Chapter 24 Ties That Strangle

• The warehouse was cold, the kind of damp chill that crept into your bones. Valentina paced the length of the makeshift table, the flash drive still clenched in her hand from the night before. No one spoke. The air was thick with unasked questions.
• Dante leaned against a steel pillar, eyes tracking her like he was trying to read the thoughts she wouldn’t say out loud. Camila sat at the far end, fingers moving quickly over her laptop, cables running to the encrypted drive.
• Lucia and Hector stood near the door, keeping watch. The only light came from a bare bulb overhead, swinging slightly with the draft.