Chapter 56: Chapter 56: bring it
Amelia’s thumb hovered over the play button on the Night Menace’s video. One press and she might finally get real answers—
A body dropped into the seat beside her.
Kate leaned in.
"That was savage. The way you shut Jane down in front of everyone? I’m keeping that moment in my mental highlight reel."
Amelia gave a small, tight smile but didn’t answer. She still wanted to watch the video. Kate, however, wasn’t finished. While the lecturer wrote across the board, she lowered her voice further.
"We found a clue. One of the investigations."
Amelia’s curiosity flickered, but she kept her eyes forward. "Not now. Do you want him to call us out?"
Kate’s next words got her completely. "It’s about the Underworld Territory."
Amelia’s head turned sharply. Every other thought fell away. That name alone was enough to lock her full attention.
Unfortunately it also locked the lecturer’s.
"Miss Kroff. Since you and Miss Hale clearly have more important matters to discuss than my class, perhaps you can answer the question on the board."
Amelia stood, read the problem once, and gave the correct answer in a clear voice. The lecturer still frowned.
"Correct. Next time save the conversation for after my class. Sit down."
Amelia dropped back into her seat and shot Kate a flat look that promised they would talk about timing later.
When the final lecture ended, Amelia didn’t hesitate. She followed Kate out of the building, through the busy corridors, and into the familiar cleaning storage room.
Kate moved straight to the section of wall behind the tall shelves, pressed the hidden mechanism, and pulled it open. Soft floor lights activated one after another, illuminating the narrow path ahead.
Amelia’s pulse picked up as they walked. Please let whatever they found actually matter. Something I can use. Something that brings me even one step closer to fulfilling the contract.
At the far end the wall slid aside, revealing the underground bunker.
Noise hit them immediately. On one side Lila and Lana were locked in a loud video-game match on the large screen, controllers flashing, the two of them arguing over a kill.
At the long table in the center, Marcus, Kai, and Theo were bent over maps and scattered notes, deep in discussion.
Greetings and casual gestures were exchanged as Amelia and Kate joined them. Marcus looked up first, expression already shifting into the focused one he wore when he had something solid.
"From everything I’ve gathered so far," he said, tapping a yellowed page, "the Underworld Territory is at least a century old. They run different operations depending on the decade, but the most consistent objective is clear—they want power behind the scenes. Not the public thrones. The real ones."
Kai leaned back in his chair as he crossed his arms.
"They’re also the charming group that decided to rain meteors on the mating ceremony. You know, the one where Amelia was busy being the main course before the sky started falling."
Theo shot him a flat look.
"Stop."
Kate ignored the exchange and focused on Marcus. " Do we know their hideouts? Any known members?"
Marcus shook his head. "Not really. They’re extremely secretive. I wouldn’t be surprised if some students here are already part of it and we just don’t know."
Kai’s gaze shifted to Amelia.
"What about you? You have to know something."
Amelia met his eyes evenly.
"Why would you think that?"
"Your partners are direct enemies of the Underworld Territory," Kai said, as if it were obvious. "From the information we gathered, there have been multiple assassination attempts on the Ellington brothers over the years. All of them failed."
Amelia’s attention drifted down to the scattered papers on the table. One symbol near Marcus’s elbow caught her eye—a symbol she had seen before.
Memory slammed into her without warning: the forest, the three masked women, Dean dragging her like a rag doll while the brothers waited for her powers to "awaken."
A cold ripple moved down her spine.
Those are the people the brothers have been fighting this whole time?
And every assassination attempt against them had failed.
She really couldn’t afford to cross those three men. Not ever. Amelia kept her expression carefully blank.
"I don’t know anything."
Kai made a frustrated sound. "That’s useless."
Kate didn’t miss a beat.
"And you’re an ass. Congratulations on the self-report."
Marcus raised both hands, voice calm but firm. "Enough. This isn’t something we fight about. We work with what we have, not what we wish we had."
Kai still looked irritated.
"What we have isn’t useful at all. I honestly thought Amelia would know something. She’s their wife. Shouldn’t she at least know something? Or is the whole marriage just for show?"
Amelia’s spine straightened. "They keep certain things from me for my protection."
The words left her mouth smoothly. Inside, the irony nearly made her gag. Protection. As if the first weeks under their roof had been anything close to gentle.
Kate asked. "Is there any way you could get information from them discreetly?"
"You’re asking me to spy on my partners?"
The image of herself sneaking through the brothers’ private rooms flashed in Amelia’s mind and died just as quickly. Rummaging through their things would be worse than asking for a death wish. The memory of chains, the spiked whip, and Rue’s cold smile was still too clear.
"I’ll pass. They’re extremely strict about privacy. It’s not worth the risk."
Understanding looks passed around the table. The discussion shifted back to other things that can likely be connected, while Amelia quietly stepped away.
She drifted toward the large screen where Lila and Lana were still arguing over the game, controllers waving as each insisted the other had cheated. The familiar bickering pulled a small, real smile from her. For a few minutes she simply watched them, letting the noise ground her.
Then she remembered the video.
Amelia crossed to the massage chair in the corner, adjusted the settings until the rollers sat comfortably against her back, and sank into the seat. She slipped in her earbuds, unlocked the screen, and finally pressed play.
Her own face appeared—eyes closed, voice carrying that strange calm. Swifty sat close beside her in the frame, looking unbothered. Amelia watched in quiet amazement as the Night Menace spoke, answering questions she hadn’t dared hope would be answered.
Then the final part came.
The Night Menace’s soft, almost teasing remark about wishing she were already tangled up with the three of them... and the very accurate prediction of how Amelia would react—panicking, blushing, getting wet, then arguing with herself about how much she definitely didn’t want it.
Amelia’s ears burned.She stared at the screen long after the recording ended.
Does my Night Menace self... actually likes them?
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