The dim surveillance room hummed with electricity, monitors flickering to life like windows into agony. Eliane, gagged and shackled beside Noemie and Annelise, saw the shift in Matteo's eyes. It wasn't amusement. It was pure hatred. The same hatred that once trembled under her scrutiny in the classroom now consumed him whole.
He stepped forward, crouched before her, and whispered into her ear, his breath hot with venom. "Look, professor," he sneered, "Look at how your precious students are crying. Isn't this amazing?" He gripped her jaw, forcing her to meet his eyes. "How does it feel that a nobody like me now owns you?"
His hand moved through her hair, shoving it back roughly to reveal her terrified, tear-streaked face. Eliane flinched.
"Please, Matteo," she whimpered, voice trembling. "You've had enough. Please stop. You're going to destroy them. You're going to break their minds."
Ladina, standing silently at the corner of the room with a tray , watched. Matteo hadn't even looked at her. His obsession with Eliane boiled into something grotesque. Ladina clenched her jaw, the tray rattling slightly in her grip. Then without a word, she turned and walked out.
Matteo didn't notice. He turned his focus toward Annelise and Noemie.
He walked up to them slowly, like a lion circling wounded prey. "How does it feel?" he asked softly. "After betraying your friends?"
Neither answered.
Then, with a flicker of courage, Noemie lifted her head. Her voice was hoarse but steady. "If you're a man, send me to Seraina and Lina. Let me face them."
Matteo blinked, and then laughed...a sharp, deranged cackle. The room seemed to vibrate with it. He suddenly lunged forward and slapped her. The crack echoed against the cold steel walls.
But Noemie didn't cry. It was Annelise who leapt in front of her, arms raised. "Stop it! STOP!" she screamed.
Matteo paused. His lips curled. "Fine," he hissed. "You want to be brave? We'll test how long that lasts."
The next day....
The iron bars creaked open. Seraina, still curled in a corner of the cold, damp cell, snapped her head up. Lina was beside her, pale and silent. Footsteps echoed. A silhouette approached.
She was tall, sleek, in control. Dressed in dark green, her blonde hair fell like knives over her shoulders. It was Ladina.
She smiled, like a serpent with lipstick. "Good morning, girls. How's our hospitality?"
Seraina scrambled forward, gripped the bars like she would choke the iron. Her voice was ragged. "Bitch," she hissed. "If you are the one behind the framing, I swear, I will drag you to hell myself. I will make you beg me to kill you, and even then, you will pray for death that never comes."
Ladina knelt, her smile unshaken. Her eyes glinted with cruel pleasure. "Oh, my. I'm terrified."
She leaned closer. "Shall I send your dear Annelise and Noemie to comfort you?"
Seraina's eyes burned with hatred. "Tell those traitors, if I ever find them, they're not making it out alive."
Ladina stood tall. The smile grew wider—not out of joy, but something worse. Delight in despair. "You should forget about your friends, darling. If I were you, I'd worry about saving myself."
Suddenly, a rumble. The wall behind Seraina and Lina began to shift, groaning, folding in on itself. It peeled back to reveal... a forest. Deep, dark, and utterly unnatural. Trees too tall, shadows too alive. A humid wind seeped in, carrying a stench of rot and earth.
Seraina backed away, stunned. "What the hell is this?"
Ladina's voice turned melodic. "What do you think this island is? Paradise? This is Matteo's playground. His stage."
Lina stood frozen. "Island? Designed?"
"Oh yes," Ladina cooed. "This entire place is a theater of torment. Built for him. To experiment. To break you. Welcome to the performance, girls. Try not to die too soon, and save your asses from the dogs. "
She turned on her heel and left.