SHATTERED CHAINS, BOUND HEARTS

owing ominously on her phone screen. She had read it

. Now you'll have to liv

t would she say? That she had gone poking around in places she didn't belong? T

d pulled her knees to her chest. The realization

-

awling cityscape below. The lights of Manhattan glitter

is hand. "You're making quite the im

e replied without turning

countered, tossing the file onto the table

a choice now. And neither do we. Elena Vasquez is

-

r phone buzzing. Bleary-eyed, she reached for i

el

ped. "We need to talk. Meet me

on?" she ask

Nathan said, be

led in her stomach as

-

Elena arrived. Nathan sat in a corner booth, his j

sked, sliding into th

into the people we're investigating. There's a pattern-anyone wh

ped a beat. "And y

ssage isn't bluffing. They want to scare you of

can't just walk away, Natha

we need to be smart about this. No more solo inves

ed but nodd

-

town, Richard Blackwell leaned back in

th disdain. "That photographer... Elena Vasquez.

r Camila smirked. "And Vivienn

lways had a weakness for lost causes.

do?" Camila asked, sw

e. "Send her a message. Make it clear that

-

an's warning. As the sun set, she prepared to close up, her thoughts drif

a black envelope taped to the glass. Her puls

the night before, camera in hand. Scrawled across the bottom i

ere was no one in sight. She stuffed the photo into he

-

hen Elena called her that e

na said. "They left a phot

on hardened. "Did y

ied. "Only you a

ly. "Keep it that way. And

are you helping me? Yo

ing, "Because I know what it's like to be hun

-

vate bar in Midtown. The atmosphere was quiet, almos

ility," Gideo

ne countered. "She just

in over her head. And if Richa

interrupted, her tone i

in his chair. "You've got a lot riding on this,

ned. "Sentiment has n

a strange sense of unease. Halfway there, a black car

's cold, calculat

n," he

r heart poundin

rd added, hi

here to run, Elena took a shaky