"When this whole thing is done… and the boss is ready to discard you..."
He paused. A smile flickered on his lips, light, almost playful, but the edges held a quiet deadliness, like a blade sheathed just enough to tease.
"I'll gladly kill you myself."
Raya's breath stilled.
Her step faltered as she slowly looked back at him.
The air changed.
No wind stirred.
No chill rolled through.
Yet a hush fell over everything, a breath held by the room itself as if bracing for what would follow.
Raya stopped moving.
Her foot hovered above the next stair.
Her fingers dug into the staircase rail, knuckles whitening as her grip trembled just a little.
She didn't gasp nor did cry out.
But her body betrayed her in smaller ways—the stiffness of her shoulders, the sudden lock of her spine, the way her throat worked around a swallow that didn't quite go down.
Her breath went stilled.
Her heartbeat refused to follow.
It slammed against her ribs like a fist pounding on a locked door.
