Chapter 6 The Ritual

The sound of the door closing behind the suited men reverberated in the silence, leaving only the oppressive weight of dread in the air. Lila's pulse pounded in her ears, her body frozen in place. The men's arrival was like the first drop of a storm, the calm before the chaos. She could feel the tension and threat in their movements, as if everything in the room had shifted instantly. Darius and Kai, once two brothers locked in a silent war of wills, now shared a rare, uneasy glance. It was a moment of recognition, of a shared history neither wanted to face yet were bound to. Lila didn't need to know the details to understand the gravity of the situation. She could feel it in the air, thick with dread.