The dawn crept in slowly, hesitant and gray, as Alessia stared out the rain-streaked window of the safehouse. The city outside was waking, unaware of the silent war raging just beneath its skin. She ran her fingers along the edge of the cracked glass, tracing the droplets like tears frozen in time. The past few days had been a relentless storm, each revelation more brutal than the last, each secret a blade twisting deeper into her soul.
Isabella sat across the room, her hands cuffed loosely to the radiator pipe, eyes darting nervously as if the shadows themselves might snatch her away. There was a fragile desperation in her that Alessia couldn’t ignore. This woman—her enemy, her prisoner—was also the key to the labyrinth they were trapped in. But trust? That was a poison Alessia had learn
