Page 69 of Bound

Then three alerts burst across Gregory’s screen.

He swears. Actually swears.

That’s bad.

Rafe turns sharply. “Report.”

Gregory’s voice is thin with horror. “The delay woke a sequence. Gate one queried gate three, gate three queried the service corridor, and the service corridor queried an old sublevel beneath the east row.”

Lucian turns toward the unfinished brownstones.

“The old Bachman Jewelers,” I whisper.

I point before I can stop myself. “It’s not opening outward. It’s pulling inward.”

Gregory looks at me, then back at the screen.

“Yes,” he breathes. “Yes. That’s exactly it.”

Blaze looks between us. “For those of us who express love through violence, translate.”

Rafe’s voice goes cold. “Carlos does not need to break through the gate. He needs us to trigger the gate, so the old system opens a route inside.”

“Like inviting hell in,” I say.

The words from Carlos’s latest message, the one we received this morning, return to my mind.

COME, LUCIAN. TO WHERE THE GATES OPENED INVITING IN HELL.

Not poetry.

Instruction.

Memory.

Mechanism.

Lucian’s face goes deadly. “He was never talking about one gate.”

“No,” Gregory says. “He was talking about a gate cascade. Open one under the right emotional protocol, and the old system tests the rest.”

“Emotional protocol?” Blaze asks.

“Visible arrival. Emergency security posture. Family-level access. King present. Queen present. Ghost present.” Gregory looks almost sick. “He built a scenario the system recognizes as high-value movement.”

“Because the old Bachman system was built around protecting the family,” I say.

Gregory nods. “And Carlos learned how to make protection open doors.”

Lucian releases my hand. This time, I let him.

He steps forward.

Toward the gate.

Rafe’s tablet chirps again. His eyes sharpen. “Partial location ping. East sublevel.”

Gregory’s fingers fly over keys. “Not enough. It bounced through the old service route.”