Chapter 63

The night air was thick with tension as Julian, Erica, and the team moved toward the warehouse. The docks stretched out before them, dimly lit by the occasional flicker of overhead lamps and the glow of distant city lights reflecting off the water. Shadows danced across the steel containers and rusting cranes, making the place feel like a battlefield waiting for a war to start.

Julian’s men had taken their positions along the perimeter, their weapons ready, scanning for movement. Erica’s senses were on high alert, every muscle in her body taut with anticipation. They were walking into a hornet’s nest, and she knew it. Ophelia wouldn’t be caught off guard; she was always three steps ahead.

Julian crouched beside her behind a stack of crates, his eyes scanning the building. “There,” he whispered, pointing to a second-story window. “I saw movement. She’s inside.”

Erica’s pulse quickened. This was it—the moment they had been building toward for so long. The final confrontation with Opheli