In the weeks that followed, the transition from Agent to ornament was a slow, agonizing erosion of my pride. I became a fixture of his shadow, a servant bound by invisible threads of blackmail that Santo pulled whenever I showed a spark of my former self. I was tasked with the mundane and the humiliating bringing him his preferred vintage of scotch at three in the morning, or standing stoic and silent behind his chair during backroom deals that would have once landed him in a federal cell. Every time I thought of resisting, he would simply tap a finger against his phone, a silent reminder that he held Maya's safety in his palm like a fragile glass bird. He didn't just want my service; he wanted to watch a lion learn to fetch, mocking my training with every 'command' he issued in that low, devastating purr."
(Work in progress)
Hiatus
Lost motivation