Sergio’s POV
I walked down the stone steps with slow, purposeful steps, savoring the heavy silence of the dungeon. Each echo seemed to underline her isolation, every small sound amplifying the emptiness I’d carefully orchestrated around her. Elara was alone, bound by walls of stone and iron, but what she didn’t yet realize was that the true prison wouldn’t be the chains or the cell—it would be in her mind. And that was something I would mold carefully, inch by inch, until she saw me as her only refuge.
As I turned the corner and entered the room, she was exactly where I’d left her—curled in the far corner, her knees drawn to her chest. Her expression hardened the moment she looked up, but I didn’t miss the flicker of uncertainty there. She was resilient, yes, but resilience alone wouldn
