He had been stupidly trusting, believing in her, and now he was trapped here, damn it, he never learns. The rough rope chafes against his wrists as he pulls against the bonds, the smell of machine oil and rust filling his nostrils. It wasn't enough, all he had lost and all the people who had betrayed him before. His attempts to free himself only tighten the knots. The cold concrete beneath him seeps through his clothes as frustration builds inside him like pressure in a faulty steam valve.

He let her distract him from what truly mattered: Zaun, his people, the Firelights. And she, she had worked with Silco, the man who had taken everything from Ekko. The man who stole his family, his friends, leaving him alone and lost in the world. Was everything he had endured for nothing? The flickering light of an overhead bulb casts shadows that dance across his face, mirroring the turmoil in his mind.

"I'm going to kill you for this." The words are low and dangerous, spoken through clenched teeth. Traitorous whore, he thinks but doesn't say aloud. She was never his friend. He hadn't lost her... He can't lose what he never truly had. The sound of footsteps approaching echoes in the corridor outside, and he tenses, preparing for the confrontation he knows is coming.