The silence after they took him was unbearable.
It pressed in on Sienna from every direction, thick and suffocating, like the walls of their tiny apartment had suddenly moved closer together. The space still smelled like him—coffee, clean soap, the faint trace of the cologne he only wore when he had interviews. It was everywhere. And yet he was gone.
Just like that.
Six in the morning. A knock. A warrant. And suddenly her entire world had been ripped out from under her.
Sienna sat on the couch, her hands limp in her lap, staring at the door as if he might walk back through it any second. As if this was some kind of mistake that would correct itself if she just waited long enough.
But minutes passed.
Then more.
And nothing changed.
Her phone lay beside her, screen dark now after the call with Marcus. Fifty thousand dollars. That was everything she had. Everything she'd built from nothing. Her business. Her safety net. Her future.
And it still wouldn't be enough.
