I picked up the bottle of medicine from the nightstand, twisted it open, and poured all the pills into his palm. The small white tablets collected there, meaningless and cold.
Then I looked up at him, meeting his eyes directly.
"You can deprogram me," I said softly.
"Or just kill me."
"That's it. Hand it to me. I'll take it myself."
My voice came out eerily calm, almost detached, the kind of calm that didn't belong in a moment like this. It was twisted in a way that made even me sound unfamiliar to my own ears, steady but edged with something quietly defiant.
Dominic froze.
For several long seconds, he didn't move at all, as if my words had struck him somewhere deeper than he expected. His eyes locked onto mine, searching, trying to understand, but finding nothing he recognized.
"Serafina, are you insane?" he snapped finally, his voice rising sharply. "Do you want to die that badly?"