For a few seconds after the stranger disappeared into the hallway, none of them moved.
Vanessa stood perfectly still, staring down the empty corridor where the man had vanished. The silence that followed felt heavier than the gunfire that had filled the mansion earlier.
Marco was the first one to break it.
He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled slowly, the tension finally catching up with him.
"Okay," he said, his voice somewhere between disbelief and exhaustion. "I'm just going to say what we're all thinking."
Vanessa didn't look at him.
"That this night somehow got worse?"
Marco nodded.
"Yes. Exactly that."
Behind them, the mansion trembled again as the siege ram slammed into the outer wall downstairs. The sound echoed through the structure like a drumbeat announcing that the battle outside hadn't stopped just because something new had gone wrong inside.
Vanessa finally turned back toward Gale.
Her eyes were sharper now.
More focused.
