|| Lilac’s POV ||

The press room was a whirlwind of motion, a tangled web of voices and movement where the scent of ink mixed with the sharp tang of fresh coffee. Reporters dashed between desks, their fingers flying over keyboards, their conversations an overlapping murmur of questions, speculations, and last-minute edits. The air crackled with energy, the kind that came just before a breaking story, and I slipped through it like a shadow, my pulse thrumming with adrenaline.

I ...