy and for half a breath it felt safe. Then her brain kicked in. Maya. Antonio. Victor.
Her eyes snapped open. The room was darker now, just the blue glow from the monitors. She was still curled against Roberto’s chest, right where she had crashed. His arm was still locked around her waist like he had meant it when he said he wouldn’t let go.
She lifted her head. Roberto was awake. Of course he was. His eyes were fixed on the screens, jaw tight like he hadn’t slept at all.
“You didn’t sleep,” she said. Voice rough and scratchy.
“No,” Roberto said without looking down.
“You told me five minutes”
A small smile touched his mouth. “You took the whole five minutes.”
That twisted something in her chest. Maya didn’t get five minutes. Antonio didn’t get five minutes. The guilt hit her so fast she couldn’t breathe. She remembered Maya’s laugh from a few months ago. High and stupid and loud. Antonio stealing her fries at dinner. Both of them living peacefully. Now what?
Kendrix pushed up and stood. “Any news?”
Roberto's smile was gone. “No.”
She started pacing. Her hands were shaking and she hated it. Hated standing still. She hated waiting. Hated not knowing what to do.
"There has to be something,” she said. “A lead. A location. Something, Roberto.”
He didn’t answer right away. Just watched her with that tired look that made her want to scream.
“How are you so calm?” she snapped. Louder than she meant.
That got a reaction. His eyes flicked to her and it wasn’t calm. It was controlled. There was a difference.
“I’m not calm,” he said. His voice was low, like he was holding something back with his teeth.
“Then why aren’t we doing anything?”
“We are doing something.”
“No we’re not,” Kendrix said, and her voice bounced off the walls. “Roberto, they’re tied to chairs somewhere and we’re just standing here…” She cut herself off because her throat closed up. “I heard Maya crying.”
“I heard her too,” Roberto said, and his jaw clenched. For a second his hand curled into a fist at his side, then he forced it open.
The room went quiet. Kendrix wrapped her arms around herself. She kept seeing Maya’s face from the video and had to blink it away.
Then Roberto stood and the whole room felt smaller. He walked toward her slowly, not angry, just tired in a way she had never seen.
“Kendrix,” he said.
She shook her head. “No. Don’t…”
“Kendrix.”
“No,” she said again, and her voice cracked. All the fear spilled out. “Why are we standing here? Why aren’t we looking for them?”
“They’re not the target,” Roberto said.
The words hit her like a slap. She stared at him. “What do you mean they’re not the target?”
Roberto looked over at the dark monitors. “If Victor wanted Maya and Antonio dead, they’d already be dead. He doesn’t wait. He doesn’t play games when he wants something gone.”
Kendrix frowned. “I don’t… I don’t understand.”
“No,” Roberto said, and his eyes came back to hers. “You don’t. Because you’re still thinking like a mom. Not like his daughter.”
Something cold moved through her chest. Roberto looked less like a man planning a rescue and more like a man who had seen this before.
“When Victor wants something erased, he erases it,” he said, voice flat and distant. “He doesn’t negotiate. He doesn’t compromise. He tried to do that with you before you were even born.”
Kendrix went still. She let out a dry, awkward laugh.
“Yeah, I know,” she said, and she sank into the chair because her legs were done. “He doesn’t want them. He never did. It’s me he wants. It’s always been me.”
Her voice came out flat and done.
Roberto closed his eyes for a second. “Kendrix…”
"Don’t,” she cut him off. “Don’t act like this is new. He told my mom to kill me before I was born because I was a girl. He’s been trying to finish the job since. Maya and Antonio are just the latest way he’s trying to do it.”
She pressed her hands to her face in frustration. Her fingers dug into her skin like she could push the memory out.
"He wants me dead, Roberto. That’s the whole point. The rest is just...”
“Bait,” Roberto finished. He crouched in front of her chair so they were eye level. “Leverage. A knife he can hold to you.”
Kendrix laughed, but it came out broken and angry. “He’s been trying to kill me since I was in the womb. You think this is new?”
“No,” Roberto said immediately. “But hatred would be easier, Kendrix. This isn’t hatred.”
She stared at him. “Then what is it?”
Roberto dragged a hand down his face like he was trying to find words that wouldn’t cut her. “Victor doesn’t see people. He sees mistakes. And you… you’re the biggest mistake he ever made. A daughter he couldn’t control. A daughter who lived when he told her not to.”
Kendrix’s throat tightened. Because yeah. That was it. Every threat, every attempt, it wasn’t because she escaped. It was because she existed. Because she was born a girl and refused to disappear.
Roberto took her hands. Warm and steady. “Listen to me. Maya and Antonio matter. We’re getting them back. But if we only chase the hostages, we lose sight of the man holding them. And the man holding them wants you.”
Kendrix nodded even though her chest felt tight. “So what do we do?”
For the first time all night something dangerous moved into Roberto’s eyes. Not rage. Not fear. Just a cold understanding.
“Victor made a mistake,” Roberto said. He stood up and turned back to the monitors. “He used his own blood as leverage. He reminded me he’s emotional too. And emotional men make mistakes.”