Disclaimer: There's flashbacks to psychological and physical abuse/torture in this chapter so feel free to skip if u don't want to read them.
⌐╦ᡁ᠊╾━
I can still taste blood in my mouth. For the first time, it's mine.
My wrists burn where the restraints cut deep into skin. Somewhere in the dark, water drips in a slow rhythm- tick, tick, tick- as if it's counting down something I can't see.
I don't know how long it's been. Hours, maybe days. Time here folds in on itself.
They took Lila first. Her voice had echoed through the stone once- sharp, resistant- then dissolved into nothing. After that, it was my turn.
The guards didn't beat her. They didn't need to. The message was clear: break her through him.
Fists. Kicks.
The world turned to static. Somewhere in the blur, I heard her name- her father's voice- calm, almost polite.
"You should've listened, Dante. You could've walked away. Freedom was right there- one message, one choice- and you threw it away for her."
He straightened, smiling like he's already won.
"Now you'll understand what loyalty costs."
They dragged her back in front of me after. Her eyes wide, glassy, red. I tried to say something- anything- but the tape held on too tight. The words choked before they reached her.
Then came the real torture- the kind you don't heal from. He wanted her to see me suffer. Wanted her to believe it was her fault.
We're placed in opposite rooms, facing each other, tied to our chairs, unable to do anything but stare across the painful distance between us.
When the whip cracked, she flinched harder than I did. That's when I realised- this wasn't about pain anymore. It was about control.
I kept my eyes on her- even when I couldn't hold my head up anymore. If I looked away, if I gave in, he'd win.
So I did. I kept my eyes on her. I focused on the smallest thing: the tremor in her hands, the faint line of tears tracing down her cheek. The proof that she was still there. That hope- was still there.
When they finally left, the light flickered and the silence returned.
The door shut behind them.
I close my eyes, forcing myself to breathe. To remember her laughter in the motel, the way she'd fallen asleep with her hand over mine. It feels like a different life.
The cell hums faintly- an electric lock arming itself. I know this quiet won't last.
And somewhere above us, footsteps start again.