The night wrapped around the city like a suffocating shroud, thick with a silence that pressed in on Alessia from every angle. The safe house’s faded walls seemed to close tighter, the dim light casting long, trembling shadows that crawled across the cracked plaster. Outside, the world carried on unaware—bright neon signs flickered, distant laughter echoed, and somewhere far off, the pulse of traffic throbbed steadily. But inside this small, forsaken room, time itself felt fractured, hanging suspended by fear and uncertainty.
Alessia sat motionless on the worn leather sofa, her fingers trembling as they hovered over her phone. Another message had just arrived from the same unknown number that had haunted her the past two days. She swallowed hard and opened it.
You’re already lost.
The w
