All Chapters of Under the Sign of Danger: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Morning seeped slowly through the dirty windows of Elena’s apartment, bringing with it a pale, somber light.The city seemed just as restless, but for Elena, everything had stopped that night at Warehouse 17.She stood by the window, a nearly cold cup of coffee in her hands, watching raindrops trail down the glass in fine streams.Her thoughts were a tangled mess of unanswered questions and fears she couldn’t voice aloud.Her phone vibrated on the table. A message from the newsroom: “Where are you? Do you have the material?”Elena knew no one was supposed to find out what she had done. Not even Laura, her closest colleague, with whom she shared secrets and long coffees at the office.But she knew something else too: everything had changed.Taking a deep breath, she sat at her desk and opened her laptop. On the screen, a blank page waited for the words that would unlock a trove of hidden truths.— How do I start? she murmured, typing slowly.⸻A Day at the NewsroomThe newsroom buzzed

The day was cold and gray, as if the city itself was weeping beneath a cloak of smoke and rain.Elena opened the door of the abandoned building, stepping inside with slow, cautious movements. The air smelled of damp concrete and old wood, and every creak beneath her boots sounded like a whisper from the past. But to her, this broken-down place was more than just walls and dust—it was the beginning of something new. A sanctuary for the woman she was becoming.Luca stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed, his frame tense, his eyes fixed on her. There was no smile, only determination etched into the lines of his face.— Today the training begins, he said simply. I won’t lie to you. It’s going to hurt. You’ll fall. You’ll want to give up.Elena looked at him, chin lifted, heart pounding.— I’m ready.⸻The First LessonThe day began with stillness. No punches, no running, just silence and breath. Luca taught her how to focus. To control the racing storm inside her chest.They sat on

Time seemed to stretch, each second dragging on like agony. Elena felt her heart pounding in her ears, her fingers trembling around the grip of the gun.Emily was there. Alive. And yet, only a breath away from death.Victor looked at her with a smug smile, holding up the phone with the live stream like a trophy.“If you make one wrong move, if you even think about trying something heroic… you know what happens,” he said calmly.“What do you want from me?” Elena asked, her voice barely escaping her lips.“You,” Victor replied. “I want you gone. I want you to stop digging, stop investigating, stop existing in our world. And I want everything you have — the evidence, the journals, the codes. All of it.”Luca took a step forward, but Victor pointed the gun at him.“One move, and they both die. I swear.”Elena looked down at her hands for a moment. They were stained with dust, fear, and difficult choices. She wasn’t a hero. She hadn’t been trained to negotiate with devils. But now, she was

The silence in the concrete room was suffocating. Time passed slowly, as if every second was being measured out drop by drop. Elena didn’t know if it was morning or night. All she could feel was cold, dampness, and the crushing tension that invaded every muscle in her body.But she knew one thing: she couldn’t stay there. There was no more time.She turned again to the cracked slab of concrete. With tired fingers, she began pulling away the cement piece that covered the entrance to the tunnel. It was slow going, but after a few minutes she felt it give way. A wave of stale, heavy air hit her face — the tunnel was real. And it might be her way out.But was she ready to take the risk?She recalled Luca’s words. “Everything is part of the plan.”If this was part of the plan, she had to follow it through to the end.Carefully, she slipped her legs into the opening. The tunnel was narrow, but just wide enough for her to squeeze through. She had about thirty centimeters of space on each sid