57. Unseen battle
Maximilian worked until his bones felt carved from stone.
Meeting after meeting.
Contract after contract.
Signature after signature.
By the time the final file closed, the clock hit 8:07 PM.
Kyron exhaled dramatically.
"Sir… you just worked ten hours straight."
Max didn't answer.
He simply stood, took his coat, and walked out.
Kyron followed, still muttering something about "inhuman stamina" as they got into the car.
The drive to Brooks Mansion was cold and quiet.
Max leaned his head back, closing his eyes for a moment of peace.
He didn't know that the next hour
would shatter that peace forever.
---
The gates opened smoothly.
The outside looked peaceful. Normal. Silent.
But the moment the car rolled to a stop—
Max's entire body froze.
He felt it.
A pressure in the air.
A sharp, cold shiver ripping down his spine.
Something wrong.
Wrong in a way even HE couldn't rationalize.
Kyron opened his door—
"Sir, something doesn't fee—"
A thunderous BOOM erupted from inside the mansion.
Lights flashed violently through the windows.
Glass shattered.
And then—
A SCREAM.
Not just any scream.
"M–MAAAX!!!"
Chloe.
Max's eyes widened—more emotion than he had shown in years.
He didn't think.
He ran.
Not walked. Not hurried.
He sprinted like a man possessed.
Kyron chased after him.
"Sir—!!"
---
the mansion wasn't a mansion anymore.
It was a battlefield of the unseen.
The entire foyer flickered with violent, strobing light.
Paintings rattled.
Furniture shook.
Air turned freezing cold.
A deep, low demonic growl vibrated through the walls—
like something ancient dragging its claws across the floor of reality itself.
And in the middle of the chaos—
Aiden stood trembling, bleeding from his arm, clutching a broken lamp.
Chloe was on the floor, dragging herself backwards, both legs scraped and bruised.
"MAX!!" she cried.
"HELP US—SOMEONE–SOMETHING—IT'S— IT'S DRAGGING ME!"
Max skidded to her, dropping to his knees.
"Chloe— stay still!"
She didn't get a chance.
Her body jerked violently—
SOMETHING YANKED HER ANKLES.
Her nails scraped across the floor as she screamed.
"MAX! IT HURTS—IT'S PULLING ME!!"
Max lunged and grabbed her wrists.
Her small body jerked like a ragdoll as the unseen force pulled harder.
Her legs lifted off the ground.
Her back hit the floor again.
"LET GO OF HER!!" Max roared.
His voice shook the room.
He pulled back with all the strength in his body—
muscles straining, veins standing out in his neck.
But Chloe's feet were being pulled into the air…
As if something was dragging her into nothingness.
Aiden rushed in from behind.
"Max—what do we do—WHAT DO WE DO?!"
"I don't know!!" Max snapped, panic cracking through him for the first time in YEARS.
He could fight men.
He could fight armies.
He could fight fate.
But he couldn't fight
what he couldn't see.
The air suddenly dropped to subzero.
Max felt something behind him.
Cold.
Hungry.
Breathing.
He turned his head—
CRACK!
Something invisible slammed into the side of his skull.
He fell sideways onto the floor.
Blood immediately trailed down his temple.
"MAX!!" Aiden screamed.
But Max pushed himself up, staggering, blood dripping down his cheek, vision blurry.
He didn't stop.
He dragged himself toward Chloe again—
The lights exploded above them, raining sparks.
The chandelier shook violently, swaying like it would fall at any second.
The growling grew louder.
Closer.
Almost inside his ear.
Max shoved Chloe behind him, shielding her with his own body.
"Don't touch them…" he growled through clenched teeth, rising again despite the dizziness.
"DON'T TOUCH THEM."
A force slammed into his back—
hard enough to knock the breath from him.
He stumbled, catching himself with a hand on the floor.
Blood hit the tiles again.
Chloe sobbed into his shoulder.
Aiden held onto Max's arm like a terrified child.
"Max—please—make it stop—MAKE IT STOP!"
"This shouldn't be happening," Max whispered hoarsely, fear and fury colliding inside him.
"This mansion—this HOME—it was always safe… this has NEVER happened…"
His hands trembled.
From rage.
From helplessness.
From the realization that his cousins—his only family—were being tortured by something he couldn't even SEE.
---
The unseen entity growled again, this time so close to Max's ear he flinched.
A faint whisper followed it—
"Mine…"
Max's blood ran cold.
His entire body tensed.
He grabbed both Aiden and Chloe, pulling them close to him, his voice shaking but fierce:
"Nobody touches my family."
The house shook violently—
walls trembling, lights bursting, furniture crashing.
Max roared back at the unseen force:
"COME FOR ME INSTEAD!"
Aiden grabbed him tighter.
"No—Max—don't—!!"
But it was too late.
Another violent blast hurled Max backward into a wall.
He hit his head again—hard.
The world spun.
His vision blurred.
Blood dripped down his jawline.
But even half-conscious…
even bleeding…
even terrified…
He crawled.
He still crawled toward his cousins.
"Stay away from them…"
Every word was a threat.
A vow.
A breaking point.
This wasn't fear.
This was Maximilian Brooks beginning to rage.
---