The news swept through the corridors like a warm wind before the storm.
In the cramped room where they waited, Maggie and Élisa saw a messenger enter — breathless, yet radiating a nervous kind of energy. His words were simple, almost banal at first glance:
"He escaped the Death Net."
He didn't need to say who. The two women froze, each struck by a very different current. Maggie felt her muscles loosen, as if an invisible weight had just slid from her shoulders. A dry, fleeting smile touched her lips — not pure joy, but calculated relief.
Dylan wasn't just a pawn to be rescued; he was a point of connection, and losing him could greatly compromise their contract with their employer.
Élisa, however, didn't move. Her fingers tightened around the table, betraying an unbroken tension. The Death Net was only one of the many ravenous beasts in this world, and she knew that escape didn't mean safety. Dylan was still a hunted man — alone and weakened.
