บท 277: You were never supposed to see that

As I drove toward the meeting point my mother had specified, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. The call had been too convenient, too perfectly timed. Since when had my mother come to New York?

And why now, when everything was hanging by a thread? My gut told me this wasn't just a family visit or even an obligatory warning it was something else. Something darker. I clenched the steering wheel, my mind running through every possibility.

The streets of New York blurred past me as I neared the old warehouse district. The location itself made my skin crawl. I hadn't trusted my mother in years, but this? Meeting here, of all places? It felt like a trap.

I parked a few blocks away, stepping out into the cool morning air, my senses sharp. Every shadow felt like it held something sinister, every whisper of the wind like a hidden threat. But I had to go. If I wanted answers, if I wanted to protect Elena, I had to see this through.