Autumn felt her world collapse in slow motion as Iris pushed her. The last thing she saw was the shock etched on Iris’s face before Ivan suddenly appeared beside her, standing frozen in disbelief. The moment stretched endlessly, but then gravity took over, and Autumn’s head plummeted towards the unforgiving concrete floor below.

The impact was jarring, and she lay flat on her back, her vision beginning to blur. The once-clear world around her dissolved into a chaotic swirl of colors and sounds, the sharp edges of reality softening into a haze. A scream tore through the air—raw and filled with terror—as some of Derek’s men rushed onto the scene,...