Semua Bab Forbidden never felt this good : Bab 61 - Bab 70

My fingers shook as I read Elliot’s message. I know where you are.The words were simple, but they carried everything I feared: protection, obsession, desperation. And guilt.I glanced up at her. She was still sitting, calm, smiling as if she already knew the turmoil inside me.“You’re texting him?” she asked softly, almost curious.I didn’t answer.I didn’t have a single coherent thought left. My mind was a storm, spinning with fragments: my sister, the flash drive, Elliot, the warehouse, the recording, and her. Her.She leaned forward, elbows resting on the table, chin cupped in her hands. “You always were quick with your decisions. Quick to act. Quick to protect. Do you know what that does to people?”“What?” I demanded, voice shaking. “It keeps them alive.”“No,” she said calmly. “It keeps them alive… until it doesn’t. Until someone finally learns that choices have consequences.”My breath caught. The flash drive gleamed in the candlelight between us, innocuous but lethal. It wasn

The flash drive beeped again, sharp and insistent, slicing through the silence of the penthouse like a warning siren. One hour. One hour to decide. Or everything would burn.I sank into the edge of the chair, gripping it so tightly my knuckles turned white. My mind raced in all directions at once, but the one thing that refused to bend was the certainty that I had to act. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t hesitate. Not now.Elliot paced, his long strides echoing across the polished floor. “We don’t have time to plan,” he muttered, voice tight, strained. “We move, we act, we control what we can.”“And if we fail?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.He froze. His jaw clenched. “We don’t fail.”I swallowed, unsure if I wanted to believe him or if that was just the lie I needed to cling to.Marcus appeared then, moving quickly but quietly, his gaze scanning every shadow, every reflective surface. “She’s watching. The entire time. Security cameras. Drones. Maybe even microphones hidden in the wa

The figure stepping out of the shadows made my stomach drop. My heart raced faster than it had in weeks, my pulse hammering so loudly I was sure she could hear it too.“Liam?” I whispered, but the shape in front of me didn’t respond like Liam normally would. His posture was wrong, rigid, tense, almost predatory and the light caught the edge of his jaw in a way that made my stomach knot.It wasn’t Liam. Not exactly.Her laugh echoed from somewhere behind me, low and dangerous. “Ah, you recognize him… or think you do. How clever of you.”I spun, but the shadows swallowed her again, leaving me with only the figure. Slowly, deliberately, it stepped closer.“Who are you?” I demanded, my voice shaking slightly.The figure finally stepped into the sliver of moonlight that filtered through the warehouse windows. My breath caught.It was Marcus, but not the Marcus I knew. His face was harder, colder, a mask of control that I hadn’t seen before. The warm, steady presence I relied on was gone, r

Darkness swallowed us completely. The sudden blackout made my pulse hammer against my ribcage like a wild drumbeat. My breath came fast and shallow, but I forced myself to stay calm. Elliot’s hand remained firm on mine, grounding me, while Marcus and Liam moved cautiously around us, listening, feeling, every sense on high alert.“Stay close,” Elliot whispered. “She’s testing us… everything we do, she’s watching.”I nodded, gripping the flash drive as though it were the only anchor keeping me tethered to sanity. The metal burned slightly against my palm, its weight both comforting and terrifying. I knew the information it held could either save us or doom us, but right now, it was the only certainty in this maze of shadows and fire.A faint clicking echoed from somewhere ahead, the sound deliberate, mechanical. It was slow at first, then faster, like footsteps or gears shifting, but every instinct told me it wasn’t human it was another trap. My stomach twisted.Marcus whispered, voice

The platform trembled beneath our feet, shaking violently as if it were alive, responding to some hidden command. The fire around us roared, licking the walls, the ceiling, the shadows themselves. Every breath felt like inhaling molten metal. My lungs burned, my heart hammered, and my hands ached from gripping the flash drive.Elliot tightened his hold on my hand, his eyes wide with controlled panic. “We need to stabilize it,” he shouted over the roar of flames. “Or this whole place comes down on us!”Marcus, still partially under her influence but visibly struggling against it, moved toward the control panel with precision. Liam stayed at my side, his presence a shield, silent and alert. I could feel the tension in the air, a physical weight pressing on every inch of me.I forced myself to focus. The flash drive was the key. I knew it. Every nerve in my body screamed urgency. I slid it into the slot on the panel, the metal cold against my palm, the connector fitting perfectly. The sc