CHAPTER 180: An Unexpected Visit

CHAPTER 180: An Unexpected Visit

Fénix was still resting, his head on Enid's lap, when a sharp knock resounded at the door.

"Fénix... open the door," Enid said, her voice calm but firm.

Fénix blinked, still drowsy, his brow furrowed with an expression of doubt.
"Now?" he murmured. "I'm not sure..."

"Come on, open it," Enid insisted, stroking his head calmly, but with that determination she always had.

Fénix sighed, letting his curiosity and Enid's insistence overcome his doubt. He slowly got up and went to the door, opening it carefully.

There, on the threshold, stood Lucian, his friend from so many battles, holding a bright cake with lit candles. On the icing, in colorful letters, it read:

"Happy Birthday, Fénix"

Fénix stood stunned, his eyes wide as saucers.

"What...?" he stammered, his mind processing slowly. "My birthday is tomorrow! I had completely forgotten..."

Lucian smiled broadly, completely unaware of the tension beginning to form in the room.

"I thought it would be good to get a bit of a head start..." he said, holding the cake with pride.

Before Fénix could react, Enid stood up silently, her movement almost imperceptible. She drew her pistol and aimed directly at Lucian.

A dry shot cut through the air.

The silver nitrate bullet pierced Lucian's forehead, right between his brows. Before he hit the ground, he was already dead. The cake fell from his hands, spilling onto the carpet.

Fénix stood paralyzed, mouth open, unable to scream, move, or protest. The room fell into absolute silence, broken only by the faint crackle of the still-lit candles.

"What...?" Fénix whispered, his voice caught in his throat.

Enid lowered the pistol, slowly turning towards him with a cold, calculating expression, as if this were the most natural thing in the world.

"Sometimes, there are things that must be resolved before you can even react," she said softly, stroking his cheek with a finger. "And remember... this isn't personal."

Fénix remained motionless, his heart pounding a thousand times an hour, while his mind tried to process the impossible.

The silence that followed the shot was absolute, almost heavy. Fénix couldn't move, speak, or even think clearly. His gaze was fixed on Lucian's body, and incredulity was etched on his face like a mask of ice.

Then, Enid started to laugh.

At first, a low, contained sound. Then, the laughter grew louder, sharper, liberating, as if she had heard the best joke of her life. Amidst the laughter, tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"Ahh!" she burst out, between laughs. "Thank you, Fénix... thank you for everything."

Fénix remained frozen, unable to react, his eyes fixed on her.

"All... all of this," Enid said, wiping away some tears as she leaned against the table. "It was an experiment. Everything! Thanks to you, I was able to get rid of Antigen... of anyone who could screw me over in the future... and, of course, thanks to you, I was able to improve the Uber Lycan serum."

Her eyes gleamed with a mixture of euphoria and controlled madness.

"You were just... another experiment, Fénix," she continued. "And everything turned out perfectly."

Fénix couldn't even breathe. His mind spun in a loop of shock. Each of Enid's words hit him like a hammer in the chest.

"That face you're making now?" Enid said, approaching with a cruel but playful smile. "That face... is your prize. Yes, your reward. Everything you touch, Fénix... destroys it. You're like a cancer, you know? Everything that goes through you ends up... ruined."

Enid laughed even more, almost uncontrollably, enjoying the effect her words had on him.

Fénix remained motionless, frozen. He couldn't scream, couldn't move, couldn't even breathe normally. The entire world seemed to have stopped, and Enid's laughter echoed in his ears like an endless echo.

"Look at you..." Enid said, leaning slightly, laughter still contained between her lips. "Don't say anything, don't try to reason... just look. That's the reward you deserve, Fénix."

And while Fénix remained frozen in his own horror, Enid contemplated him, satisfied, crying with laughter, completely absorbed in her perfect victory.

Enid leaned a little closer to Fénix, her eyes shining with that mixture of euphoria and coldness that only she could have. Her laughter faded until it became a murmur loaded with intent.

"Listen to me carefully, Fénix," she said, her voice soft but deadly. "Everything... everything was a lie."

Fénix remained frozen, eyes wide, unable to blink or breathe normally.

"Yes," Enid insisted, moving closer. "Everything you believed... that I was in love with you, this, that... lie. Everything. Lie."

Fénix didn't react. His heart pounded hard, but his body remained frozen, unable to make a sound.

"You're a dog, Fénix," Enid continued, with a hint of cruel amusement. "That's what you've always been. A faithful, obedient dog, following his owner without questioning anything."

She leaned in even closer, her fingers brushing his shoulder, coldly and calculatingly.

"And now... now that everything is finally over, it's time for the owner to put the leash on her dog."

The phrase resonated in the room like a sharp blow. Fénix remained motionless, his mind trapped between incredulity and horror. His world, his trust, everything he had believed real, crumbled before him in seconds.

Enid looked at him, satisfied, with a smile that wasn't of affection, but of absolute control. Her laughter, barely a whisper, filled the room again: light, playful, and deadly.

"Come on, Fénix... wag your tail a little for me," she whispered, letting each word sink deep. "Because that's what you've always been."

Fénix remained motionless, frozen, with the sensation that the ground was opening beneath his feet, and that everything he had loved and protected until now had been nothing more than an experiment in the hands of his own "owner."