A fight in the alleyway
The alley was narrow, dark, and slick with rain, the kind of place the city forgot until it needed somewhere to hide its sins. Water clung stubbornly to the cracked concrete, gathering in shallow puddles that reflected the garish neon signs from the adjacent streets. Pink and blue lights pulsed and warped across the wet ground, bending into distorted shapes beneath Emilia’s feet. The air smelled of damp asphalt, rusted metal, and something faintly rotten—like old secrets left too long in the open.
Every instinct in her body screamed danger.
The note had been brief. Precise. Almost polite in its cruelty. Meet me here. Come alone. Answers you require. No signature. No explanation. Just an address and a time. Emilia had read it three times before folding it into he
