POV: Mia (Zero)
The air in the Broker’s compound smelled the same.
Sterile metal. Bleached floors. Cold blood dried beneath rubber soles.
As I stepped through the security checkpoint, I kept my eyes low and my shoulders slouched just enough to sell the story. A broken operative. A failed tool, crawling home with her head bowed and her mind hollowed. I could almost hear his voice in my skull, smug and waiting.
Welcome back, Zero.
The guards didn’t touch me. They didn’t need to. They recognized me by scent.
One of them, a thick-jawed wolf with arms covered in ritual burn marks, sneered as I passed. “Thought you were dead.”
I didn’t reply. Zero wouldn’t have.
He smirked, satisfied with my silence, and opened the gate with a gesture.
Beyond it, the hall stretched into the belly of the
