The lights died all at once.
Not a flicker.
Not a warning.
Just darkness.
Thick. Immediate. Disorienting.
For a split second, no one moved.
Then everything exploded into motion.
"Backup power now!" one of the guards shouted.
Footsteps scattered. Voices overlapped. Someone grabbed Camille's arm again, tighter this time.
"Move!"
"No—wait" she tried to pull back, her vision still adjusting.
But her mind wasn't stuck in the dark.
It was locked on one thing.
I found you.
Dante.
He was here.
Somewhere in the shadows.
And if the power was out…
This wasn't an accident.
Dante moved through the perimeter like he had built it himself.
Silent. Precise. Unseen.
The compound's security had dropped fast but not randomly. His people had taken the outer grid in under ninety seconds. Cameras looped. Alarms suppressed.
Clean.
But not quiet for long.
He paused behind a concrete pillar, eyes scanning the entrance where Camille had been taken inside just minutes ago.
