The scent of smoke clung to the corridors like an unwelcome guest. It threaded through the cracks in the walls, curled around the corners, and slipped beneath the door to the room where Valentina sat. She hadn’t moved in the last ten minutes, not since the gunshots stopped. Not since she saw the blood.
Her hand hovered just above her lap, stained with someone else's warmth. Her fingers trembled traitorous and delicate. But her eyes? Her eyes were hollow.
Adrian had dragged her behind the blackened pillar when the chaos erupted. Glass shattered. Men screamed. And just like that, the brief silence they'd earned after the gala was drowned again in fire.
Now the aftermath stretched like a cruel painting. Adrian had left moments ago, barking orders, but not before squeezing her hand hard and
