The Steady Pulse of a Silent Guard: A Story of Fractured Peace and Recovered Grace
CHAPTER 1: THE INCLINE OF INTERVENTION The hum of the mechanical escalator stairs was a steady, rhythmic vibration beneath Arthur Vance’s heavy leather boots. It was the kind of low-frequency drone that usually allowed a sixty-two-year-old man to disappear into his own thoughts, but today, the air inside the Ridgefield Galleria smelled too thick with…