Prologue — The Day I Finally Woke Up I used to live my life like a well-kept ledger—every line balanced, every emotion tucked into neat little margins. Discipline was my religion. Routine, my sanctuary. I walked through my days as if sleepwalking in a dream where everything made sense, where what I wanted and what I had were close enough to let me breathe. Then one morning, I woke up. Really woke up. And the world had rearranged itself while I wasn’t looking. The city didn’t hum the way it used to. It shivered. Billboards shone with faces I didn’t recognize. Headlines screamed names that made my stomach twist. And at the center of it all—like a rot blooming from the inside of a perfect fruit—was her. Svlad. My nemesis. My shadow. My undoing. She had always been ruthless, but now she was something worse—untouchable. This is how it all began...