“Agreed,” Kol said.“She clocked the stairwell.Used it.Didn’t freeze.”
Mateo nodded once.“She took a hit and still ran.Most people would have folded.”
Silence settled—not heavy, but deliberate.
Then the door opened.
No knock.No announcement.
Just a presence that shifted the room.
Elias stepped inside.
He didn’t fill the doorway the way Mateo did.Didn’t move with Kol’s quiet sharpness.He was average height, neatly dressed, dark coat unbuttoned, hands bare.
But the room reoriented around him anyway.
Luca stood.
So did Mateo.
Kol straightened, phone slipping into his pocket.
Elias waved them down without a word and took the empty chair, folding his hands on the table as if he’d always been there.
“Report,” he said.
Luca leaned forward slightly, forearms braced on the table.“She clocked the tail before she hit the garage.Didn’t panic.Let them think she was rattled.”
Elias said nothing, eyes fixed on Luca.
“They went hands-on near her car,” Luca continued.“She let it happen just long enough to get them close.Used the stairwell instead of the vehicle.Took a hit to the ribs and kept moving.”
Mateo snorted.“Most people would’ve curled up on the concrete.”
“She didn’t,” Luca said.“She ran.Almost made it out clean.”
Kol pushed off the wall.“They misjudged her.Assumed her fear meant compliance.”
Luca nodded once.“That mistake is the only reason she’s alive.”He looked back to Elias.“We pulled her from the street.Bruised ribs.Facial swelling.No breaks.She had the drive on her the whole time.”
Silence followed.
Elias absorbed it without reaction.He didn’t ask questions he already knew the answers to.
When he finished, Elias nodded once.
“And her boss?”Elias asked.
“Dirty,” Mateo said.“But not the top of this particular pile of shit.”
Kol added, “Too many outgoing calls.Too fast.He’s panicking.”
Elias’s gaze flicked between them.“And the woman?”
Luca answered without hesitation.“She’s strong.She’s smart.And she knows she’s in danger.”
“That wasn’t the question,” Elias said mildly.
