Chapter 76

The night air is thick with the scent of damp concrete and rust as Emma steps out of the car. The abandoned warehouse looms before her, an eerie skeleton of twisted metal and shattered glass. The silence is deafening, pressing against her ears like a heavy weight, amplifying the rapid thud of her heartbeat.

Her phone buzzes in her palm, the vibration sending a shiver up her spine. A single message flashes across the screen.

— Come in alone.

Emma exhales sharply.

She expected this.

Still, her fingers tighten around the phone, as if holding onto it will keep her from drowning in the suffocating dread curling in her stomach.

Lydia's voice crackles through the hidden earpiece tucked beneath Emma's hair. "Emma, don't do this. Let's call Alex—"

"No," Emma whispers, cutting her off before she can continue. Her grip tightens, nails biting into her palm. "If I don't do this now, my mother won't make it out alive."