The iron bars of the Council prison cell gleamed coldly under the flickering torchlight, casting long shadows that danced like mocking specters across the stone floor. Lisa paced the narrow confines, her platinum hair matted and dull, her once-flawless makeup smeared into grotesque streaks of black and red. The red dress she had worn during her desperate escape hung in tatters, a pitiful remnant of the glamour she had clung to like a lifeline. Her nails, broken and ragged from clawing at the walls in futile rage, left faint scratches on the unyielding metal as she gripped the bars again, staring into the dim corridor beyond.
Footsteps echoed down the hall, slow and deliberate, each one a hammer blow to her fracturing composure. She froze, heart slamming against her ribs, a toxic mix of ho
