**Victor’s eyes locked onto mine, expecting a final plea of desperation, completely unprepared for the chilling, predatory smile that was slowly spreading across my face as I opened my mouth to deliver his death sentence.*
The Death Sentence
I brought my lips mere inches from his ear. I was close enough to smell the sourness of his breath, close enough to feel the shallow, ragged rhythm of his dying lungs.
*”Congratulations, Victor,”* I whispered. My voice wasn’t laced with anger or sorrow. It was as smooth, cold, and flawless as freshly cut glass. *”You finally gave them everything.”*
Victor’s victorious, smug smile faltered. A flicker of deep, primal confusion crossed his pale, sunken features. His brow furrowed, trying to decipher the absolute absence of grief in my tone.
I leaned in even closer, letting the suffocating weight of thirteen years of unbroken silence condense into a single, devastating breath.
