The chill of the night bit sharper than before, the city’s pulse drumming louder inside Elena’s chest. The weight of the ledger—its secrets scorched into her palm—feared no fire cold enough to quell what now festered within her. Somewhere, out there, eyes fed on this revelation like predators. She wasn’t invisible. Never had been.

The swell of black glass towers around her pressed in, oppressive. The ledger’s brittle pages whispered against her fingertips with a curse older than the Varga name itself.

Boot heels clattered behind—a ragged rhythm. A breath, too close, too sharp. Elena’s heart jumped, every nerve like wire strung tight.

“Looking for me?”

The voice dropped like ice, gutteral and slow. Elena pivoted, instinct uncoiling limbs into fight or flight.

Viktor emerged from the alley’s embrace, face half-swallowed by shadows. His eyes glinted—calculating, amused.

“Viktor,” she said, voice steady but knives dug beneath the calm. “I thought you were with me.”

He stepped closer, the streetlamp’s jaundiced glow flickering over the sharp planes of his face. “I was. Am. But you’re playing with fire you don’t understand.”

Elena’s grip tightened on the ledger. “I’m done playing by their rules.”

A devilish grin cracked his composure. “Since when do you gamble with your life so recklessly?”

She wanted to spit bile, but instead, asked, “Why follow me? Why here?”

He chuckled—a low, bitter sound. “Because if I didn’t, they’d burn me too.”

A surge of unease slithered through her veins. Viktor had always been the rock: loyal, unshakeable... or so she believed.

“Who?” she whispered.

He slowed, tension coiling like a snake. “Someone inside. Someone you call family.”

Elena blinked, disbelief mangling her thoughts.

“A traitor,” Viktor rasped. “And their puppeteer? Closer than you could ever imagine.”

The city’s distant sirens morphed into howling wolves. Elena’s breath staggered—this was no longer just a battle for power. It was a siege from within, and the walls she’d trusted were crumbling faster than the truth could surface.

“Tell me,” she said, voice cracked but iron-strong. “Now.”

Viktor swallowed, eyes flickering with shadows more damning than the night.

“But it changes everything.”

Elena’s pulse thundered louder. “I’m ready.”

He nodded, shoulders slumping with the weight of revelation.

“The orders... they didn’t come from Markos.”

Her stomach roiled, cold dread unspooling.

“They came from someone... closer.”

His words hung between them—a blade slicing silence.

Elena’s world tilted. Closer. Too close.

The clock behind them ticked as if counting down the last seconds before collapse.

Then—a whisper dropped like a guillotine.

“The one you trust the most.”

A sharp knock echoed at the alley’s mouth.

Elena’s gaze snapped toward the sound—heart shattering into shards.

Someone waited. Watching.

Trust was a poison. And the venom was just beginning to spread.