When the chains began to move, the sound wasn't abrupt.
It was deliberately slowed—
a signal meant for everyone to hear.
A piece of merchandise had been chosen.
Rosa didn't move.
Her head remained lowered, gaze fixed on the ground, but her ears captured every detail with precision:
The number of footsteps increased.
The rhythm of metal clashing grew tighter.
And the guards' positions were closing in—toward their side.
"This one."
The low voice carried no emotion.
Rosa lifted her eyes and saw a gloved finger pointing into the cage.
Not at her.
At Jessie.
For a brief moment, the air inside the cage seemed to freeze.
Jessie showed no panic. She didn't even look at Rosa or Bella. She simply rose and allowed the chain to snap onto her collar.
Too natural.
So natural it was as if she had expected this all along.
Rosa's shoulders tensed, almost imperceptibly.
The timeline had just collapsed.
They had planned to move during market closure, when the guards rotated.
But now—
One of them was about to be taken out of sight.
And separation was always the worst-case scenario.
As Jessie was pulled from the cage, she deliberately slowed her steps. As she passed the cage door, her toe lightly brushed the ground.
Two taps.
A pause.
One tap.
Rosa decoded it instantly.
—Not a buyer. A transfer.
—There's a midpoint stop.
Jessie didn't look back.
She didn't need to.
The direction she was taken led toward the rear corridor of the market, where the lights were dimmer and sound was swallowed by stone walls. Four guards. One of them carrying the primary control device.
The curtain dropped, cutting off all sight.
Bella's breathing shifted.
Not fear—
the instinctive response of extreme focus.
She lowered her gaze to the shackle around her ankle, fingertips tracing the edge lightly.
"…Three minutes,"
she murmured.
Not to anyone.
Just to confirm it for herself.
Rosa didn't respond.
She stood, pulling the chain taut.
The movement immediately drew a guard's attention. He frowned and stepped closer, hand reaching for the control device.
That was the moment—
Bella moved.
She snapped her leg upward and slammed the metal shackle hard against the wooden bars of the cage.
Not to break it—
to resonate.
A low-frequency vibration surged through the metal, disrupting the energy circuit for a split second.
The collar's pulse stuttered.
Rosa took that instant.
She stepped forward and drove her shoulder into the guard's chest, the force precise and contained—not to knock him out, but to throw him off balance.
Her elbow came up, locking his wrist.
The control device slipped free.
Rosa yanked him into the shadow of the cage, her knee driving into his abdomen. The dull impact was swallowed by the market's noise.
When the guard went down, no alarm was raised.
Because his throat had already been perfectly controlled.
Bella took over instantly, stripping keys and devices from the guard's belt with hands as steady as if she were dismantling laboratory equipment.
"It can be shut down,"
she whispered.
"But not for long."
Rosa nodded.
They were out of time.
She tore the collar from her neck and dropped it to the ground. The metal clattered once—then she crushed it under her boot.
She lifted her head, eyes fixed on the rear passage.
Jessie had been taken less than a minute ago.
If they moved fast enough—
They could still reach her.
Rosa placed a hand on Bella's shoulder.
"Move."
No extra words were needed.
Because from this moment on,
this was no longer a mission about escaping.
It was—
Taking their own back.