Revelation's face was set in a deep frown as she sat on the bed, staring hard at the wall. Her jaw shifted as she moved her mouth around, trying to ease the pain.
"Why do you keep doing that? If that wall could move, it would've run away by now from your glare," Mia said, glancing up from her phone.
Cady, who was unstrapping jet knives from her thigh and slipping them under her bed, turned toward them.
"Yeah, ever since you got back, you've been scowling like someone stole your soul."
Revelation looked at both of them, her eyes cold. "Why wouldn't I? That bastard had the audacity to treat me like some fucking criminal."
Mia stood, eyes wide, while Cady turned fully to face her. "Why would you say that? The boss has his flaws, sure, but he's not a bastard. He gave us all a chance when we had none."
Rev could tell they weren't happy with her words. But she just rolled her eyes. "Relax. I wasn't talking about Knight. I was talking about his second-in-command."
Both girls visibly relaxed. Cady shoved the dagger further under her bed, her earlier tension forgotten.
"Yeah, Fang can be annoying," Mia muttered, "but Sniper's worse."
Rev stood up and walked toward her wardrobe. "No. Damon wins the award for Worst Human Alive. My jaw still hurts because of him."
Cady blinked. "Wait… did you give him a 3000 glul-gluk?" She made a loud sucking sound with her mouth and a hand gesture to match.
Rev's face twisted in disgust. "Ugh. I'd rather blow an eel than do that with that maniac."
Mia burst out laughing, while Cady giggled uncontrollably.
But Rev wasn't amused. Not even a little. "It's not funny."
"Oh come on," Mia teased, "don't tell me you wouldn't spread those thick thighs for him. The guy's handsome, deadly, and I bet he's packing a massive weapon of destruction." She made a crude gyrating motion with her hips.
Rev gave her a sharp look, while Cady kept laughing like it was the best thing she'd heard all week.
"I don't care if he's handsome—"
Mia cut in, eyebrows wiggling. "So you admit he's handsome?"
Rev rolled her jaw again, ignoring her. "I'm not into him. And I'm done talking about him. He's the reason my jaw hurts—and not for that reason. He grabbed my face, forced my mouth open, and made me drink water… from a dog bowl. One the damn dog had already drunk from."
Mia wrinkled her nose. "Ew. That's disgusting."
Rev turned back to her closet, pulling out a blue nightwear set. "And you expect me to like someone like that? Over my dead body. I don't want him—I want to kill him."
Cady shook her head. "You should be grateful you're still alive."
Rev paused, her hand hovering over the fabric. "I am."
"But you should also be grateful to him. Knight wanted you dead for what you did."
Rev turned slowly, her expression unreadable.
Mia nodded, eyes still on her phone. "Knight's whole world revolves around her. His woman. And he's got one rule: eliminate anything that threatens her. When he told them to take you away, it wasn't just a warning or to punish you for a while, it was an execution order. And not the quick kind. Knight doesn't do mercy kills."
Mia stopped scrolling when she landed on a video of Hailey Bailey. She paused it, a small smile touching her lips.
Before she could continue, Cady jumped in. "You didn't train at the Red Academy like the rest of us. That's where Knight keeps all his girls. That's where we learn to infiltrate, to kill, to vanish."
"Cady," Mia snapped, eyes sharp.
The two girls exchanged a tense look. They weren't supposed to say too much—not to Revelation. Not to anyone who hadn't been through it.
Rev was the only maid who hadn't come from the Red Academy. She was different. She wasn't brought in by Knight himself.
They weren't even supposed to be here, but after Knight fired the estate's old staff—his father's people—he brought in the Angels.
That's what they were called.
Knight's Angels.
They were assassins. Spies. Ghosts in the system.
And even the Angels didn't know where Rev came from.
Only that she was employed by Eliana.
But Rev knew things—things about the underground, and a little too much about Knight. They never asked how she knew. That was their mistake.
She turned sharply toward them. "What were you about to say, Cady?"
Cady paused, then shook her head, clearly changing her mind. "In the Academy, we trained hard. They taught us about two types of death."
She trailed off, her voice quieter now, like she was dragging up something from deep within.
"There was the mercy death," she continued. "Quick. Clean. Then there was the other one—the slow one. The kind they used when they wanted you to regret ever being born."
Mia glanced up from her phone, lips pressed together, the playful spark in her eyes now gone.
Rev didn't flinch. "And which one was I supposed to get?"
Cady met her gaze. "The slow one, of course."
Rev turned fully toward them, the blue nightwear clutched to her chest. "So why didn't I?"
Silence stretched.
Finally, Mia sighed and rolled to the edge of the bed. "Because Damon begged for you, it seems."
Rev blinked. Her grip on the fabric tightened. "He what?"
Cady nodded slowly, eyes fixed on the floor. "He told Knight that killing you would piss off the missus. That your death would cause more trouble than it was worth."
"It wasn't kindness," Mia added, yawning like this whole conversation was just mildly inconvenient. "It was strategy. Cold, smart strategy. But it worked. Now you've got Knight's second-in-command breathing down your neck. Welcome to the radar, sweetheart."
Rev felt her stomach twist. That didn't feel like being saved. That felt like being… owned. Like a leash had just been slipped around her neck.
She gritted her teeth. "So I'm alive because of him."
"And because of Knight's woman," Cady added, climbing onto the bed. "She's sweet. Too sweet. If she'd been anything like Knight's past conquests—or even Veronica or Amelia—you'd be in a grave by now." She let out a humorless laugh.
Rev's hand clenched into a fist.
She didn't know whether to feel grateful or insulted. Maybe both.
But one thing was certain.
She hated owing anyone her life.
Not Knight.
And definitely not Damon.