Voicemail.
I stared at the screen like it had betrayed me.
“Answer,” I whispered desperately.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Time stretched.
Minutes turned into hours.
The assault didn’t stop.
They hit the doors repeatedly — not random strikes but coordinated impacts.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
The titanium core held — but the wooden reinforcement around it was collapsing under sustained force.
Splinters cracked.
Metal groaned.
The frame bent inward.
I counted the attempts without realizing I was counting.
Fifty.
One hundred.
Two hundred.
My phone showed three hundred and nine call attempts.
Three hundred and nine.
Each unanswered.
Each carrying a silent plea.
“Elena!” Vasquez shouted again.
His voice echoed through the reinforced barrier.
“I’m coming for you, girl! You hear me?”
My spine went rigid.
I slid down the wall slowly until I was sitting on the cold marble floor, knees pulled to my chest.
