ELARA.

He didn’t let go of my throat right away.

His eyes stayed on the phone screen for another second. Then he locked it, slid it into his pocket, and looked at me like the visitor downstairs had already been handled in his mind.

“Stay behind me. Do exactly what I say. If I tell you to run, you run. Clear?”

“Clear.”

He grabbed a second gun from a drawer and pressed it into my hand. The metal was cold. Heavy. My fingers closed around it because there was no other option.

“Safety’s off. Point and pull if anyone who isn’t me gets too close.”

We took the elevator down...