Evelyn stared at the shards of the broken mug scattered across the floor, her heart pounding out of control.

  Without thinking, she shot to her feet. Driven by an unstoppable impulse, she rushed to the door.

  Her hand closed around the key ring, fingertips instantly finding the car key by touch. With Leyla blazing in her mind, she threw herself outside. The door slammed shut behind her, a dull echo in the silence of the house.

  From the porch to the car parked ten yards down the driveway, the storm hit her with merciless force. Rain plastered her hair to her face, soaked her clothes, and gripped her skin like shackles, tightening the fear gnawing inside her. But Evelyn didn’t slow down.

  Shaking, she slid into the driver’s seat, her frozen fingers locking around the wheel in a death grip. The engine roared to life, and before the wipers could even swipe aside the downpour, she’d thrown the car in gear and floored it.

  She drove with blind determination. In that moment, her daughter’s life was the only compass she had. She had to reach Leyla before it was too late. Adrenaline surged through her veins like molten fire, pushing her to defy the storm raging around her, thunder cracking across the sky like a dark omen, merging with the roar of the engine.

  Anxiety surged through her, raw and unstoppable. Her frantic heartbeat pounded against her temples. There was no room for caution. No space for doubt. Only a savage, primal will to tear down anything standing between her and Leyla.

  Time slipped away. The world around her warped into a dreamlike, distorted landscape.

  The streets blurred into a single ribbon of smeared light. Every curve was blind, every stretch of road endless. Streetlamps flashed by, one after another, sketching a glowing trail that pointed straight toward her daughter.

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  Whatever their intentions were, Leyla wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

  She snapped.

  A rush of pure adrenaline tore through her as she jumped off the bike. With the fury of a warrior, she swung it up in one swift, effortless motion. Then hurled it at them. The brutal crash of metal sent both attackers sprawling to the ground. An instinctive act, fierce and unyielding, proof of the fire that burned inside her.

  But there was no time to revel in it.

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  Leyla bolted, feet hammering the wet asphalt in a frantic rhythm. Every pounding stride closed the gap between her and the two figures already scrambling back to their feet.

  Their presence loomed behind her, cold breath on her neck, a sinister omen that froze the blood in her veins.

  No way out.

  Empty streets. A sky black as tar. Rain falling like a cage around her. The world had shrunk to this desperate run.

  Every time she dared a glance back, shadowy shapes closed in, silent but relentless. Her legs burned, lungs heaving, but she knew one truth.

  She couldn’t stop.

  Suddenly, a crushing weight slammed her to the ground, shattering her fragile balance. The fall was brutal, rattling every nerve in her body. Pain seared through her, sharp and blinding, but her will held. With a surge of desperate strength, she twisted, ready to face her attackers.

  Leyla fought like a trapped animal, thrashing, her screams ripping out of her throat until they burned. Wild punches. Blind kicks. She refused to quit.

  With the last drop of strength, she swung and drove her fist into one of their faces. Her ring split his cheek clean open.

  For a heartbeat, a flash of satisfaction lit her face. But before she could savor the tiny victory, an iron grip clamped around her wrist, pinning her.

  A looming face bent over her, breath hot against her skin, and a voice hissed through the storm: “Stop fighting, or you’re only gonna make this worse.”

  The words wrapped around her like a spiral of ice, sinking deep, spreading a wave of helplessness that nearly broke her. Pain and fear tangled in a dizzying storm, the world shrinking at the edges of her vision.

  In that single hesitation, that crack of vulnerability, the accomplice struck. A blur of motion. The shadow drove a syringe into Leyla’s neck. She felt the sharp sting, then a rush of cold spreading fast, her limbs heavy, and her thoughts slipping into fog.

  With her last shred of clarity, she whispered, calling out for her mother, as if that invisible bond could cut through the distance.

  “Please, Mom… hear me. I’m in danger.”

  That was the plea that had pierced through Evelyn only moments before, while she was still in the kitchen clutching Leyla’s mug. The scream that had exploded in her throat then was the only possible answer to her daughter’s prayer.

  From the moment she’d left the house, Evelyn had pushed the car to its limits. Burned into her mind, like a brand she couldn’t scrape off, was the image of Leyla in the hands of those grotesque figures. A living nightmare, sharp and relentless, flashing behind her eyes with every blink.

  The drive passed in a haze, but the dread in her gut only grew, coiling tighter, colder, choking every nerve.

  When she finally reached the spot, the truth hit her like a punch to the chest.

  No sign of her daughter. Just the bike, twisted, abandoned, alone. A mute symbol of innocence broken. The brutal proof that something unspeakable had happened.

  In her rush to get out, she didn’t even realize she’d left the engine running, headlights slicing through the rain like spotlights on a macabre stage.

  Instinct took over. Evelyn dropped to the ground, crouching beside the mangled bike, clutching herself tight as if she could shield Leyla from some unseen evil. A silent cry ripped out of her chest, tearing her apart from the inside.

  “Leyla… where are you?” The words broke out of her, raw and shattered.

  The wind answered with nothing but an empty moan.

  She stayed there, kneeling beneath the black sky, rain pouring down on her like molten lead, mixing with the tears she no longer bothered to hide.

  Every heartbeat was a blade. Every breath, an ordeal.

  Pain wasn’t just an emotion anymore, it was a ravenous beast, clawing straight at her soul.

  She sagged forward, her forehead nearly touching the soaked earth.

  Inside, a voiceless cry shook her harder than the storm itself. And then, nothing but darkness.

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