"Do you know what I do with traitors?" His voice was hard but strained as if he were barely holding himself back from lashing out. I shook my head, fear tightening its grip on me as I fought to remain still. His lips curled into a sinister smile, a twisted mix of amusement and malice. "I make sure they regret their choices," he whispered, his breath warm against my skin. The knife’s edge hovered dangerously close to my throat, a cruel tease that blurred the line between life and death. My heart pounded in my chest, each beat echoing the terror that consumed me. I dared not move or breathe, as his eyes bore into mine, searching for any sign of defiance or weakness. "But since you are mine," he continued, his voice a chilling contrast to the heat of his breath, "I’m not going to hurt you. No, I’m going to find that bastard who thought he could take what belongs to me. And when I do, I’ll ensure he regrets ever being born." A shiver ran down my spine as his tone dropped to a deadly calm. "I’m going to make him suffer," he said, the words laced with a dark promise. "He’ll beg for mercy long before I’m done, and by the time I’m finished, he’ll wish he had never even looked at you." His lips brushed against my ear as he whispered the final words, sending a cold wave of dread through me. "And when it’s over, you’ll see just how far I’m willing to go to keep what’s mine." My breath hitched as I looked into his eyes, the certainty of the horror he was about to unleash settling deep in my bones. There was nothing I could say, nothing I could do to stop him. The storm was coming, and it would leave nothing but devastation in its wake.