Servers lined one wall in precise racks, lights blinking in quiet rhythms.The cable management was immaculate.Desks were cleared except for what was actively in use.Screens mounted with intention.It was beautiful in a way that made her chest tighten—control and order executed perfectly.
“This is where Elias works when he’s here,” Nikolai said, indicating a spare desk set slightly apart.“He’s my commander.”
She absorbed that.Commander.Stopping a trafficking ring.The pieces were starting to fit.
She set her laptop on the desk nearest the servers, fingers brushing the surface like a promise.Then she turned to him, questions crowding her mouth.She chose the ones that mattered.
“Who is Elias?”she asked.
Nikolai’s face softened, just a little.He seemed ...pleased.“He is the leader of the organization I work for, called the Iron Covenant.He keeps us pointed in the right direction.”
“And you?”
“I hunt patterns,” he said simply.“And I find people who think they’re untouchable through their digital footprints.”
“And the Covenant?”
Nikolai exhaled slowly, as if weighing how much truth to give her—and deciding she deserved it.“It’s a small organization.Compartmentalized.Off-grid where it matters.We don’t work for governments, but we work with consequences.”
He gestured around the room.“We go after people who think money and influence make them untouchable.Traffickers.Brokers.Financiers.The ones who never get their hands dirty but sign the orders anyway.We work to a very strict code.”
“And the team?”she asked quietly.
“A handful of operators.Different skill sets.Surveillance, extraction, logistics, tech.You've heard Elias on the phone, and you've met Rafael and Mateo, but you have yet to meet Dominic and Luca.And when you meet Luca, you will also meet Mara, because the two of them are attached at the hip now.”His mouth tightened slightly.“We don’t save everyone.But we stop as many as we can.”
She nodded slowly, leaning into the trust that had been building piece by piece.“I think,” she said carefully, “I might have something that could help.”
A loud bang cracked through the house.
The sound tore the floor out from under her.
She was no longer standing in the office.
Hands were on her.Too many.Pain flared, sharp and disorienting.The smell of disinfectant burned her nose.She tried to twist away, breath coming in panicked gasps that scraped her throat raw.Voices overlapped, indistinct and cruel.She screamed for help, for anyone, knowing even as she did that no one was coming.
Stop.
Please.
A hand pressed into her neck.
Darkness rushed up to meet her.
Eliza collapsed.
When sensation returned, it was to the feel of solid arms around her, a steady voice cutting through the fog.She was on the floor, her body trembling violently, breath coming in sobbing bursts she couldn’t control.
“Nikolai,” she heard herself say distantly, or maybe she thought it.
He was there.Solid.Real.One hand braced at her back, the other grounding her against his chest without trapping her.“You’re safe,” he said, low and steady.“You’re here.I’ve got you.”
The world steadied, inch by inch.
The house came back into focus.The light.The quiet.
She clung to that reality with everything she had left.
And when the shaking finally eased, one thought remained clear and unyielding.