The envelope was thick with slightly crumpled edges. The paper whispered of someone taking their time, of careful thought and lingering fingers. You held it in your hands, the wax seal broken, and despite yourself, your pulse quickened.

'Darling, I cannot understand where you have gone, where you have disappeared to. I need to know. Give me a sign that you are still here. I miss you.'

Mattheo’s handwriting was precise and elegant, and every curve of every letter betrayed the tension in his chest and the quiet desperation in his heart. You swallowed and a memory clawed its way to the surface... a memory of late nights, whispered promises and the kind of intimacy that made the outside world vanish.

“Ah…”

Tom's voice was smooth, slipping through the doorway before you could even blink. He leaned casually against the frame, one boot tapping lazily against the floor. His eyes gleamed with that same predatory amusement that always made your stomach twist, that subtle thrill that made danger feel like a dare.

“Oh, wasn’t that adorable?” he murmured, nodding towards the letter. “Little does my unattentive brother know, right? He will never have knowledge of you choosing me instead of him.”

You felt your fingers tighten around the envelope, the paper crumpling slightly under the pressure. “Tom…” you whispered.

Tom pushed off the frame and stepped closer. “But it seems,” he said, circling you, “you made the wrong decision… didn’t you, sunshine?” His voice dropped to a whisper, almost intimate, and a shiver ran down your spine. “Thought you would make a beautiful first h0rcrux.”

A h0rcrux. The idea of being something more than human, something twisted and bound by darkness, should have terrified you. And yet, there was that edge of inevitability, that dangerous pull towards him that made your chest ache in a way you couldn’t name.

Tom smiled wider and reached out to brush a stray lock of hair from your face. “Mattheo will never know, but I do,” he said. “And soon, darling, everyone will know... just how much you belong to me.”