RIKA
My entire body went rigid with every word that spilled from Vera's bloody mouth. Each revelation felt like a knife twisting deeper into my gut, confirming suspicions I'd been too f*****g stupid to fully acknowledge. Ronan. My friend. My brother-in-arms. A traitor who'd been orchestrating our downfall while I'd defended him, trusted him, believed in him.
Vera's voice cracked as she continued, raw from screaming, hoarse from begging. Blood still dripped steadily from her mutilated hand where the knife pinned her to the table, the rhythmic sound almost hypnotic in the tense silence.
Her missing thumb and index finger lay on the floor in congealing pools of crimson. The scent of her fear saturated the air so thick I could taste it on my tongue—copper and desperation and the acrid stin
