"Is this the start of your real nightmare, Rea?"
The question hung in the recycled air of the armored vehicle, sharp and cold like a blade pressed against her throat. Rea stared at Zeldin, her breath hitching in her chest as the vehicle glided silently through the rain-slicked streets of Neo-Soma. She wanted to scream, to deny the suffocating reality of her status, but the silence that followed Zeldin’s inquiry was a physical weight. Her world, once filled with the glittering promise of wealth and influence, had been reduced to the confines of this transport and the terrifying gaze of a man who no longer viewed her as an equal, but as an object lesson.
Zeldin turned his head, his profile illuminated by the flickering neon advertisements of the passing skyscrapers. He did not seem to be
