LOCATION: BIANCA'S SAFEHOUSE – INNER COURTYARD

TIME: 2:16 a.m.

Rain fell like a memory sharp, relentless, unwelcome.

Solene walked into the courtyard dressed in blood-red silk and silent intent. No armor. No backup. No Lucien.

She’d left him on purpose.

Because this was war, not rescue. And what stood between her and the child wasn’t an army.

It was Bianca.

She waited beneath the stone archway, blonde hair coiled like a crown, wine glass balanced in one manicured hand. The ...