The moment Reed left, the house felt like it was shrinking, like the walls were listening, like every shadow carried Rita's name. The air had weight, heavy enough to make her shoulders tighten, her breath shallow, her mind sharp but exhausted.
Ben paced the living room like a man walking a battlefield. His steps were steady, controlled, but the look in his eyes gave him away. He was calculating a thousand possibilities, a thousand threats, a thousand consequences. Ella watched him from the couch, her fingers tangled in her hair, her leg bouncing uncontrollably.
"Ben," she whispered.
He paused mid-step, turning toward her. "I know."
She swallowed. "We need Lucas."
Ben nodded slowly. "Yeah… but we also need to be careful. If Rita even senses we're moving against her—"
"She'll lose it," Ella finished.
He didn't deny it.
He sat beside her, close enough for their shoulders to touch. His warmth seeped into her skin, grounding her for the first time since Reed walked through their door with panic in his eyes.
Ella took a long breath. "Do you believe Reed?"
Ben exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't trust him. But I believe him."
Ella frowned. "You're sure?"
"Ella," he said quietly, "I've seen someone unravel before. The way Reed described her? That wasn't acting. That wasn't manipulation. That was a person breaking."
A chill crawled down Ella's arms.
She whispered, "And now she wants to take us with her."
Ben turned toward her fully. "Not if we get ahead of her."
Ella nodded, though her stomach twisted. "I hate that this is happening."
He placed a hand on her knee, gentle but firm. "We're not losing control. Not again."
A knock at the door shattered the silence.
Ella jerked upright. "Who—?"
Ben lifted a hand. "Stay there."
He moved toward the door with the quiet confidence of a man ready for anything. When he opened it, relief washed over Ella so fast her eyes stung.
Lucas.
He stepped inside with the calm intensity of someone who already knew something was wrong. His suit jacket was still on, hair brushed back, eyes sharp as polished glass. Lucas didn't waste time. He never did.
"What happened?" he asked immediately.
Ben gestured for him to sit, but Lucas remained standing, arms crossed, waiting.
Ella stood slowly. "Something's wrong with Rita."
Lucas' eyebrows lifted slightly. "Define 'wrong.'"
"Reed said she's spiraling," Ben cut in. "Not emotionally, strategically."
Ella handed him Reed's phone, the screenshots, the audio file, everything.
Lucas listened. Watched. Read. Not a single flicker of emotion broke his expression.
When the audio ended, he set the phone down carefully.
"This," Lucas said in a low voice, "is worse than spiraling."
Ella's throat tightened. "What do you mean?"
Lucas met her eyes, steady and cold. "She's building a case. Not a meltdown. A case. You don't gather this much material if you're only emotional. This is intentional."
Ben's jaw clenched. "How intentional?"
Lucas stepped closer to the table, tapping one of the printed screenshots Ella had laid out. A fake medical document mock-up Rita had created. "She's creating patterns. Rewriting timelines. Reframing events. This isn't emotional instability. This is narrative warfare."
Ella's breath caught. "Lucas… do you think she'll actually do it?"
Lucas didn't hesitate. "Yes."
Ella sat down abruptly, the world tilting. "God."
Ben lifted a hand to steady her shoulder. "Ella, breathe."
She pressed her fingers to her temples, whispering, "Why is she doing this? Why now?"
Lucas' voice softened just enough to show he understood more than he let on. "Because you confronted her. You broke the version of herself she wanted the world to believe in. Now she's trying to rebuild it, by turning you two into the villains."
Ella looked up. "And Reed?"
Lucas shrugged. "Reed is irrelevant to her plan unless he benefits her image."
Ella leaned forward. "He said she had a deadline."
Lucas nodded. "Which means she's planning a release. A public reveal. Probably scheduled."
Ben muttered, "We need to stop her."
Lucas took a slow breath. "Stopping her isn't hard. Stopping her without making things worse? That's the challenge."
Ella whispered, "Lucas… tell us the truth. What do you recommend?"
He studied her for a moment, too long, too gently and then spoke.
"We need to find the root. Whatever she's planning, there's always a trigger, a source. Something she's holding onto. Something she believes will justify everything."
Ella frowned. "Where do we start?"
Lucas' expression hardened. "With her devices, her backups, her financial trail, her messages. People don't build perfect narratives without leaving cracks."
Ben exhaled. "So we dig."
"Carefully," Lucas added.
Ella pressed a hand over her racing heart. "And what if we find something… worse than we expect?"
Lucas' jaw flexed. "Then we deal with it."
Ella swallowed hard. "I'm scared."
Lucas softened. "Be scared. But don't freeze."
The room fell silent, thick and heavy.
Ben spoke first. "Lucas, we need you full-time on this."
Lucas nodded once. "You have me."
For the first time since Rita's name stopped being just an irritation and became a threat, Ella felt a fraction of safety.
But it didn't last.
Because Lucas' phone buzzed.
He glanced at it.
His entire face changed.
Ella's stomach dropped. "Lucas… what is it?"
He turned the screen toward them slowly.
A post.
A public post.
From Rita.
Two words:
"They lied."
Ella's blood ran cold.
Ben stepped closer. "What is she doing?"
Lucas scrolled.
More posts.
More accusations.
A countdown timer.
Ella whispered, voice breaking—
"She already started."