chapter 15
They didn’t go home. Not immediately. Elena moved through the city with her son in her arms, but her pace had changed—slower, more deliberate. Not because she was tired… but because she was thinking. Every instinct in her told her one thing: That wasn’t over. “They let us walk,” he said quietly beside her, breaking the silence as they crossed into a dimly lit street. “I don’t like it.” Elena didn’t look at him. “Neither do I.” Her son rested against her shoulder, calmer now, but still holding onto her like he understood—on some level—that something had shifted in a way children weren’t meant to understand. “They tested you,” he continued. “And whatever they saw… it wasn’t enough to end you.” Elena’s jaw tightened slightly. “Or it was enough to keep me,” she replied. That thought
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