“We both know it.”

He took another step, his face coming into the faint light reflected off the walls.

He looked thin, his cheeks sunken and his eyes bloodshot.

There was a dark bruise along his jawline, likely from one of Corrado’s debt collectors.

His jacket was torn at the shoulder, covered in coal dust and sewer grime.

He looked desperate, like a wild animal cornered in a cage.

But to me, he was still the monster who had kept me locked in a dark room for three days.

“I will shoot you,” I whispered.

The gun trembled in my hands.

I tried to use both hands to steady it, but my fingers were too cold to grip it properly.

“Go ahead,” Paul said, his voice dropping to a low hiss.

“Do it.”

“Prove to me you’re not just a weak, pathetic little girl.”

“Show me what the great Moretti taught you.”

He took another step.

He was only three feet away now.

I could see the yellow tint of his teeth.

I could hear the wet, heavy rattle in his chest as he breathed.