Cayenne hadn't known a full night's sleep in days. The world had blurred into a jagged haze where focusing on her work felt like trying to catch smoke with bare hands. She was tethered to reality by a fraying thread, kept from the brink of total collapse only by the steady warmth of her husband and the soft, unknowing laughter of her children.
Then, the silence broke.
The call from Luiz arrived just hours ago, a sharp puncture in the suffocating tension. It brought with it a desperate, fleeting relief—at least the air in her lungs didn't feel like lead anymore, knowing her brother was still drawing breath. But that comfort was short-lived. The relief soured almost instantly as the voice on the other end spoke: they want Dr. Eliezer Rivera in exchange for her brother's life.
