The atmosphere in Richard's office at the Headquarters grew thick with tension. Every passing second felt like a millennium, laden with the weight of life and death, as if time itself was crushing everything in the room. The dark ebony wood desk, once the place for business decisions, had now become the command center of an underground war.
Richard stood tall, his left shoulder wrapped in a hastily bandaged wound from the gunshot fired by Auden Thomas. He felt no pain; only the burning sensation from the wound seemed to strengthen the coldness in his gaze. His white shirt had been replaced, but his composed exterior couldn’t conceal the storm brewing inside. He was a General, a man who knew no fear, but the safety of Elena and his daughter, Rosa, was the only thing capable of shaking this
