Chapter 38 — The City That Pretends Not to Bleed
The city woke up angry.
Not loud—just tense. The kind of tension that clung to the air like humidity before a storm. News screens flickered with partial truths. Headlines danced around words they refused to say outright.
UNCONFIRMED INCIDENT AT SUBLEVEL FACILITY
OFFICIALS DECLINE COMMENT
POWER FAILURE OR SECURITY BREACH?
Amara watched from the safehouse window as dawn stained the sky a bruised gray.
She hadn’t slept.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the glass cells again. The hands pressed against them. The silence that screamed louder than gunfire.
“You’re still bleeding.”
Alessandro’s voice came from behind her—quiet, controlled, but threaded with strain.
She glanced down. Blood had seeped through the fresh bandage, slow
