MYKEL'S POV (continuing):
Then I slowly walked back to Percy.
The softness vanished.
I planted one hand on the chair beside his head and bent down, my face inches from his.
"And I will protect her from vermin like you."
His eyes overflowed with panic.
"No....please....please, I only helped her that day! That's all! I didn't mean anything by it, I swear!"
My smile was small. Terrifying.
"I know."
His breath caught.
I leaned closer, my lips near his ear.
"I remember."
My voice dropped into a whisper.
"I told you I'd return the favor for helping her that day."
His entire body went still.
"I am."
His face changed.
For one brief, pathetic second, relief flickered there. He actually thought mercy had found him.
I almost laughed.
"I won't put you in the acid."
The relief in his eyes shattered before it could fully form.
Because he understood.
Too late.
He opened his mouth to scream,
But the sound died in the room, swallowed by darkness.
What followed was chaos.
The chair tipped.
His body thrashed.
The knife rose and fell in brutal flashes of silver beneath the trembling light.
Wet sounds.
Choked gasps.
A gurgled plea that never finished.
Then another strike.
And another.
And another.
Not out of rage anymore.
No.
This was something colder.
Something deeper.
A punishment carefully earned.
By the time I stepped back, the room had gone quiet except for the sound of my own breathing.
Heavy.
Measured.
Satisfied.
Blood splattered across the floor, across the ropes, across my hands.
Percy's head hung at an unnatural angle, his body slumped forward in the chair, motionless.
Still.
At last.
I stared at him for a long moment.
Then a cruel smirk slowly spread across my lips.
I twirled the knife once in my hand before letting it hang loosely at my side.
"No one," I said softly into the silence, "looks at what belongs to me and walks away."
The light above us swayed again, casting shadows that danced like ghosts across the walls.
I stepped closer, tilting my head as I studied the lifeless body.
Then I crouched in front of him, my voice almost tender.
"You should've known better."
I stood and wiped the blade clean on his shirt with slow, careful precision.
Some men loved with flowers.
Some with promises.
Some with devotion.
I loved with obsession.
With patience.
With blood.
I glanced toward the door, and despite the darkness around me, all I could see was her.
Her smile.
Her voice.
The softness of her hands.
The way she had unknowingly become the center of every breath I'd taken since childhood.
A smile touched my lips, this one gentler, almost affectionate.
"My angel," I murmured.
I looked back at Percy one last time, my eyes hardening.
"Anyone who tries to come between us…"
I paused, the smile returning,beautiful and monstrous all at once.
"…will end the same way."
And then I walked out of the room, leaving the shadows to keep his secrets.