CHAPTER 96 — THE COST OF WAKING UP
Morning arrived without ceremony.
No headlines.
No alarms.
No immediate retaliation.
That alone unsettled Elena more than chaos ever could.
The Kane estate woke slowly, wrapped in a calm that felt rehearsed. Staff moved with their usual precision, but there was a carefulness now—a subtle pause before words, a second glance before doors were closed. Everyone felt it, even if no one named it.
Silence had shifted again.
Elena sat at the long breakfast table with untouched tea cooling beside her. She wasn't hungry. Hunger required distraction, and she had none to spare. Her mind was already running through patterns, connections, absences.
Adrian entered quietly, jacket already on. His eyes met hers, and in that brief exchange, neither needed to speak.
"Nothing new overnight," he said at last.
"That's what worries me," Elena replied.
He took a seat across from her. "We're not blind anymore. They know that."
