The Thorne Don's Debt of Blood

Hate flared in Killian's eyes. "That's right. Melanie always loved to play the victim to get sympathy. I'm sick of her tricks. Tell her—if she ever wants to see that bastard of hers again, she'd better show her face by tomorrow."

Maria slowly looked him up and down, a sharp sneer twisting her withered lips.

"Sir, this 'bastard' you're talking about... you mean Melanie's child, don't you?" she asked. "That poor little thing died a long time ago, too. I buried him with my own hands."

Killian paused, then a wicked smile crept onto his lips. "Old woman, you're in on this with her, aren't you? You think saying that will get her off the hook? Make me forgive her?"

Without warning, his demeanor shifted. The air grew heavy with the unspoken authority of a Don, a suffocating pressure meant to crush the truth out of Maria.

Penny rushed to grab his arm. "Killian, calm down!" she cried. "Killian, you just became the Don. You can't start killing innocent people, not for me!"

She looked as kind as ever. No one knew what a venomous heart lay hidden beneath that beautiful facade.

Before every blood draw, she would give the nurses a secret signal, an order to ignore my pain. She made sure I was awake for the full, agonizing experience as they drained far more blood than they ever needed.

That endless, unbearable torment was what caused my body to slowly wither away.

Killian reined in his menace, but the cruelty in his eyes didn't fade. "Penny, I won't let you die. I will find them, no matter what."

With that, he wrapped an arm around her waist and turned to leave.

I watched their retreating figures, a dull ache still throbbing in my chest.

Killian and I met ten years ago. Back then, he had been betrayed in a family power struggle and cast out. He was severely injured and had collapsed near my neighborhood.

I took him in, tended to his wounds, and supported him as he rose from the ashes.

Over time, we fell in love. Killian had an incredible talent for business. After a few years of struggle, our enterprise flourished, growing in both scale and influence.

Later, we crossed paths with a powerful figure named Julian Sterling. He was a financial magnate on Wall Street who controlled several key capital channels, a high-ranking man who carried himself with a refined air.

We didn't know at the time that his gentlemanly exterior was a mask that would deceive us both.

That day, Killian was held up by an urgent matter. I had no choice but to meet Julian alone. When Killian burst into the private room of that luxurious restaurant, he saw Julian pressing me against the wall, kissing me.

Killian was furious. His fist slammed into Julian's face.

He pulled me behind him and snarled, "I don't care who you are. Melanie is my woman. If you dare touch her again, you'll lose more than just a few teeth!"

On the way home, my tears wouldn't stop.