Chapter 244

Lucia and Nora are already crossing the entrance hall before the men have fully cleared the doorway, both of them moving with the frantic energy of people who spent the last hour imagining every possible worst outcome.

“The comms went dead,” Nora says, reaching David first, her both hands going to check him. “We lost contact for almost twenty minutes, I thought–”

“We’re fine,” David says, catching her hands to steady her. “Just a glitch in the equipment. Nothing more than that.”

“You’re bleeding through your shirt.”

“It’s a scratch.”

“Upstairs,” Nora says, already pulling him toward the staircase, her voice leaving no room for argument. “Now. I want to see it properly before you tell me again that it’s nothing.”

David glances back once, finding Elias near the door, something unreadable passing across his face before Nora tugs him around the corner and out of sight.

The moment they’re gone, Lucia’s arms are around Elias’s neck, her whole