Chapter 28
The Door that Opens Both Ways
Lolli-Gag
Room seven doesn’t feel like a room—it feels like a decision already made.
I jump when the door shuts behind us with a sound that doesn’t echo—it settles.
Jagger is at my back—close enough that I can feel his heat through the thin fabric of my shirt.
Vinny is to my left—too quiet, as always.
Master D stands at the center of the room like this is his stage and we’re nothing but puppets of his show.
There’s no pads on the walls. It’s not sterile or clean in here. Killian would hate this room.
A metal table sits right beside Master D.
Cold and waiting. Restraints line one wall in different sizes and shapes.
Different purposes, I assume. Another wall holds screens, all of them on…
all of them watching. And on those screens.
Killian, Lucifer, and Axel. Alive and breathing, but barely.
My chest caves in as my eyes well with tears.
“Stop!” I command. The words leave my mouth harshly before I can twist it into something playful—something Lolli. Master D tilts his head, and I take a step forward.
“Welcome, my Lolli-Doll,” he says as Jagger catches my wrist roughly.
“Don’t,” he states, but I don’t pull away, and I don’t stop either.
“I said stop!” I repeat as Master D gestures lazily toward the screens.
“They are still breathing,” he says as Lucifer’s head lifts on one screen. Too slow. Killian twitches under a wave of noise I can’t hear but can feel. Axel—he doesn’t move, and my throat tightens.
“What do you want? You got me here. Now, spill it,” I growl, and he smiles.
“I want to see what you choose,” he says, so simple it makes my head hurt.
“No games. Just say it,” Jagger spits, stepping forward, but Master D doesn’t even look at him.
“That is the game,” he states, and I swallow.
“Then I choose them.”
“Of course you do.” Master D smiles, but the way he says it makes my skin crawl.
“Then let them go,” I order, and he laughs.
“No!”
Jagger moves, but Vinny grabs him again, this time harder.
“LET GO!” Jagger growls, but Vinny doesn’t listen.
“Not yet!” he says, and my head snaps toward him. Not yet? Not yet? What the fuck?
Master D watches us like we’re doing exactly what he expected.
“You misunderstood the nature of this exchange,” he says calmly. I hate that word. Exchange. “Nothing here is given,” he continues. “It’s earned.”
“Then tell me how,” I snap, and he looks at me.
“There are three phases,” he says, and my stomach twists.
“Phase one…” He trails off, stepping closer to me. “You return to the origin.”
The room tilts, and I swallow thickly.
“No. Absolutely not,” I say, but I already know. I already feel it crawling up my spine. My mother. My breath comes fast and my body tingles with dread. “I won’t go back there,” I whisper.
“You will,” he states, like it's the final nail in my coffin.
“No. I won’t!” I argue, and he looks at the screens, then back to me.
“You want them alive, right?” he says, but I don’t respond. My silence is the answer. He nods, taking another step, which makes Jagger shift. “Then you go home.” He smiles as Jethro stirs violently in the back of my skull.
“No!” he roars.
“I don’t have a home,” I whisper as Master D’s smile deepens.
“Yes… you do,” he says softly. The room folds for a second. Peeling walls, rotten air, and an oven light glowing like it’s alive. My hands shake.
“She’s dead,” I whisper.
“Is she?” he asks, and I freeze.
“No,” I say, and he takes a deep breath.
“You were told she was gone. You were told you survived, but you never confirmed it,” he says, and I gasp. No! No! No!
“He’s lying!” Jethro’s voice cuts sharp, but it doesn’t sound certain.
“That’s not—”
“Phase one. You go back and you finish it,” he tells me, and the room goes silent. Jagger's hand tightens around my wrist.
“Absolutely not,” he states as I look at the screen. Lucifer lifts his head, like he can hear us—like he knows. Killian’s body goes rigid, but Axel… he still doesn’t move.
“You want me to kill her?” I ask, my voice coming out hollow.
“I want you to correct what was left unfinished,” he says, and Jethro laughs, dark and thrilled.
“Finally.” But I shake my head.
“No.”
Master D steps closer. “Then phase two begins without your cooperation,” he says, then the screens flicker. Lucifer screams, and my heart drops.
“STOP!”
“Phase two,” Master D continues, ignoring me. “Involves progressive escalation,” he says as Killian’s body jerks, but what really catches my eye is Axel. A small broken scream.
