CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE – THROUGH THE HALLS

The file was a cramped, squalid digital space, its contents compressed to the point of near-illegibility. But as Jasmine initiated the decompression protocols, her blood seemed to freeze in her veins, a creeping mantle of horror enveloping her consciousness. Images, videos, audio logs – a meticulously curated archive that documented the systematic exploitation and abuse of the artists and performers who had fallen into Ethan's clutches. Tearful confessions and pleas for mercy, punctuated by the harsh crack of disciplinary strikes and the anguished cries of the tormented. Jasmine's stomach roiled, bile scorching the back of her throat as the true, unvarnished savagery of Ethan's modus operandi unspooled before her disbelieving eyes. This was no mere criminal enterprise, no simple matter of financial malfeasance or artistic chicanery. No, this was a waking nightmare made flesh, a realm of terror and subjugation where the very souls of the creative and the passionate were systematicall