Some Debts Are Paid In Screams

Thorne

Smoke, filling the air.

The cigarette shook between my fingers.

I had mistaken so many people for others. And I killed them. Their wives. Their children. I burned entire bloodlines to dust for things they never did.

And when I realized I was wrong?

I killed them too. Because it was easier than regret.

But why is it different with Elena?

Why does her silence crawl under my skin? Why do her screams echo when I try to sleep?

She wasn’t even the one I was hunting.

And yet…

Her blood is on my hands. Her tears stain my sheets. And now, her child rests in her womb, mine.

A child born from vengeance.

A woman broken by my hands.

I should’ve ended it. Like all the others. Quick. Clean. Quiet.

But I didn’t.

Because something in her won’t let me.

Scott entered just as I stubbed the cigarette out against the ashtray, the smoke curling up like a ghost refusing to leave.

“We made her fall asleep, like you said,” he reported quietly. “She’s in the safe room now.”

I didn’t look at him.

“Guard her well,” I said, my voice low. “She’s not a prisoner anymore. She has her freedom but if she escapes, I’ll kill every single one of you. You know I mean that.”

Scott bowed his head. “Yes, sir.”

I turned my gaze to the window, to the darkness beyond the glass that never quite settled inside me.

“And the bastard?”

“On his way,” Scott replied. “He should be here within the hour.”

Lies had consequences. And the man who fed them to me, who put Elena in my path was about to learn what regret really tasted like.

“Ezekiel,” I muttered.

The name felt like acid in my mouth.

Ezekiel, the informant. The one who brought Elena’s name to me, shaking with urgency, practically swearing on his blood that she was Agent Zoey. The man I trusted.

He thought a piece of paper and a few doctored files were enough to call it truth.

I had taken that lie, and I’d used it like a weapon.

Now, Ezekiel would bleed for it.

“I want him in the basement,” I said, my voice devoid of heat.

Scott didn’t flinch. He knew the rules.

“Understood.”

He turned and left.

And I lit another cigarette, though it tasted like ash and guilt.

Because this time, the ghost wasn’t just in the room.

She was in my safe room.

Carrying my child.

And I had no idea how to face her.

Not as Thorne.

Not as the man who ruined her.

Not as the father of the child she never asked for.

But first, Ezekiel.

The corridor to the basement felt colder tonight. Not physically, but in that way that made the bones ache before the skin could feel it.

Each step I took echoed like a countdown.

I opened the reinforced door and walked into the concrete silence of the torture room. It reeked of bleach, blood, and iron, the scent of consequences.

Ezekiel was already tied to the chair, wrists chained, shirt torn, blood trailing from a fresh cut above his brow.

He started shouting the moment he saw me.

“I didn’t know, Boss! I only reported what I saw! I swear I had no idea she had a twin or a fucking doppelganger! She matched the file, she matched the face!”

I walked forward slowly, methodically, my gloves already on.

“But you didn’t know,” I said flatly.

His voice rose, panicked. “She was Zoey, I mean she looked like her, everything matched! I didn’t fabricate it! I just followed what I found!”

“I gave you power, Ezekiel. I gave you my dollars.”

He swallowed, eyes wide. “Please, Boss. Please—”

But it didn’t matter.

Nothing he said reached me. The noise of his pleas was like wind against steel, useless. Dull. Forgotten.

Because every scream he made now would be a scream Elena never should’ve had to make.

I moved to the wall and picked up the bone saw first, not because I’d use it yet, but because I wanted him to see it.

I wanted him to taste the weight of silence, the moment before agony.

He thrashed.

“Please! I told you everything! I didn’t lie! I was wrong, but I didn’t lie!”

I turned back to him, my expression unreadable.

“You’re right,” I said softly.

His eyes sparked with hope.

“You didn’t lie.”

Then I leaned down, inches from his ear.

“But you failed me.”

And that was worse.

I turned to the tray beside me, metal gleaming under the flickering basement light. I picked three knives, sharp, narrow, precise.

Not made for killing. Made for pain.

I didn’t speak. There was no point. Words were wasted on betrayal.

I stepped closer, watching Ezekiel’s eyes widen in horror. And then, thrust.

The first blade sank deep into his left thigh, just above the knee. His scream pierced the room, his body jerking violently against the restraints.

Thrust.

The second followed, slicing into the same spot, widening the wound. Blood spurted, warm and fast, staining the floor beneath him.

He cried out, “Boss, please! Please, don’t—!”

Thrust.

The third blade embedded itself beside the others, a neat triangle of agony. He bucked and writhed, foam collecting at the corners of his mouth as he howled.

The leg twitched uncontrollably. Nerve endings in chaos. Pain blooming like fire under the skin.

He tried to break free. Fought the leather straps like a dying animal.

But he wasn’t getting out.

Not until I said so.

And I wasn’t ready to make that order.

“Scott!” I growled, voice low and lethal. He came running, eyes sharp, ready.

Without hesitation, I grabbed the bottle of acid from the table. The liquid hissed as I uncorked it.

I poured it slowly, deliberately, over Ezekiel’s torn flesh. His screams shattered the silence, raw and desperate.

“Aaah! Boss, please!” he begged, writhing in agony, tears streaming down his face.

I didn’t flinch. Pain was his punishment, nothing more.

“Agent Zoey,” I said, voice cold as ice, “track her. Use everything. Every man, every wire. Find her. No mistakes this time.”

Scott nodded grimly, already pulling out his phone.

Ezekiel’s screams clawed at the walls, but I’d heard worse.

I pulled the gun from my holster, aimed it at his head.

He sobbed, shaking. “Please… I didn’t know—”

I pulled the trigger.

One shot.

Clean. Final.

His blood painted the floor.

I turned to Scott, voice low. “Send capable men to find Zoey. And this time, they don’t come back without her.”