CHAPTER 17: THE REVERSAL.

The whole light of the hotel came back on, startling them all.

A sudden surge buzzed through the fallen chandeliers and wall lamps overhead, flooding the reception hall with pale, unforgiving light. Shadows that once blanketed the wreckage retreated into corners, exposing everything the dark had kindly hidden.

The room seemed to hold its breath.

What was once a symbol of luxury now lay disgraced—bullet holes cratering the walls, toppled sculptures split like snapped spines, and the ornate flower divider crushed, its petals bruised and scattered like the lives torn apart within these walls.