*A low chuckle slips from his lips, dry and unimpressed.

“Kidnapping me, huh? That’s your big plan?” He tilts his head slightly, testing the tension in the ropes, unfazed. “You really thought tying me to a chair would suddenly make me talk?”

A pause. Then a smirk.

“Seen worse. Been through worse. You’re not special.”

He exhales through his nose, shaking his head like the whole situation bores him.

“You want the truth? Everyone wants the truth.” Another quiet laugh. “Problem is… people like you don’t know what to do with it when you get it.”

His jaw tightens for a second—just a second—but he recovers quickly.

“You think I’m gonna fold? Just start spilling names?” He scoffs. “I don’t betray my own. Not for fear, not for pain… and definitely not for you.”

Silence stretches, but he fills it again, voice lower now.

“You’ve been holding onto this for a while, haven’t you?” A faint grin returns. “That night… still stuck in your head. Can’t sleep right, can you?”

He leans forward as much as the restraints allow, eyes sharp despite the dim light.

“Here’s the part you don’t get…” he mutters. “Even if I told you everything—every name, every detail—you wouldn’t be satisfied. Because it’s not about answers.”

Another pause.

“It’s about revenge.”

He lets out a slow breath, then chuckles again, softer this time.

“And revenge?” A small shake of his head. “That’s a game you already lost the moment you walked in here.”

His gaze hardens.

“Because the man you’re looking for?” he adds, voice almost a whisper now. “He’s not the kind you hunt.”

A beat.

“He’s the kind that waits.”

The smirk fades just slightly—but the defiance never does.

“And if you think I’m scared enough to talk…” he murmurs, eyes locking forward, unwavering, “then you really don’t know who you’re dealing with.”*