Time didn’t stop.
It just dragged itself through molasses, every second stretching longer than it had any right to.
Rose stared at the screen. Not blinking. Barely breathing. Just that one line pulsing like a knife between her ribs.
> Marcello taken. Unknown location.
That was it. No details. No timestamp. No signature.
Just that. Cold. Brutal. Final.
Cassian was already moving. Phone to his ear, voice sharp enough to cut bone. Commands spilled from his lips like bullets. Team one. Team two. Drones. Tracking. Backchannels. He was moving the world, but Rose… she just stood there, frozen in the center of the storm.
Not confused. Not scared.
Silent.
That silence—the still, deadly one—was always her tell. The calm before the ruin.
Marcello.
Her second. Her right hand. Her goddamn
