Chapter 113: Echoes from Paris
The word lingered longer than it should have.
Paris.
Not a place anymore.
A memory.
A fracture.
Something unfinished.
---
Julian did not move at first.
Not even a breath.
Just stillness.
The kind that came before impact.
---
Scarlett watched him carefully.
Because this silence was not unfamiliar.
It was controlled.
But beneath it, something was shifting.
---
"What exactly did she release?" Julian asked again, his voice lower now.
Scarlett looked back at her phone, her fingers hovering for a second before she tapped the screen.
"It is a video," she said quietly.
"A clip. Not long."
---
Julian's jaw tightened.
"Play it."
---
Scarlett hesitated.
Not because she did not want to.
But because something in her instinct told her this moment mattered.
---
Then she pressed play.
---
The room filled with a different kind of silence.
Not empty.
Not still.
But heavy.
---
The video quality was slightly grainy.
Dim lighting.