“Stop!” I choke, and Master D tilts his head.
“Phase three,” he says softly, “is where they stop being useful.”
Jagger snaps and lunges, but Vinny holds him back again.
“Don’t you touch him again!” Jagger snarls, but I can’t look away from the screens.
“Make it stop. Make it STOP!” I scream.
“Then agree,” he says as my hands shake harder. “But that’s not all,” he says. Of course it’s not. “You will not only complete phase one, but you will return,” he says, and I close my eyes. “You will come back here.” And my eyes snap open.
“What?” I ask.
“You will continue the test and you will be monitored.”
“No!”
“You will be altered.”
“No!” I spit. Jethro goes quiet again.
“You will become something better,” he says, and Jagger laughs wildly.
“Yeah? She’s already better than you.” He chuckles, but Master D ignores him.
“You leave now and complete phase one,” he states, looking down at me. “And you come back willingly.”
“And if I don’t?” I ask, and he presses a button. Lucifer’s scream cuts out—Silence… worse.
“Or they don’t survive phase two,” he threatens, and the room tilts. I look at Jagger, whose eyes are locked on mine. Furious. Terrified. Refusing.
“Don’t do this,” he says, then I look to Vinny—he says nothing. That’s how I know this is real. “I’ll come with you,” Jagger says, but Master D cuts in.
“No!” he states, and Jagger narrows his eyes.
“I wasn’t fucking asking.”
“They stay,” he states, and my chest tightens. I have to do this alone? All fucking alone?
“No, please let them come,” I beg, but Master D gestures toward the walls. The restraints activate—metal shifts and locks click. The room rearranges itself—prepared and waiting.
“They remain here and secured,” he tells me as Jagger steps in front of me.
“You’re not taking her anywhere without me.”
And finally, Vinny speaks.
“They’re not asking,” he whispers, and Jagger turns on him.
“You knew?” he asks, but Vinny doesn’t say a god damn fucking thing. That hurts worse then anything else in this fucking room. I step forward, putting my hands up.
“Stop. Just fucking stop.” Both of them go still. I look at Jagger, his anger is cracking, and I shake my head and touch his chest. Just like before. His heart is still there. Still real. “I’ll come back,” I whisper.
“You don’t know that,” he growls, but I nod.
“I do. I have to,” I say, my voice breaking as the words drip from my lips. This right here is what matters. Not the screams or the games. Them. All of them. Jagger shakes his head, grabbing my face with both of his hands.
“I’ll burn this place down to find you,” he breathes.
“I know,” I say, pressing my lips gently against his.
“Then let me,” he whispers, kissing me back.
“I can’t. I have to do this,” I say, and kiss him one last time.
I pull away and spin, now facing Vinny. I rear my arm back and punch him in the face.
His head snaps back from the impact, and I grin, giggling.
He doesn’t say anything, just wipes his bloody lip.
I glance over my shoulder, my eyes meeting Jagger’s.
“Wait for me,” I tell him, and his breath stutters,then he places his forehead against mine.
“I don’t wait,” he whispers, placing his knife into my hand, and I smirk.
“You will… for me,” I say, and that’s what breaks him. Not fully. But enough.
“They’re moving,” Vinny whispers as the restraints behind them shift again. Time’s up. I step back. Every inch hurts. Every inch feels wrong.
“This is the right choice,” Jethro whispers, but I don’t answer as Master D gestures to the door. It opens and cold air spills in… Freedom, or something pretending to be it.
“You have three hours,” he says, and my stomach drops.
“Three?” I ask, and he nods.
“After that, phase two resumes.”
I look at the guys one last time as both of them begin containment. Jagger fights them, but never takes his eyes off me. Vinny… guilt ridden. Lucifer on the screen… watching. Killian…. enduring, and Axel… still.
“I’ll come back,” I say again… This time, I’m not sure who I’m trying to convince.
The door waits, and I step through it. And for the first time in eight fucking years—since Hillsboro swallowed me whole—I walk out…
Not free—just sent. Back to the place that made me.
Back to the girl I was before I learned how to smile with blood on my teeth.
Back to finish something that should’ve ended a long time ago.
Because if killing my mother is the price…
then Hillsboro is about to learn what it bought.