Chapter 195

• Third person pov
• The abandoned building was suffocatingly still, save for the occasional creak of its wooden beams and the faint hum of the generator somewhere deep in the back. The walls were bare concrete, cracked and stained with age. A single bulb hung low over the center of the room, its yellow light throwing long shadows across the floor.
• Shadow sat in a metal chair, one leg crossed over the other, his hands loosely clasped in his lap. Across from him, Vanessa Sloane sat slouched in her own chair, her wrists still cuffed together, a thin sheen of sweat on her brow. She looked worn down, but her eyes still had that spark—the calculating, survival-driven gleam of someone who refused to break completely.