CHAPTER 26 — SHE BECOMES THE TARGET
Amara woke to the faint, golden light spilling through the heavy drapes, but the warmth of the morning could not reach her. The three words from last night had not faded—they sat on her chest, cold and unyielding: She comes next. A whisper in the dark, yet more commanding than any shouted threat, more invasive than any weapon in the syndicate’s arsenal.
She lay still, allowing the message to sink fully into her mind. It wasn’t fear that coursed through her veins, but a heightened awareness, a sharpening of every sense. Her pulse was steady. Her mind, clear. The calm before the storm.
The estate felt different now. Each hallway echoed under her steps with a new kind of tension. Guards she had never seen before flanked corridors, their movements tight a
