Chapter 34
The air in the warehouse smelled of oil, old blood, and the metallic tang of heavy machinery, a scent that was beginning to feel more like home than the sterile, lavender-infused hallways of her former life. The building breathed like a living thing. Every creak of steel, every distant clatter of tools echoed through the high ceilings, vibrating through Elena’s bones. This place did not pretend to be safe. It demanded awareness, obedience, and strength.
Elena leaned against a rusted shipping container, watching Viktor and the others strip down a shipment of illicit hardware. Crates were opened with practiced hands, weapons cataloged and redistributed with swift precision. No wasted movements. No unnecessary words. They worked with a rhythmic, lethal efficiency, a brotherhood f
