The room was a chilly tomb of secrets and shadows, the kind where whispers carried more weight than shouts. The air was thick with tension, like a storm cloud on the verge of unleashing its fury. I stood at the edge of this tempest, my heart pounding in my chest, every nerve on edge. Vikram, the hulking sentinel in a black suit, barred the entrance, his eyes like cold steel as they scanned me from head to toe.