The hallway lights flickered as the door slammed shut behind them, sealing out the pounding from the alley. Aria pressed a hand to her chest, trying to steady her breathing. Caspian still held her by the waist like he didn't trust the world or himself not to snatch her away.
Rafael moved first, checking the hallway corners. "No cameras. Of course."
Caspian said, "Someone killed the feed."
Aria whispered, "Who opened the door?"
That answer came in the form of a timid voice from the stairwell.
"I did."
All three of them spun.
A young maintenance boy—no older than nineteen, stood frozen mid-step. His hands were trembling around a ring of keys. His eyes jumped nervously between Rafael, Caspian, and the gun Rafael had half drawn.
Aria recognized him. "Evan?"
He swallowed. "I—I saw you on the back camera. I saw those men. They were waiting for you."
Rafael took one step forward, and Evan practically shrank into the wall.
Caspian stopped Rafael with a sharp glance. Then he turned to Evan, voice low and dangerous. "Did you tell anyone she was coming home?"
"No! No, I swear" Evan's voice cracked. "I only opened the door because she looked terrified."
Aria stepped closer. "Evan, did you see anyone else enter the building?"
"Yes." His breath stuttered. "They came in through the front. Two men. They went upstairs."
Aria's stomach plummeted.
Caspian's hand instantly closed around hers. "What floor?"
"Y…yours," Evan choked out. "Fourth."
Rafael's smile was sharp. "Well, that saves us some searching."
Caspian turned to Aria, cupping the back of her head for a moment calming her, claiming her, grounding her. "Stay close to me. Do not let go of my hand. Understood?"
She nodded.
Rafael jerked his chin. "Let's move before they finish whatever they're doing."
They took the stairs quietly, quickly. Each step creaked under their weight. Aria tried to breathe in through her nose, out through her mouth. It didn't help. Fear wrapped around her like a cold hand.
By the time they reached the fourth floor landing, the building felt wrong.
Too still.
Too quiet.
Too empty.
Caspian lifted his hand, signaling them to stop.
Aria froze.
Rafael pressed his ear to the hallway air. "Voices. Two of them. Inside her apartment."
Caspian's hand slid to the gun holstered under his jacket. "Aria stays behind me. You take left. I'll take right."
Aria nearly whispered his name, but he turned to her first, eyes burning.
"You do not move," he said. "No matter what happens."
She swallowed hard. "But…"
"No arguments."
He pressed his forehead to hers briefly. A fleeting touch, a stolen breath, a promise of something she didn't understand yet.
Then he stepped back.
Rafael counted silently with his fingers.
Three.
Two.
One…
He kicked the apartment door open.
It slammed against the wall with a crack loud enough to shake dust from the ceiling.
Two men jerked in surprise one near her bookshelf, another rifling through her drawers.
Both armed.
Both masked.
Caspian moved first.
A single shot rang out clean, controlled, perfect. The man by the bookshelf dropped, clutching his shoulder. Rafael tackled the other one, slamming him to the ground with brutal efficiency.
Aria covered her mouth, backing against the hallway wall.
Rafael pinned the second man's wrist with his knee, twisting until the man cried out. "Looking for something, sweetheart?"
The man spat blood. "We know she has it."
Caspian's voice dropped to something cold and lethal. "Has what?"
"The file," the man groaned. "The notebook, her mother's notebook. She wrote everything down."
Aria's heart slammed into her ribs.
Her mother's notebook.
The one she hid.
The one Evan saw her take home that night.
The one she kept in her room without ever opening.
The man wheezed, "We know she brought it. The woman told us."
Caspian stiffened. "What woman?"
But before he could answer, the man bit down, hard.
Rafael swore. "Cyanide. Fucking hell"
They both watched as the man convulsed once and went still.
Dead.
Caspian cursed under his breath. "They're organized."
Rafael checked the other attacker, already unconscious. "This one's alive. Good. We'll use him."
Aria stepped inside her apartment, legs trembling.
Everything was torn apart. Furniture overturned. Cushions ripped open. Drawers dumped onto the floor.
Her entire life shredded in minutes.
She whispered, "My room…"
Caspian was at her side instantly. "Aria, don't…"
But she was already moving toward her bedroom.
The door was half open.
She pushed it the rest of the way
And froze.
Her mattress was sliced open. Clothes torn apart. Books thrown across the floor.
Her desk drawer, where she'd kept the notebook was open and empty.
Gone.
Caspian came up behind her slowly, gently grabbing her shoulders.
"Aria," he said softly, "tell me where you kept it."
She answered shakingly. "In that drawer."
Rafael appeared in the doorway. "Then somebody took it before those two idiots even got here."
Caspian turned her around, tipping her chin up so he could look directly into her eyes. His voice was low, rough, edged in something that felt like fear.
"Aria… who else knows about the notebook?"
Her lips parted.
Only one person.
Only one memory.
A voice.
A warning.
A woman in the shadows.
Her mother's voice.
Aria whispered, trembling, barely breathing:
"…She does."
Caspian's eyes widened like the ground shifted beneath him.
Rafael straightened, every protective instinct snapping awake.
And then…
Bzzzt.
A soft vibration rattled in Aria's pocket.
Her phone.
Blocked number.
Her heart pounded against her ribs as she lifted it to her ear.
She answered with shaking fingers.
A voice slid through the speaker calm, feminine, unmistakably familiar.
Too familiar.
"Aria," the woman said, "leave the apartment. Now. They're coming back."
Aria's blood froze solid.
She tried to speak. Tried to breathe.
"…Mom?"
A long, thin silence crackled between them.
Then the woman exhaled slow, steady, and heartbreakingly real.
"Sweetheart," she whispered, "you don't have much time."
Footsteps thundered in the hallway.
Caspian grabbed Aria's wrist.
Rafael reached for his gun.
The lights flickered
once,
twice,
and the entire apartment plunged into darkness.
The last thing Aria heard before the line went dead was her mother's voice:
"Run."
CUT TO BLACK.