The black SUV idled like a growling beast at the curb of the East District tenement. Seraphina stepped out, her legs feeling like leaden weights. The air here was thick with the smell of rain-slicked asphalt and the distant sound of a siren—the soundtrack of the life she was about to lose.
As she climbed the stairs to the third floor, the familiar creak of the wood under her feet felt like a goodbye.
Inside the apartment, the silence was jagged. Zoe and Olivia were sitting on the edge of the worn velvet couch, their faces pale and eyes red-rimmed. They jumped up the moment Seraphina walked in.
"Sera! Thank God," Zoe cried, rushing to her. "Those men... they wouldn't let us leave. They said you were safe, but—"
"I am," Seraphina interrupted, her voice sounding hollow, as if she were spe
