Hades

The door clicked shut, leaving the office in a silence so heavy I could hear the frantic, uneven thrumming of Rose’s heart. She was curled into the leather chair, her small frame looking even more delicate than usual, a broken flower crushed by the weight of a world that didn’t deserve her. My own hands were still shaking—not with fear, but with a residual, volcanic rage that had nearly leveled the 30th floor. I had spent my life building a fortress of cold indifference, an empire built on the bones of those who lacked the stomach for the shadows.