The rowhouse shook with violence. Ezra and Hollow wrestled for the shotgun, its barrel flashing wild bursts that tore into walls. Naomi staggered back, shoulder bleeding where the stock had cracked her, pistol still raised but her aim shaky.
Silas clawed at the floorboards, ripping them up with manic strength, splinters slicing his fingers. "It's coming out! It's all coming out!" he screamed, voice ragged. The gaping hole widened, bills and bloodstained evidence spilling into the open.
Then the front door exploded.
"Police! Down! Down now!"
Flashbangs lit the room white, the deafening crack rattling the fragile house. Shadows of armored men surged through the smoke, rifles raised, lasers cutting through the haze.
Ezra roared, swinging the shotgun toward the breach. Bullets answered, tearing him off his feet, blood spraying across the walls. His body slammed the table, breaking it in half before he crumpled.
Naomi hit the floor, covering her head, the pistol clattering away. Her cigarette burned out against the wood beside her.
Silas froze in the spotlight, hands covered in blood and dust, crouched over the torn-up boards. He looked like a child, caught in the act, trembling as rifles locked on him.
And Hollow—Cormac Vance—stood still, cigarette ember glowing through the smoke. His arm bled where Naomi's shot had grazed him, but his face was calm. He raised his hands slow, eyes hollow, voice steady.
"You're late," he told Detective Keene, who pushed through the chaos with his weapon drawn. "The house was already eating us."
Keene's eyes flicked to the ripped boards, the duffels spilling open, the blood, the broken bodies. His jaw tightened. "No, Hollow. You ate yourselves."
Cuffs snapped around wrists, boots stomped across broken boards. The house groaned, its secret no longer hidden, its curse laid bare.
As Hollow was dragged past Ezra's lifeless body and Silas's broken sobs, he glanced once at Naomi.
She met his stare, her eyes sharp even through the fear.
Neither spoke. The floor creaked one last time beneath their feet as if laughing at them all.