VIKTOR
He dropped like a ragdoll the moment my knuckles kissed the side of his head.
That's what I kept thinking, standing there in the strobe-lit chaos of the club. The memory was a cold anchor. Back then, he was just a target.
A problem to be solved with minimal fuss. Now, watching some pretty boy named Leo with his hand on Kairen's thigh, his breath against Kairen's jaw, the only thing my knuckles wanted to kiss was Leo's smug face.
The thought was a static shock in my deadened wiring. It wasn't protocol. It was something else, something hot and stupid.
My body moved before my mind could veto it. A calm, lethal glide through the crowd that parted without understanding why. I didn't run. I just arrived.
"He's done." I almost laughed at myself at the sheer desperation I tried to hide.
Leo looked up, his practiced smile faltering. "Hey, man, we're just—"
