✧˖°.⊹📖⊹.°˖✧
The pain becomes routine.
I'm chained to a metal chair, wrists bruised, breath shallow. The guards circle me like vultures, waiting for weakness.
"Apologise for your betrayal," one of them says. His voice is calm, almost bored. "Make it easy for yourself."
I keep my eyes fixed on the floor. I won't give them anything.
The first strike lands. My head jerks back, blood flooding my mouth. I don't make a sound.
"Beg," he hisses. "And maybe I'll make it a bit easier for you."
I stare straight through him. "Piss off", I whisper.
He doesn't like that. The next hit sends white across my vision. I bite down on the scream clawing up my throat. I won't give him that.
They tell me he's gone. That Dante ran, left me behind. That I'm nothing but a liability and that even he didn't want me.
I almost laugh. That's exactly what my father used to say. Before I ran away.
And just like that, I'm back here again.
Blood drips from my lip, the guard's face inches from mine.
"You really think he's coming back for you?" he sneers. "He's smarter than that."
I let the words wash over me. I know better. Dante doesn't give up.
They can tell me he's gone. That Dante ran, left me behind. But the way he looked at me through that glass-
that wasn't someone who leaves. Right?
I straighten, even as pain shoots through my spine. "You should be scared," I tell him. "Because when he comes back- he's not stopping at the door."
He hesitates, just for a second. Enough for me to see it- fear.
And that's when I realise:
They can torture me.
They can chain me.
But they can't own me anymore.