Leo's laughter sliced through the silence like a blade dipped in ice.
Emily froze mid-breath. Alexander's eyes snapped toward the sound. Isabelle's pupils blew wide, the mad shine fading into something colder—terror, confusion, recognition.
Leo wasn't supposed to be outside the panic suite. He wasn't supposed to be anywhere except the secure wing, the one place Isabelle could never reach.
Unless she already had.
Emily's heart stopped.
The air shifted around her. The mirrors, the lights, the corridor—all of it blurred into the background. Her entire world condensed into one singular truth:
Leo was not safe.
Emily stepped back from Isabelle slowly, the way a lioness steps back from a dying enemy only because a greater threat has appeared.
"Alexander?" Her voice was hoarse but controlled.
He was already tapping into the feeds. "I'm checking the room. Emily… it's empty."
Emily's blood ran cold.
