Scarlett’s POV
The silence in the concrete room was deafening. The only sound was the haunting tick of a clock none of us could see.
Nineteen minutes.
That robotic voice hadn’t spoken again. It didn’t have to. The threat was hanging in the air like poison, and Elias’s eyes hadn’t left me once.
“You want the truth,” he finally said.
Jasper tensed beside me. Miriam looked like she wanted to spit on him.
But me? I just stared.
I was too tired for anger. Too hollow for hate.
“I want everything,” I whispered. “From the beginning.”
Elias let out a breath, then leaned back against the cold wall. His wrists and ankles were chained, like the rest of us. And still, somehow, he looked… calm.
Almost like this had always been the end of the road.
“All right,” he said softly. “Let’s start fro
