Chapter 109

Chapter Ninety Seven

Elena’s POV

The truck did not slow until we were deep inside a crowded neighborhood where streetlights flickered and late night vendors still called out to tired customers. When it finally stopped, my legs could barely hold me. Brian jumped out first, scanning the street with sharp eyes like a man expecting death to walk out of the shadows.

Sandra pulled me into her arms the second I stepped down.

“You’re shaking,” she whispered. “You’re shaking so badly.”

“I saw my aunt,” I said numbly. “She tried to take me.”

Brian stiffened. “So it really is the Russians.”

We rushed inside a small abandoned store at the corner that Brian clearly knew well. Someone had set it up as a safe point. Generator humming. Single bulb hanging. No cameras. No windows.

Brian locked the door with two heavy bolts.

Only then did my body collapse.

I slid down the wall and sat on the cold floor, hugging my knees. The rain soaked into my clothes and skin but I could not feel it. All I could see