Three days later, the silence in the room that had become a cage was cutting. The night had been long and heavy, marked by a damp cold that seeped through the cracks in the walls. Isabela’s body, curled up in the corner, ached everywhere. Her wrists were bruised from the tight ropes, and the smell of dried blood clung to her skin. She didn’t know whether she was shaking more from the cold or from the mixture of fear and hatred burning inside her.

The sound of footsteps echoed down the narrow co