The ride back to the Apex penthouse was enveloped in a tense, suffocating silence. The adrenaline that had violently fueled my confrontation with Special Agent Elias Vance was rapidly draining from my system, leaving behind a cold, hollow ache in my chest. I stared blankly at the tinted window of the armored SUV, watching the towering skyscrapers of the city blur past. The federal government was not the Russian Bratva. We couldn't just plant explosives or arrange a bloody execution in a hotel ballroom. The FBI possessed unlimited resources, infinite patience, and the full, crushing weight of the law.
Viktor sat rigidly in the front seat, his massive hands gripping the steering wheel tight enough to turn his knuckles completely white. He hadn't spoken a single word since we left the corpor
