Chapter 96: Untitled Chapter

The surveillance room had gone quiet again.

Not because anyone found answers. It was quiet because they still had nothing.

Hours had passed since the warehouse coordinates appeared. Hours since Victor’s latest game. And somehow they were in the exact same place they started.

Maya and Antonio were missing. Victor was out there somewhere, probably smiling. And nobody could do anything about it.

Skyler sat hunched over his laptop, rubbing at his eyes until they burned. Bash was pacing. Back and forth, back and forth, like if he walked enough laps he’d trip over a solution. Roberto stood near the monitors with his arms folded. He wasn’t talking. He was thinking. Kendrix sat on the couch watching all of them, watching the exhaustion wear down everyone she cared about.

Nobody was sleeping. Nobody was eating. Nobody was okay. Then a sharp buzz cut through the room.

Skyler frowned and looked down at his phone. He ignored it. It buzzed again. Then again. Then a fourth time.

“Jesus Christ.” He grabbed it.

Bash stopped pacing. “What?”

Skyler didn’t answer right away. His eyes narrowed at the screen, and then the color drained out of his face.

“What is it?” Roberto asked.

Skyler swallowed and turned the phone around. It was a delivery notification. Simple. Ordinary. Except for the photograph attached.

The room went still.

The photo showed a cardboard box sitting right outside the mansion gates. No courier. No car. No person. Just a box sitting there alone, like it had appeared out of thin air. The timestamp said it was left seven minutes ago.

Nobody spoke, because nobody had to.

It had Victor written all over it.

Bash swore under his breath. “That son of a bitch.”

Roberto was already moving toward the door.

“No.” Bash stepped in front of him immediately.

Roberto’s eyes lifted. They were cold. “Move.”

“Absolutely not.” Bash crossed his arms. “If it’s dangerous, I’m the one checking it.”

For a second it looked like Roberto would argue. Then he didn’t. Mostly because they both knew Bash wasn’t going to back down.

Five minutes later the box was on the conference table. Nobody had touched it yet. It looked harmless, which somehow made it worse. Victor never used obvious threats. He preferred getting inside your head.

Bash opened the lid carefully. Nothing exploded. Nothing happened. He frowned and reached inside. When he pulled something out, he froze. The room noticed right away.

“What is it?” Kendrix asked.

Bash didn’t answer. He was staring at whatever he held.

Roberto stepped forward and took it from him. His expression changed the second he saw it.

Kendrix’s stomach dropped. “What?”

Still nobody answered, and that terrified her more than anything they could have said.

Roberto handed it to her slowly.

Kendrix looked down and forgot how to breathe.

It was a photograph. Old and a little faded. A little girl standing outside a school gate with messy hair and a backpack, scowling at something off camera. It took Kendrix a second to realize she was looking at herself.

She blinked, confused, then reached into the box herself. Another photograph. And another. And another.

Age seven. Age nine. Age twelve. Age fourteen. Age sixteen. Years of photographs. Her at bus stops. Walking home. Eating lunch alone. Sitting in parks. Leaving school. Going into stores. Talking to Maya. Living her life.

Every photo was taken from a distance. Every photo was taken without her knowing. Every single one proved the same horrifying thing.

Someone had been watching her. For years.

“No.” The word slipped out before she realized she said it.

Her hands started shaking. “No.” She grabbed another photo, then another. Her chest felt tight, like there wasn’t enough air left in the room. “He's been watching me.”

Nobody answered, because it was obvious.

“He was watching me the whole time.” Her voice cracked.

Anger hit her so suddenly it made her dizzy. Not fear. Not sadness. Rage. Years of it building all at once. She swept her arm across the table and the photographs scattered everywhere. Some floated to the floor. Nobody stopped her. Nobody tried.

“He doesn’t get to do this.” Her voice shook. “He doesn’t get to want me dead, then disappear for my entire life and suddenly act like he knows me.”

The room stayed silent, because there was nothing anyone could say.

Roberto watched her carefully, like he wasn’t sure if she was about to scream or break. Truthfully, Kendrix wasn’t sure either.

Then Skyler reached for another photograph. His expression changed immediately. “Wait.”

Everyone looked at him.

“What?” Bash asked.

Skyler turned the photograph around slowly.

The room froze.

Kendrix felt her stomach knot. The picture wasn’t old. It wasn’t from years ago. It was recent. Very recent. Days, maybe less.

The photograph showed Kendrix standing near one of the mansion windows. Inside Roberto’s house. Inside the place that was supposed to be the safest. Nobody spoke. Nobody moved.

Because the implications were impossible to ignore. Victor shouldn’t have this. He shouldn’t even know that angle existed.

Bash’s face darkened. “How?”

Skyler looked genuinely disturbed. “I don’t know.”

Roberto took the photograph and studied it. Every detail. Every shadow. Every reflection. Then he noticed writing on the back and his jaw tightened.

Kendrix saw it immediately. “What does it say?”

For a second Roberto didn’t answer. Then he turned it around.

Three handwritten words were scribbled. Simple, neat and deliberate.

You walked past me three times.

The room went silent again. A different kind of silence. A colder one. Kendrix stared at the words while her pulse hammered.

Three times. Not once. Not maybe. Three fucking times. Victor hadn’t just watched her. He had been close. Close enough to pass her on the street. Close enough to stand beside her. Close enough to look her directly in the face. And she never knew. The thought made her skin crawl.

Bash swore softly. Skyler looked sick. Even Roberto’s face had gone hard. Because this wasn’t a threat. It wasn’t a clue. It wasn’t even a game. It was a reminder. Victor had been in her life the entire time. Hidden in the background. Watching. Waiting.

And somewhere out there, he was probably smiling, because he knew exactly what those three words would do to her.