The morning came with silence.
No birds. No cars. No nurses.
Just a fresh set of clothes folded neatly on the chair beside my bed—black silk, expensive, and not mine. There was no note. But I already knew who left them.
Him.
He hadn't told me his name yesterday. Only that I was his wife. That I'd disappeared. That he searched for months.
But the way he looked at me…
Like he wanted to own me.
Like he already did.
I slipped into the dress, ignoring how it hugged me too tightly, like it had once known my shape. My bruises had started to fade, but the dull ache in my ribs remained—like I'd been running from something… or someone.
The nurse came in without a word and handed me a phone.
"He said you should speak to your husband."
Husband.
The word felt foreign in my mouth, like a lie wrapped in velvet.
I pressed the phone to my ear.
He didn't say hello.
Instead, his voice came low and calm:
"Do you remember the ring I gave you?"
I glanced at my hand. Bare.
"No."
"You loved it. A sapphire. Said it reminded you of the sky."
I swallowed. "Why would I leave you, then?"
Silence.
Then:
"Because you saw something you weren't supposed to."
My blood ran cold. "What did I see?"
"I'll tell you… when I see you."
The line went dead.
Later, they discharged me. A black car waited outside, sleek and quiet like a predator. The driver didn't speak, only opened the door and gave me a small nod.
Inside the car was a single envelope.
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph—blurry, taken in a rush. Me. Standing in a dark alley. And beside me, a man I didn't recognize. His face half-shadowed, his hand gripping a gun.
Scrawled in pen beneath the photo:
"You trusted the wrong man."
I looked up.
And in the distance, high above the city skyline, I saw a tower of glass and steel.
Veloria's most powerful building.
His building.
And suddenly I knew:
I wasn't going home.
I was going into the lion's den.