The room was suffocating, the silence thick with the weight of the unknown. Catherine sat, still as stone, in the center of the small, dimly lit room. Her wrists were bound tightly, and the cold metal of the shackles scraped against her skin each time she moved. The stale air pressed in on her, a constant reminder of her captivity. The bare bulb overhead flickered erratically, casting long shadows on the steel walls, but she didn't flinch. She had long since lost track of time. The only thing that remained constant was the pounding in her chest and the gnawing thought that someone, somewhere, was pulling the strings behind all of this.
Then, the heavy door creaked open, shattering the stillness.
Her eyes darted toward the entrance, the tension in her muscles coiling. She kept her express
