His Cruel Revenge, Her Secret Child

Rory's vision was tunneling, the edges turning dark. She reached a trembling hand for the stack of cash, her only thought to grab it and run.

Corbin's hand shot out, covering the money, his touch cool against the feverish heat of her skin. His gaze wasn't on her face. It was fixed on her hand.

On her finger, she wore a simple, cheap silver ring. It was tarnished and worn smooth from years of constant wear.

He recognized it.

It was the ring he'd bought her six years ago with his first real paycheck from a summer construction job. He'd hidden it in a box of Cracker Jacks. It was their promise. Their future.

The sight of it on her finger, after everything she had done, sent a fresh wave of black, irrational rage through him. A woman who sold her soul, who sent him to hell for a price, had no right to wear a symbol of a love she had so thoroughly destroyed.

"It seems fifty thousand isn't quite enough," Corbin said, his voice dangerously soft. "Take off the ring."

Rory flinched as if he'd struck her.

"Take it off," he repeated, his voice dropping lower, colder. "And throw it in the trash. Then you can have the money."

If drinking the scotch was a physical assault, this was a vivisection of her soul. That ring was the last tangible piece of the boy she had loved, the only thing that reminded her that the monster in front of her had once been a man who cherished her.

"No," she whispered, a reflex. Her hand instinctively curled into a fist, protecting it.

"What's the big deal?" Kade scoffed. "It's a piece of junk. Vance here could buy you a diamond the size of your fist and not even notice."

Julian finally found his voice. "Corbin, that's enough! This has gone too far."

"Stay out of this, Julian," Corbin snapped, his eyes never leaving Rory's.

Rory looked at his face, at the cold, unyielding set of his jaw. There was no mercy there. No room for negotiation.

Her hand was shaking so violently she could barely control it. Slowly, painfully, she worked the ring over her knuckle. It had been on her finger for so long, her skin was indented beneath it.

The moment it came off, she felt a profound sense of loss, as if a part of her had been amputated.

She walked to the ornate trash can in the corner of the room. She opened her palm and looked at the small silver band one last time.

Then she let it drop.

It made a tiny, tinny sound as it hit the bottom, lost amongst discarded napkins and cigar butts. A piece of her heart went with it.

She turned back. Corbin's expression was darker than ever. There was no victory on his face, only a bleak, hollow emptiness that mirrored her own.

He lifted his hand from the money.

Rory snatched the bills, the paper crinkling in her tight grip. She didn't say a word. She just turned and walked toward the door, her only goal to escape.

As her hand closed on the doorknob, his voice stopped her.

"Rory."

She froze but didn't turn around.

"Remember this moment," he said, his voice a low threat. "This is only the beginning."

She pulled the door open and stumbled out into the hallway, leaving the suffocating silence of the room behind her.

Inside the booth, the atmosphere was thick with unspoken tension. Kade opened his mouth to say something, to break the spell, but one look at Corbin's face and he thought better of it.

Corbin was pale, his knuckles white where he gripped the arm of the sofa. Abruptly, he stood and strode to the trash can.

In front of his two stunned friends, he reached inside without hesitation, his hand brushing against refuse until his fingers closed around the small, cheap silver ring.

He pulled it out, wiping it clean on his trousers.

He returned to the sofa, his movements stiff. He stared at the ring lying in the center of his palm. Then, his other hand reached for a clean, heavy crystal glass from the table.

He didn't pour a drink.

He simply closed his fist, the ring and the glass enclosed within his grip. He squeezed.

There was a sickening crunch as the crystal shattered under the force of his hand. Shards of glass bit deep into his flesh. Blood, dark and thick, began to well up, dripping through his fingers and onto the expensive leather.

He didn't even flinch. He seemed not to feel the pain at all, his gaze still locked on the small silver ring now nestled in a pool of his own blood in his palm. His eyes were wild, filled with a terrifying, bottomless agony that no one in the room could understand.