Lucas sat at the head of the table, the blue glow from surveillance screens casting sharp shadows across his rigid face. Hazel paced by the window, the sharp click of her heels echoing against the cold floor as she smoked.
"They know," Lucas said, voice low but resolute. "Elias never moves quietly. He's lining up his pieces."
Hazel exhaled smoke through flared nostrils. "And Adeline? Still playing the victim, I take it?"
Lucas didn't answer immediately. Instead, he pulled up a frozen video feed—Adeline in a hospital bed, murmuring something to Elias, who looked half-asleep beside her.
His jaw clenched. "She wasn't meant to get that close."
"You let her," Hazel snapped, turning sharply. "She was nothing until you made her a problem."
Lucas rose, his gaze hardening. "She's not the problem. Elias is. And if he thinks this ends quietly, he's a fool."
The door opened. A man dressed in black entered, holding a device. "We found the mole. They're feeding information to Nathan."
Lucas's lips curved into a thin smile. "Then it's time we give them something worth chasing."
Hazel arched a brow. "A decoy?"
Lucas nodded. "We make them believe we're planning another hit. Something elaborate. While we strike closer to the core. Not Adeline. Not Elias. Someone quieter. Unexpected."
His finger traced a photo pinned to the wall—Nathan, Adeline's father, the late-shift nurse.
Lucas tapped Nathan's picture. "Let's see how solid their little alliance really is."
Hazel's smile was ice itself. "Let the game begin."
Outside, darkness deepened—and with it, the shadows began to stir.