"No, no," Lukas shook his head. "She’s probably being threatened. Nikki wouldn’t decide this on her own. If I were in her shoes, I might have done the same."

"Then why haven’t you?"

Lukas stopped at Gustav’s quiet remark.

Gustav tilted his head. "Whatever you decide, Lukas, I’ll respect it. I only hope you make that decision from an unbiased place."

Lukas opened his mouth, then closed it. He sank back into his seat, head hanging low, Nikki’s face replaying behind his eyes.

"Fuck." He winced, dragging a hand down his face and leaning forward, fingers pressed to his temple. "Why would she do that?"

"That’s a question you already know the answer to," Gustav said, watching Lukas glance up at him. "Because she’s Nikki."

It wasn’t that Gustav considered Nikki a bad person. If she were, then so was everyone in Dominion — Lucian included. But she was ambitious. She always had been.

The two men held each other’s gaze. "I don’t see it as betrayal," Gustav said. "I see it as her making the most of the opportunity in front of her."

He looked away, and Lukas let out a faint scoff.

"Without the master, we’re all free to make our own choices," Gustav murmured. "Choices we might have already prepared for — had we not ignored the signs."

Quiet settled over the room again.

If they had caught Lucian’s condition earlier, they might not have been able to change his mind about treatment. But they could have prepared for the day he succumbed to it. Instead, they were here — caught in a wave they never saw coming and had no footing against.

The silence stretched for several minutes before Lukas’s voice broke it, low and defeated.

"You haven’t changed your mind?"

Gustav didn’t answer right away. His eyes stayed on the room’s single window. They could have gone through it — if they weren’t on a floor high enough to make the drop unsurvivable.

Lukas studied his profile. "You’re really choosing to die?"

"No," Gustav said, turning to look at him. "I’m not choosing death. I’m choosing accountability."

It wasn’t blind loyalty that drove him — it was responsibility. A sense of duty he had carried long before last night. As Lucian’s right-hand, he should have stopped what happened. Whether or not anyone said it aloud, Gustav had already accepted that.

"What about you?" he asked. "Have you decided?"

Lukas didn’t answer. He looked away, exhaled heavily, eyes on the floor.

"Death is the only way out of this, isn’t it?" he said quietly. "I don’t want to die."

Gustav nodded, then heard Lukas add,

"But I don’t want to be someone’s lapdog either." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Gustav raised a brow. "Then what are you planning?"

"I’m still figuring that out." Lukas pinched the bridge of his nose. "I can’t think straight right now."

Their hands were tied, their options narrow, and none of those options were good. Looking at the full picture, it was a desperate situation.

"Damn it," he hissed.

Lukas snapped his gaze to Gustav, leaning against the armrest, and scoffed.

"Must be nice being you right now. You don’t look stressed at all." He shook his head. "Maybe I should just decide and find some peace in it."

Even as he said it, he knew he wouldn’t.

Gustav tapped his fingers on the armrest, quiet for a moment. "That’s not what’s on my mind."

"Huh?"

"The madam," Gustav said. "I’m thinking about her."

Lukas snorted. "That woman —" He stopped himself, swallowing whatever comment had nearly come out. "If she were even a little more reliable, we might actually have a chance."

As much as it stung to admit, Lukas understood now why Gustav had sided with Ashley. She might not inspire confidence, but the title she held still carried weight — if she knew how to use it.

He just couldn’t bring himself to trust her. In his mind, Ashley would turn on them the moment it suited her. He refused to give himself false hope and walk into a disappointment he’d seen coming.

"The more I think about her, the more —"

"She’s not here," Gustav said quietly, cutting him off.

Lukas turned. "What?"

"The madam." Gustav’s brow furrowed. "Jony claims they have her. But it’s not her."

When Gustav had arrived, he’d spotted Red from a distance — coming from a different direction with a woman beside him. He’d clocked it immediately: the height, the posture, the way she moved.

That woman in the bathrobe was not Ashley.

"And it was just the two of them with a few people from the neighborhood," Gustav murmured. "I didn’t see Rum. I didn’t see the others. Not even the Young Master."

"Gustav, what are you getting at?" Lukas shifted to face him fully.

"I’m saying they still don’t have the madam, the Young Master, or most of the others," Gustav said. "They don’t even know where the Young Master is."

Lukas blinked. "Did they escape?"

"Clearly," Gustav tilted his head. "And until they find the Young Master — or the master himself — I don’t think they’ll move to kill either of us."

"What —" Lukas jolted from his seat, and the movement pulled sharply at his wound. He pressed a hand to his side, staring at Gustav. "What do you mean, find the master? He was in the facility."

Gustav blinked. "Ah. I forgot to tell you that she told me to move him to another location beforehand. He wasn’t there when they made their move."

The moment those words landed, Lukas gasped.

"What — why are you just telling me that now?!" Lukas almost shouted, but stopped when a knock came at the door.

It opened, and a man stepped in, facing them both.

"Sir Gustav, Sir Lukas — the High Chamber is ready for you." He gestured toward the open door. "I’ll show you the way."

Lukas opened and closed his mouth, then shot Gustav a sharp look.

Gustav simply shrugged, pushed himself out of his seat, and walked past Lukas toward the man at the door. Before stepping out, he glanced back.

"Let’s go... and meet the new members of the High Chambers."