The moment the words left his lips, Matthew Powell rose to his feet as if launched by an invisible force. A tidal wave of murderous intent erupted from him, raw and unfiltered, like a storm ripping open the sky. His eyes burned a violent shade of crimson, and with that sudden surge, the very air in the room dropped several degrees. Everyone felt it—the piercing cold, the metallic taste of blood, the suffocating pressure that made their hearts clench.
For a heartbeat, no one moved.
Then another.
Shock froze every face in the room as they stared at Matthew Powell, unable to comprehend how a man they long dismissed as a broken mind, a useless husband, a forgotten nobody… could suddenly radiate the aura of a predator who had seen far too many battlefields.
It took a couple of seconds befor
