The aftermath of the violence inside the Peony Pavilion was a tableau of physical and social devastation. Pauline Nelson, still shaken by the sheer speed and brutality of the enforcers, watched as Alexis Mackay bowed his head in a display of submission that defied everything she knew about the power dynamics of Duskhaven City. Her eyes darted toward the broken forms of Charlotte Beard, Ronlson Hall, and Eva Flynn. They were b****y, broken, and utterly humiliated—victims of their own arrogance. Despite the cruelty they had shown Dominic, Pauline felt a flicker of pity, or perhaps it was merely the residual fear of a witness.
She turned to Dominic, her voice barely a whisper, trembling with the weight of the c*****e. "What about them? Are you just going to leave them like this?" she asked,
