Lines In The Dark

Chapter Two

Elisa's POV

The city hadn't fully woken when Elisa pulled into the parking lot of the City Advocates Law Center. Dawn painted the old brick building in shades of grey and pink, its weathered sign promising "Justice For All" in faded letters. She'd chosen this location deliberately – far from the gleaming downtown towers where corporate lawyers worked their magic. Here, among the working-class neighborhoods her clients called home, the mission felt real.

Her heels clicked against worn linoleum as she made her way to her office, nodding to the cleaning staff. Maria Torres's case file waited on her desk where she'd left it last night, accompanied by three others she'd flagged for similar patterns. Four families destroyed. Four lives shattered. And those were just the ones they knew about.

Elisa dropped her briefcase and sank into her chair, reaching for the first file. Sofia Torres stared back at her from a school photo taken six months before her disappearance – all bright eyes and braces, wearing her favorite butterfly hairclip. The contrast between that image and the hollow-eyed girl who'd been rescued from a shipping container made Elisa's stomach clench.

"You're here early."

She looked up to find Detective James Chen leaning against her doorframe, two coffee cups in hand. James had been her best friend since law school, before he'd chosen a badge over a briefcase. His presence this early, especially bearing caffeine, meant news.

"Could say the same about you." She accepted the coffee gratefully. "What brings my favorite detective to this side of town?"

"Thought you might want to hear about last night's excitement at the port." He closed the door behind him, expression serious. "Ten bodies. All cartel-connected, based on preliminary IDs. Scene's being written up as a deal gone wrong."

Elisa set down her coffee. "Which terminal?"

"The old commercial dock. Terminal 7." James watched her carefully. "Same area where your trafficking victims have been turning up."

She was already pulling up the map she'd marked with previous incidents. "How were they killed?"

"That's the interesting part. This wasn't just violence – it was precision. Clean kills, professional work. Someone wanted these guys dead, and they sent a pro to do it."

Elisa marked the new location with a red pin. "Terminal 7 is owned by—"

"Meridian Shipping," they said together.

"Which is a subsidiary of—" James continued.

"Crestfall Industries." Elisa sat back, mind racing. "James, I need—"

"Full incident report, witness statements, and crime scene photos?" He placed a USB drive on her desk. "Already pulled them. Officially, this is a gang-related incident outside your jurisdiction. Unofficially..." He shrugged. "I trust your instincts."

She pocketed the drive. "You're a lifesaver."

"Just be careful, Elisa. You're pulling threads on something big here. The kind of big that gets people hurt." He hesitated. "Have you told your fathers about any of this?"

The question hit like a punch to the gut. The Atenas name opened doors in this city – particularly the kinds of doors that led to boardrooms and government contracts. Her father Lucian had built Aegis International into a private military powerhouse, while her dad Alistair's financial expertise had transformed it into a global enterprise.

Like them, she'd built this place from the ground up, denying any type of help from her fathers. She wanted to make them proud without their money – it only took four years of undergrad and three in law school for her to save up enough. But in the end, it was worth it. For the past couple of years, she'd helped hundreds of people, hired the best for her clients, and it was all done by her own two hands.