HARRISON'S POV The mattress had long since given up pretending to be anything soft. It had compressed beneath my hip and shoulder until it felt like I was lying on poured concrete, unforgiving and cold, pressing into bone and nerve alike. The moment I stretched out on it, the familiar cycle began—blood throbbing loudly in my ears, my pulse echoing in the hollow quiet, and my mind… refusing to rest.I had wanted sleep. Not just sleep, but that deep, blank oblivion where nothing existed—not fear, not doubt, not the tightening coil of dread that had taken up permanent residence inside me. But instead of drifting into that quiet nothingness, my thoughts sharpened, magnified, each one more intrusive than the last. I found myself chasing them, as if confronting them head-on might somehow dull their edge.By now, Ruiz would have spoken to Ruby.I could see it clearly—the charge room, the harsh lighting, Ruby sitting there with her hands clenched tightly together, trying to remain composed w
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