Kyle walked through the London streets with a lightness in his chest that surprised him. The encounter with Viktor had ended better than he had any right to expect. The Russian was volatile, unpredictable, a coiled spring of violence that could snap at any moment. But Kyle had walked away unscathed. Not because Viktor had shown mercy. Because Kyle had shown no fear.
He came here to make a choice. And I didn't give him a reason to choose violence.
Kyle knew that with a man like Viktor, perception was everything.
The Butcher fed on fear the way others fed on food. It was sustenance to him—proof of his power, validation of his existence. If Kyle had panicked, if he had shown even a flicker of hesitation, the interaction would have ended very differently.
