Chapter 2 - The Price of a Soul
Regina Bennett took half a step backward, but the broad chest of a bodyguard halted her retreat instantly. She looked like a cornered animal caught in an immaculate silk trap.
"Mr. Moretti," Regina stammered, her voice an octave higher than normal, the arrogance stripped away to reveal raw panic. "I—I didn't know the boy was yours! She’s just my stepdaughter! She’s irresponsible, she took loans under my name, she owes—"
"Shut up," Kian murmured.
He didn't yell. He didn't raise his hand. The command possessed the terrifying gravity of a falling guillotine. Regina clamped her jaw shut so hard her teeth clicked.
Behind him, Aurora remained on her knees, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. Her fingers unconsciously brushed against the edge of Zayn’s miniature jacket; the boy had drifted back to her side, leaning his small weight against her shoulder while clutching his teddy bear. She couldn't understand why this warlord hadn't simply stepped aside and let Regina’s collectors take her. To men like Kian Moretti, ordinary lives were currency.
Kian reached inside his breast pocket. Regina flinched, visibly anticipating a weapon. Instead, he withdrew a heavy gold fountain pen and a black leather checkbook. Without looking down, he scribbled a series of numbers that would buy the entire city block three times over.
He tore the check free with a sharp, crisp snap.
"This clears whatever fabricated debt you invented at the tables," Kian said, his voice smooth, cold, and utterly devoid of mercy. He extended the paper toward Regina between two tattooed fingers. "Take it."
Greed flickered in Regina’s pale eyes, battling with absolute dread. Her manicured, shaking hand reached out and snatched the slip of paper.
"Now," Kian continued, his eyes drifting downward to the check, then snapping back up to lock onto her soul. "If your breath ever disturbs the air within a mile of this girl again, or if you ever breathe the name 'Moretti' to Tony Vane... I won't kill you, Regina. I will strip every cent you possess, erase your identity, and leave you in a cage where the sun never shines. Do you understand me?"
Regina nodded frantically, tears of unadulterated terror spilling over her mascara. "Yes. Yes, sir. I understand."
"Run."
She didn't need to be told twice. Regina scrambled down the corridor, her designer heels slipping against the linoleum until the distant sound of the service door slamming shut marked her departure.
Silence settled over the storage room, heavy and suffocation-thick.
Kian turned slowly. His gaze dropped to where Aurora still knelt on the concrete floor, her body trembling, her eyes wide with a mixture of awe and absolute wariness. He observed the ragged breath tearing through her parted lips, the bright smear of red on her chin, and the ugly ring of purple on her porcelain skin.
"Can you stand?" he asked.
His voice was different now. The lethal, subterranean chill had dulled, replaced by a deep, resonant rumble that felt impossibly intimate in the tiny room.
"I... I can," Aurora whispered, though her legs felt like lead.
Before she could struggle upward, Zayn reached out his small hand to assist her. "I've got you, Aurora. I promised, remember?"
A ghost of a smile touched Aurora’s bruised lips. "I remember, little prince."
Using the edge of a shelf, she pulled herself to her feet, smoothing her black apron with self-conscious haste. She looked up at Kian, feeling entirely dwarfed by his sheer physical presence. Up close, he smelled of rain, expensive cedarwood, and the faint, bitter metallic tang of gunpowder. The black ink sweeping across his throat disappeared into the shadows beneath his collar, a stark contrast to his fair, rosy skin.
"Thank you," she managed, her voice cracking slightly. "I don't have that money. I can't repay what you gave her."
"I didn't pay for your debt, Miss Bennett," Kian said, stepping closer. The air seemed to vanish between them. He reached out with terrifying slowness, giving her ample time to pull away, but she stayed frozen. His rough, warm thumb gently grazed the curve of her jaw, stopping just millimeters shy of her split lip.
His eyes burned into hers, dark and fathomless.
"I paid for your contract," he murmured, his gaze dropping to the ring box still clutched in his son's hand. "Tony Vane has been looking for leverage against me for three years. Regina didn't just sell you to settle a debt. She sold you to him because she knew who you were."
Aurora blinked, confusion warring with fear. "Who I am? I’m nobody. I’m just a waitress."
Kian’s hand dropped, his fingers curling into a fist at his side. A shadow crossed his sharp jawline.
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"You were nobody until five minutes ago," Kian said darkly, gesturing toward his son. "Until you accepted a marriage proposal from the heir to the Moretti family. Let's go. We have twenty minutes before Vane realizes his prize has left the building."
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