Zoe POV

The man in front of me—Sergio, the crowd called him—throws his head back and laughs, the sound booming across the platform and echoing through the underground arena until it fills every corner with his mockery, his amusement at my apparent stupidity rolling off him in waves that make my skin crawl even as I force myself to stand my ground.

He laughs until tears stream down his face, until his shoulders shake with the force of it, until the crowd's ...