Chapter 97: Untitled Chapter

By sunrise, the mansion felt smaller. Not physically. It just started closing in on Kendrix after too many hours trapped inside with the same fears, the same unanswered questions, and the same awful possibilities running through her head.

Kendrix couldn’t stand another second of it. The search screens. The maps. The theories. The waiting. Especially the waiting.

She walked down the corridor with quick, restless steps, ignoring the ache behind her eyes. She hadn’t slept properly. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Maya tied to that chair. Or Antonio. Or the corner of Victor’s smug smile. That smile made her want to break something.

Voices came from the surveillance room ahead. Skyler was arguing with a computer again. Bash sounded one irritation away from punching a wall. Normal, considering the circumstances.

Kendrix pushed the door open. Nobody noticed her at first.

Skyler sat surrounded by monitors and empty cups. Bash leaned over one of the desks. Roberto stood near the largest screen, studying a map. The same map. Another map. Always another map. Something inside her finally snapped.

“What exactly are we doing?”

The room went quiet.

Skyler looked up first. Then Bash. Roberto turned around slowly. His gaze landed on her face and immediately sharpened. He knew something was wrong. Good. Something was absolutely wrong. Everything was wrong.

“What happened?” Roberto asked.

Kendrix laughed. Not because anything was funny. Because if she didn’t laugh, she might scream.

“What happened?” Her voice came out harsher than she meant. “Maya and Anthonio are still missing.”

Nobody interrupted her.

“And we’re standing around staring at screens. Doing nothing.”

Bash straightened. “Kendrix...”

“No.” She held up a hand.

She wasn’t angry at Bash. Not really. She was just angry. At everyone. At everything. Especially At Victor.

“No more telling me to calm down.”

The room went very still. Skyler leaned back in his chair slowly. Even the keyboards sounded quieter.

Kendrix folded her arms tightly across her chest. “You all keep talking about traps.”

Nobody argued.

“You keep talking about timing. You keep talking about strategy.” Her throat tightened. “And while we’re being careful, Maya is waking up every day wondering if she’s getting out alive.”

Roberto watched her without blinking. She hated how calm he looked. She hated it because she knew it wasn’t real. Underneath that control was the same fear eating the rest of them alive. But right now she didn’t care.

“I am tired of him deciding everything.” The words came out before she could stop them.

Nobody moved and nobody spoke.

Kendrix looked directly at Roberto. “My whole life has been about what Victor wanted.” Her voice dropped sharper. “He didn’t want a daughter.”

The memory hit like broken glass. A story she had heard too many times. A wound she had carried too long.

“He decided I shouldn’t exist before I was even born.”

Bash looked away. Skyler stared at his desk. Neither man knew what to do with that kind of pain. Truthfully, neither did she.

Kendrix swallowed and kept going anyway. “My mother refused to get rid of me.” The words felt strange in her mouth. Heavy and old. “She chose me.” Her eyes burned. “And he killed her for it.”

Nobody breathed. For a moment the room felt suspended. Like the entire world had stopped moving.

Kendrix shook her head. Disbelief was still there, even after all these years. Even now.

“I can’t even understand it.” Her laugh sounded hollow. “What kind of man murders the mother of his child because she gave birth to the wrong gender?”

Roberto closed his eyes briefly. Just once. When he opened them again, something dangerous sat behind them.

Kendrix took a step forward. “I’m done being the reason everybody suffers while I hide behind other people.”

“No.”

The answer came instantly. She looked at Roberto. Of course it had.

His jaw tightened. “You are not going near him.”

“There it is.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that’s always your answer.”

Frustration flashed across his face. “This isn’t a debate.”

“It should be.”

“No.”

“Why?”

Roberto's stare hardened. “Because Victor wants access to you.”

Kendrix threw her hands up. “Victor wants access to me whether I’m here or not.”

The words hit harder than she intended, because they were true. The room knew it. She knew it. Roberto knew it.

The silence afterward felt uncomfortable. Bash shifted his weight. Skyler suddenly became fascinated with one of his monitors. Nobody wanted to stand in the middle of this conversation. Unfortunately for them, they already were.

Kendrix looked at Roberto. Really looked at him. The exhaustion. The strain. The sleepless nights. He carried all of it badly, like a man trying to hold up a collapsing building with his bare hands. For a second her anger softened. Just a little.

Then she remembered Maya. Remembered Antonio. Remembered the chair. The bruises. The tape. The fear. And the softness disappeared.

“What happens when this never ends?” She asked.

The question landed heavy. Nobody had an answer ready. Not even Roberto.

Kendrix laughed quietly. “There it is.”

“What?”

“The look.”

Roberto frowned.

“The one people get when they realize I’m right.” She rubbed both hands over her face. Suddenly exhausted. Suddenly older. “He’s never going to stop.”

The room stayed silent, because everyone understood the problem. Victor wasn’t chasing money. Or territory. Or revenge alone. His obsession had a face. Her face.

Roberto crossed the distance between them slowly. Carefully. Like he was approaching something wounded. When he stopped in front of her, his voice came out lower than before.

“I know.”

The admission surprised her. He rarely admitted things that openly. Kendrix stared at him.

Then Roberto said something she wasn’t expecting. “I think about that every day.”

The honesty knocked the fight out of her for a second. His eyes never left hers.

“Every day I ask myself how to end this permanently.” Something in his expression tightened. Not fear. Not uncertainty. Something darker. Something final.

“And when I find the answer,” he said quietly, “Victor won’t get another chance.”

The room fell silent. Skyler stopped typing. Bash looked away. Because they all understood what Roberto meant.

Kendrix did too.

For the first time since she walked in, she didn’t know what to say. She just stood there, breathing, thinking, while somewhere far away Victor kept believing he controlled the board.

The problem was that pieces were starting to move. And sooner or later, someone was going to force an ending.