Elias stood frozen, the words from Cameron hanging in the air like a thick fog, weighing down his thoughts. The room felt smaller, more oppressive, as the reality of the situation began to set in. Cameron’s calm demeanor, his unshaken confidence, only fueled Elias’s unease. He had thought he was in control, that by confronting Mara and confronting the people who had manipulated him, he could regain some semblance of power. But now, in this sterile, dimly lit office, Elias realized that he was still caught in a web—a web that was more complex, more tangled than he had ever imagined.For a long moment, neither man spoke. Cameron leaned back in his chair, his fingers still tapping rhythmically on the desk, a deliberate move to unsettle Elias. It worked. Elias’s mind was racing, piecing together fragments of information, trying to understand what Cameron knew, what he was still hiding.“You’re not going to talk?” Cameron’s voice broke the silence, but it wasn’t a question—more of a casual

The sound of the file clicking open echoed in the otherwise silent room, each click like a drumbeat in Elias’s chest. His breath hitched as the contents of the encrypted document slowly unfurled on the screen. Every word, every piece of data, felt like a death sentence written in black and white.Lana stood over his shoulder, her hands on the desk, as if to ground herself to the same reality that Elias was now drowning in. The words on the screen were clear enough—too clear. Too personal.It was about him.Elias could feel the blood drain from his face. The file was filled with details—events, names, locations—all of it tied to his past, a past he thought he had carefully buried under layers of lies and new identities. But someone had found it, someone had uncovered the truth.“This can’t be right,” Elias muttered, his voice tight. “How… How does she have this?”Lana leaned closer, her eyes scanning the document. “I don’t know, but this is bad. This is beyond anything we thought was c

Elias stood in front of Costa’s desk, his pulse hammering in his ears, his anger barely contained. He’d walked into this room expecting to be challenged, but the cold arrogance in Costa’s demeanor stirred something deeper inside him—something that made the urge to act almost unbearable.Costa leaned back in his chair, the smugness in his expression never wavering. “You really think you can just walk in here and challenge me, Elias? You think you’ve got the upper hand because you’ve had a few conversations with the people around me? You’re still playing my game, whether you realize it or not.”Elias’s jaw tightened. “I’m not playing any games. I’m here to end yours.”Costa raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. “End my game?” He stood up slowly, walking toward the window, his back to Elias. The city stretched out beneath them, a vast network of control and power, everything within Costa’s grasp. “You don’t even know the rules, Elias. You never have. You think I’m the one pulling the str

The air in Elias's office felt thick with uncertainty as Detective Burns spoke, his words weighing heavily on Elias's mind. He had thought he knew Mara—understood the depths to which she could sink, the extent of her manipulations. But this was different. This was beyond anything he had imagined.“I’ve been following Mara for a while now,” Burns continued, his voice low and steady. “We’ve got a case on her. She’s not just running petty schemes. She’s been involved in something much larger. Something that could bring down people in high places.”Elias felt his pulse spike. “What do you mean by ‘high places’?” he asked, the unease creeping into his tone.Burns hesitated before answering, his eyes narrowing as if weighing the importance of what he was about to reveal. “I can’t go into all the details, not yet. But we’ve uncovered links to organized crime, money laundering, even a few key players in your industry who have been feeding her information.”Elias’s mind raced. *Organized crime

The message from Mara left Elias feeling cold, like the walls were closing in around him. He had expected retaliation, but not so soon. His eyes remained fixed on the screen, his mind struggling to keep pace with the growing urgency in his thoughts."I know what you’re planning, Elias. You can’t hide from me. I’ll be waiting."The words echoed in his head as his fingers tightened around his phone, a sense of dread settling in the pit of his stomach. How much did she know? Had she figured out their investigation? Was this some kind of warning, or was it a threat meant to shake him?He locked his phone, and for a moment, he just sat there in the quiet of his apartment, the sound of his own breathing too loud in the silence.His mind raced, processing the countless encounters with Mara, every word she had ever said, every move she had made. He had underestimated her for too long, assumed that he knew how she operated. But this—this was different. There was a new level of danger now, a ki