Chapter 135 - Lost Control

The warehouse feels suffocating. The air is thick with tension, and every sound—footsteps, whispers, the scrape of crates being moved—grates on my nerves like nails on a chalkboard. My fists are clenched so tightly my knuckles ache. Every cell in my body is screaming for release, for violence, for something to break.

I sit at the edge of the makeshift desk, staring at nothing, replaying Eric’s words over and over in my head. They’re coming for more. They’re going to take everything from you. My empire is being chipped away, and all I can think about is how much I want to make whoever did this pay.

A shuffle of hesitant footsteps behind me pulls me from my thoughts. I don’t turn around. “What?” I snap, my voice low but sharp enough to cut through the room.

The kid—barely old enough to shave, one of the newer runners—steps forward. He’s holding a clipboard, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot. &ldq