They stayed in Maya's lair that night, all of them too exhausted, too raw, too filled with things unsaid. The walls hummed with encrypted signals and secrets, the kind of place built by someone who didn't want to be found—and didn't want to be forgiven.
Lilly sat on the floor with her knees drawn to her chest, back pressed to the cold concrete, heart colder still. Ava was somewhere down the hall, locked behind a reinforced door and a grudge two years wide. Sam was asleep—or trying to be—curled on the bed beside her.
Maya sat in the shadows, typing on a holographic keyboard like she was hacking into God's voicemail.
"Still mad at me?" Lilly asked, not looking up.
"Do you care?"
"No," Maya said, then paused "A little."
Lilly glanced at Maya "Lilly, Ava's not trustworthy."
"Neither are you Maya."
Fair
Brutal
True
Maya stood and walked over, a data chip between her fingers. "You want proof?"
Lilly blinked "proof of what?"
"Lilly, Ava's lying again."
Lilly's chest tightened "show me."
She handed the data chip over, no flourish, no smug grin, just quiet betrayal wrapped in plastic and tech.
"She planted a signal on the panel a trail for the Woman in White to follow."
Lilly's stomach sank. "She's setting us up."
"Yeah."
"And you're just telling me now?"
"I wanted to see if you'd figure it out on your own."
Lilly stared at the chip her pulse was thunder, her mind a firestorm.
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to see if you're still hers."
A beat.
Then Maya added, softer, "Or if you're finally ready to burn her."
Outside the room, the lights flickered just a power surge… or maybe something worse.