CHAPTER 61 — The Confrontation Before the War

POV: Adrian

The night still felt wrong, even after spending nights planning, planning to win.

I couldn’t explain it—only that the air tasted like metal, thick and heavy, as though the city itself was holding its breath. The storm clouds above the compound seemed to crouch low, suffocating the world in darkness. A pressure built behind my ribs, slow and grinding, like the quiet seconds before a bomb detonates.

And I knew—

He was here.

My ...