For a moment, the basement felt frozen in time.

Patricia could hear her own heartbeat — loud, frantic, pounding against her ribs like a trapped animal.

The woman’s silhouette barely moved, but her presence filled the entire room like smoke.

“Stay away from her,” Patricia said quietly, glancing at Alina’s sleeping figure on the cot.

The woman’s gaze flicked toward Alina, then back to Patricia.

“Relax. If I wanted her dead,” she said evenly, “she wouldn’t still be ...