The low hum of Club Eden was usually comforting, a cocoon of music, flashing lights, and half-whispered secrets. Tonight, it was suffocating. Talia moved carefully through the VIP section, offering smiles that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Something was off. She couldn’t put her finger on it at first, the way the bartenders kept glancing over their shoulders, the subtle tensing of the security team near the stage, the way Raven’s absence left a hollow ache in her chest.
She told herself it was nerves, residual fear from the events at the warehouse weeks ago, but as the night stretched on, the unease grew. Her gut twisted every time someone unfamiliar brushed past, or when a shadow lingered too long near the back exit.
Talia wasn’t a stranger to danger, working at Club Eden had made her ad
