The Incubus System Chapter 1148. Indifference

The Incubus System Chapter 1148. Indifference

Karla flinched.

Silence followed.

A heavy, suffocating silence.

Tiffany’s voice dropped lower, but the sharpness never dulled. “You’re the reason she killed herself.”

Karla’s throat bobbed as she swallowed, but she didn’t deny it. She just stared, her lips parted slightly, like she wanted to argue but didn’t know how.

I didn’t say anything. This wasn’t my battle. This was something Tiffany had been waiting to say for a long time.

Tiffany didn’t hold back.

“I saw everything.” Her voice was steady, but there was an edge to it—a deep, buried wound finally ripping open. “All of it. Your indifference. Your ego. The way you and him treated her like she was a nuisance.”

Her hands curled into fists against the table.

“You made her feel like she didn’t matter. Like she was less than you. Like she wasn’t my mother at all.”

Karla exhaled sharply, her nails digging into her palm. “Tiffany—”

“No,” Tiffany cut her off, her voice vibrating with barely restrained fury. “You don’t get to talk. You don’t get to sit here and act like you were some tragic mother figure.”

Karla’s eyes flashed. “How can you be so heartless?!”

Tiffany laughed again, colder this time. “Heartless? That’s rich. You wouldn’t know a heart if it hit you in the face.”

The tension in the room was thick. Suffocating. Even the air felt heavier, weighed down by something neither of them could take back.

Karla’s breathing had turned a little uneven, her carefully composed posture fraying at the edges. But she wasn’t crying. She never cried. Not for anyone but herself.

I watched her closely. The way her fingers twitched. The way her shoulders tensed. The way her gaze flicked toward the door, as if she was already thinking of how to escape this conversation.

Tiffany noticed it too.

She scoffed, standing up fully. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Karla opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

I exhaled, standing up beside Tiffany. “You asked us here,” I said, voice even. “But you didn’t have anything real to say.”

Karla’s jaw clenched. Her fingers twitched, the chains on her cuffs rattling slightly as she straightened, her lips pressing into a thin line. It was a familiar look—the same one she used to wear when she was backed into a corner but refused to admit it.

But this time?

She had nowhere left to run.

I didn’t stand. Not yet.

Instead, I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the cold steel table, my fingers loosely interlocking. My voice was calm, steady, but the weight behind it was impossible to ignore.

“If you want us to withdraw the charges…” I let the words hang in the air, watching as her eyes flicked up with the faintest trace of hope.

Then I shook my head.

“No.”

Her expression froze.

“Forget about that.” I exhaled slowly, tilting my head. “I know exactly what would happen if we did. You’d get out, find some new brilliant scheme, and come crawling back to us when it falls apart. Again.”

Her lips parted, but I didn’t let her speak.

“It’s better for everyone if you stay here.”

Karla’s shoulders stiffened. “Ethan—”

“See you at trial.”

I stood.

Her face twisted, frustration flickering across her carefully composed mask. “I’m still your mother.”

I met her gaze. “Yeah. That’s the problem.”

Tiffany had already turned toward the door, arms crossed so tightly that her knuckles had gone pale. She didn’t look back, and didn't acknowledge Karla’s final attempt at pulling a thread of control.

I followed, pushing open the heavy metal door as the officer outside gave me a curious glance.

But just before I stepped through, I glanced back one last time.

Karla was still sitting there, still watching.

And for the first time?

She actually looked powerless.

She looked like she finally understood.

Maybe she did. Maybe, in that final moment, something finally clicked in her head.

But by now?

It was too late.

I let the door shut behind me.

The hallway outside was quiet, a sharp contrast to the tension still burning in my chest. The air felt heavy, metallic, tinged with something stale and cold. Footsteps echoed faintly from distant hallways, but in this space? It was just us.

Tiffany’s pace was quick, her movements tight with leftover frustration. She didn’t say anything. Didn’t have to.

As for me…I’ll be honest. It wasn’t as bad as the first time. The sting was still there, lingering in my chest like the aftertaste of something bitter. But it didn’t burn the way it used to. It didn’t feel like I was being pulled into that suffocating hole she used to dig into my ribs every time she spoke.

Maybe because I expected it. Maybe because this time, I wasn’t alone—I had Tiffany beside me, holding just as much fury, just as much resolve.

Or maybe… It was because of Lilieth.

That thought settled deeper, something warm and foreign, but undeniable. Maybe it was because I already had a mother figure who had taken her place. Bit by bit. And now, more than ever.

Karla wasn’t the center of my world anymore.

And for the first time? That realization didn’t hurt.

The heavy metal doors buzzed as the officer unlocked the final set, leading us back into the main reception area. The moment we stepped through, Tiffany let out a sharp breath, rolling her shoulders as if she could physically shake off the weight Karla had left on her.

I stayed quiet, watching.

She shook her head, letting out a dry, humorless laugh. “Well. That was a waste of fucking time.”

I exhaled through my nose. “Yeah.”

She turned to me, her jaw still tight, but there was something else flickering in her gaze. Relief? Frustration? A weird mix of both?

“Do you think she meant any of that?”

I didn’t even hesitate. “No.”

Tiffany snorted. “Yeah. Figured.”

She crossed her arms, shifting her weight from foot to foot. The bright overhead lights of the police station washed us out, casting stark shadows on the cold tiled floor. The front desk was occupied by another officer now, one who looked equally as uninterested in life as the last one.