Chapter 49 – Shadows That Linger
The chopper blades whirred overhead, slicing through the morning mist as they soared above the ravaged mountain. Inside, silence reigned.
Adrian sat with his hands clasped between his knees, his eyes fixed on nothing in particular. Smoke and fire still burned behind his eyelids even though the mission was over. His heartbeat was slowing, but the storm inside his chest hadn’t settled.
Sophie watched him from across the cabin. He looked whole on the outside—no visible wounds, no bloodstains left. But she could feel it. Something inside him had changed in that facility. Something… final.
“You did the right thing,” she whispered, her voice nearly lost in the rotor noise.
Adrian looked up. “Then why doesn’t it feel like it?”
She moved beside him, resting h
