The heavy electronic silence of the fortified panic suite pressed against Elena’s temples like a vice. In her trembling hand, the burner phone’s screen had gone completely black, but the image of her little brother Leo—sleeping peacefully beneath a clear oxygen mask while an unseen monster micro-managed his life support—remained violently scorched onto the back of her eyelids.
*“Come to Pier 14 at the industrial shipyard. Alone. You have exactly three hours, Elena. The clock is ticking.”*
The distorted, psychotic echo of Marcus Vance’s voice vibrated through her bones, awakening a cold, desperate clarity. Panic, sharp and metallic, surged through her bloodstream, stripping away the residual numbness of Alexander’s betrayal. The man she loved had built her entire world out of beautiful, m
