Chapter 5: The Test

Morning arrived with harsh fluorescent lights flooding the glass room. I woke to find a guard standing outside, watching me through the transparent wall.

"Get dressed," his voice came through the speaker. "Mr. Veyra wants you in his office in twenty minutes."

I dressed quickly, aware of the guard's eyes tracking my every movement. No privacy. No dignity. Everything was designed to remind me I was a property.

When I was ready, the door unlocked with an electronic click. The guard gestured for me to follow.

The executive wing was quieter than I'd expected, the kind of silence that came from money and paranoia, We passed several doors, all closed, all probably locked.

The guard stopped at a heavy wooden door with biometric scanner. He pressed his palm to it, and the door opened.

"Inside."

Erdem's office was exactly what I expected: massive, dark, designed to intimidate. A desk that looked carved from a single piece of black wood, leather chairs, bookshelves filled with legal texts and what I suspected were ledgers.

And on the wall behind the desk, a portrait of an older man with Erdem's eyes and Silas's smile-their father, probably.

Erdem sat behind the desk, reading something on a tablet. He didn't look up immediately, making me wait, establishing dominance through silence.

I stood with my hands clasped in front of me, head slightly bowed, the picture of submission.

Finally, he set the tablet down and looked at me."Sit."

I sat in the chair across from him, keeping my posture small, non-threatening.

"You slept well?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

"Liar, you were awake until four-thirty, checking something under your pillow every twenty minutes." He smiled coldly. " The cameras have night vision, Hendrix. There are no secrets in the glass room."

My stomach dropped, but my face was confused and frightened. "I'm sorry, sir. I was just... nervous. New place, I-"

"What were you checking?"

"Nothing, sir. I swear-"

"Bring it to me."

I hesitated, calculating. If I refused, he'd have me searched and if I complied, I'd lose my only weapon. Either way, he'd know I'd stolen something.

"I... I took something from the doctor's kit," I whispered. "A scalpel blade. I'm sorry, I just wanted... I needed to feel like I had something, I wasn't going to use it, I swear."

"Stand up. empty your pockets."

I did.

"The blade isn't on you," Erdem said. "Where is it?"

"Under the bed frame, in the room."

"Show me."

He stood. We walked back to the glass room, the guard following. Erdem unlocked the door himself and gestured for me to enter.

"Get it."

I knelt beside the bed, reaching into the gap where I'd wedged the blade. My fingers found it and for one brief second, I imagined turning, striking and ending this now.

I pulled out the blade and held it up.

Erdem took it, examining the edge. "You sharpened it, against what?"

"The metal bed frame, sir."

"Resourceful." He pocketed the blade. "Also stupid, did you really think a piece of surgical steel would protect you in this house?"

"No, sir. I just... I needed something, I'm sorry."

He stepped closer, and I forced myself not to retreat.

"Let me clarify something, Hendrix. Everything that happens in this house happens because I allow it. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

He reached out, and I flinched as his hand caught my chin, tilting my face up to meet his eyes. His grip was firm but not painful, his thumb pressed against my jaw. I could feel my pulse hammering against his fingers.

"You have three choices," he said softly. "Obey, and you'll be treated fairly, resist, and you'll be broken, betray me, and you'll wish I'd simply killed you." He released me, stepping back. "Now, let's see if you're actually useful or just decorative."

ERDEM

The boy was terrified, but he was also calculating. I'd seen it in his eyes during that brief moment when he'd held the blade-the flash of consideration.

Back in my office, I had him sit at a secondary workstation while I pulled up encrypted files on the main screen.

"These are intercepted communications from Arzan organization," I explained. "Mixed languages and basic encryption. Translate and decode them."

I watched as he worked, his fingers moving across the keyboard with practiced efficiency. Within minutes, he'd broken the first encryption layer and begun translating.

Russian to English. Turkish to English. Arabic to English.

His translations were accurate. He's good, very good.

"Where did you learn this?" I asked.

"The Kozlovs needed translators so they trained me."

"The Kozlovs are thugs. This is intelligence-level work."

His hands paused briefly on the keybord. "They had... consultants, former military. They taught some of us."

Possible but unlikely.

"You're useful," I said. "That's good, useful people live longer."

"Thank you, sir."

"Don't thank me yet, usefulness comes with expectations. " I pulled up a new file-this one containing names, dates, financial transactions. This is internal family business, you'll be translating and organizing intelligence that could destroy us if it reaches the wrong hands. If any of this information leaves this room, I'll know and the consequences will be severe."

"I understand, sir."

"We'll see."

A knock at the door interrupted us. Konstantin entered, his expression grim.

"Sir, we have a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"Silas is in the security center. He's demanding access to the surveillance feeds for the glass room. Says he wants to verify the new acquisition's behavior."

My jaw tightened. "Tell him I said no."

"I did, sir. He's insisting it's family business and he has a right to review security footage."

I stood. "I'll handle it."

I turned to Hendrix. "Stay here, touch nothing. If you move from that chair, the guards will assume you're attempting escape and respond accordingly."

"Yes, sir."

I left him in the office, Konstantin following.

HENDRIX

The moment the door closed, I was moving.

Not to escape-that would be suicide, but Erdem had left his tablet on the desk, still unlocked, still displaying the file system.

Thirty seconds, maybe less.

I pulled up the directory structure, memorizing the folder names, the organization system. I didn't have time to access anything, but I could map the architecture.

Financial records, personnel files, operations logs and legal documents.

And there-a folder labeled. "Archives_sealed."

That's where the old records would be.

I heard footsteps in the corridor. I moved back to the workstation, hands on the keyboard, exactly as I'd been left.

The door opened. Erdem entered, his expression dark with barely contained rage. He moved to his desk, and I held my breath, waiting to see if he'd notice the tablet had been touched.

He picked it up, glanced at the screen then set it down again.

My heart hammered, but my face remained calm.

"You're dismissed for now," Erdem said. "The guard will take you back to your room, you'll work here every morning, starting tomorrow. Eight AM, don't be late."

"Yes, sir, thank you."

As the guard escorted me back to the glass cage, I allowed myself a small, internal victory. I've survived an encounter with the devil.

I'm coming, Liora, one day at a time.

Outside, the Veyra estate continued its cold, beautiful existence.

And somewhere in its depths, the truth about my sister waited to be found.