The Final Debt

Before I could react, the ten guards surrounded me. Heavy hands clamped onto my shoulders, my wrists, the back of my neck. They forced my knees onto the floor.

​I could have fought them. Beating ten standard guards was child's play for me. I could have snapped the wrist of the man holding my right arm, swept the leg of the one on my left, and had a gun aimed at the center of the room in under three seconds.

​But I didn't. I let them hold me down, my heart shattering into microscopic shards.

​"Saga?" I stared at the back of his head, my vision blurring with furious tears.

"At least give me a reasonable explanation for my punishment! I blocked your path for one second!"

​Sapphire shifted on the couch. She reached out with a delicate hand, gently resting her fingers over Saga’s knuckles.

​"Saga, please... It wasn't her fault at all. If only she would've called the doctor in time, I wouldn't have been in so much pain... But she must have been busy doing something else, so she ran away. It's fine. It was just a minor scratch on my ankle. Please don't hurt her because of my clumsiness."

​It was a masterclass in manipulation. A flawless performance. She was pinning the blame of my abandonment entirely on me, wrapping it in a plea for mercy that she knew would only enrage him further.

​I watched Saga's profile. He clenched his jaw.

His face soften just as he looked at Sapphire's trembling lip, then harden into stone as he looked back at me.

​"I told you to call the doctor, but instead you ran away," Saga snarled, his voice rising in volume.

"You abandoned an order to throw a childish tantrum. If Sapphire were hurt more than this, your punishment would have been double."

​I gritted my teeth. The raw injustice of it burned hotter than the physical pain in my skull.

​I threw my shoulders forward, shaking off the hands of the two guards holding my collar. I stayed on my knees, but I straightened my spine, refusing to bow my head.

​"You sure, Saga, it was a punishable crime?" I asked, my voice deadly quiet. "I am not her maid."

​"How dare you talk back to me, Rose!" Saga roared, standing up so violently the coffee table shook.

His eyes blazed with a fury I had rarely seen directed at me. "She is the future Lady of the Ronway family! You better acknowledge that, or I will strip you of your rank permanently!"

​Silence stretched across the room.

​I looked at him. Really looked at him. The man I had loved for ten years. The boy who had handed me a knife and told me to be strong. He was gone.

​"Fine." I looked him dead in the eyes, my own tears drying up, replaced by a hollow emptiness.

​"Since you want me punished, Saga, I will take it," I said, my voice steady, stripped of all affection.

"But I'll take this only this once. I'll take it as the final payment for the debt of you saving me when I was young. After these ten lashes, the ledger is wiped clean. After this, we're even."

​Saga’s face turned purple with rage. My defiance, my coldness, it challenged his absolute authority in front of his men. He took it as a direct threat.

​"Beat her right there," Saga ordered the guards, his voice shaking with wrath. "Make her remember who owns her."

​Hilton stepped forward, unfurling the braided leather whip usually reserved for traitors. He looked at me, a silent apology in his eyes. I gave him a curt nod.

​Crack.

​The first lash tore through the thin silk of my jacket, biting viciously into the flesh of my back. A flash of white-hot agony exploded across my nerve endings.

I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood, refusing to scream.

​One. That was for the girl who hid under the sink.

​Crack.

​My body jolted violently against the floorboards. The fire spread over my shoulder blades.

​Two. That was for the five years I spent hoping he would look at me the way he looked at her.

​Crack. Crack.

​The rhythm of the punishment echoed through the grand, sunlit living room. I stared at the Persian rug beneath my knees. With every agonizing strike of the leather, a piece of the invisible chain connecting my soul to Saga Ronway snapped.

​Five.

​I wasn't just taking a beating. I was taking the cure. Every lash was one step further away from the pathetic, lovesick girl I had been yesterday.

The pain was excruciating, tearing my back into ribbons, but it was necessary. The physical agony was the only thing loud enough to drown out the sound of my heart dying.

​Nine.

​My vision swam. My hands were planted flat on the floor, a pool of sweat and fresh blood forming beneath me.

​Crack.

​Ten.

​The final strike echoed off the walls. Hilton stepped back, breathing heavily.

​The silence that followed was absolute.

I slowly pushed myself up off the floor. ​Every micro-movement tore at the shredded flesh on my back.

My ruined jacket clung to my back, wet with blood.

​The ten armed guards in the room were dead silent. Even Hilton, who had buried bodies without blinking, couldn't meet my gaze. He stared at the floor, the bloody leather whip hanging limply from his fist.

​Saga's furious eyes watched the red drops fall from my hem, hitting the floor with quiet taps.

​Then, his dark eyes traveled upward. Past my ruined clothes, past my rigid jaw, stopping abruptly at my temple.

​The arrogant fury in his eyes flickered. ​"How did you get hurt?" Saga asked.

​His voice was suddenly tight, stripped of the roaring wrath from moments ago. It was the tone he used to use years ago, back when I thought his concern was rooted in love rather than ownership.

​He crossed the distance between us in three long strides. The familiar scent of his cologne washed over me—a scent that used to be my definition of home. Now, it just made my stomach turn.

He raised his hand, reaching out to brush the blood-spotted bandage near my hairline.

​Before his fingers could even graze mine, I took a step back.

​"Sorry, Mr. Ronway. I can't afford to take your pity. Keep that for your fiancée."

​Saga's hand remained suspended in the air between us. "Rose—what did you just call—"

​"How can you say something so cruel?"

​The soft voice cut through the tension in the room. Sapphire shifted on the cushions, pulling a cashmere blanket up to her chest.

She coughed weakly, looking at me with glassy eyes.

​"I didn't mean to get you in trouble, Rose," Sapphire whispered, her bottom lip quivering as a single, diamond-like tear spilled over her cheek. "You don't know how lucky you are. You really don't."

​She sniffled, looking up at Saga with adoration before turning her doe-eyes back to me.

"You grew up here, in this beautiful, fortified home, with Saga protecting you every single day. You had his attention, training, resources. You had the luxury of learning how to be strong."

​She cast her gaze downward, "unlike me. I grew up with nothing. No one to hold me when I was terrified. I just wanted to feel safe for once. Please don't take your anger out on Saga just because of me."

​Saga’s lingering hesitation vanished in an instant. He rushed back to her, pulling her fragile body into his broad chest.

​"Shhh... I'm here now," Saga murmured softly, pressing a desperate kiss to her temple.

He stroked her hair. "I'm so sorry, Sapphire. I'm sorry for finding you so late. You're safe now. I'll never let anyone hurt you again. I swear on my life."

​I expected to feel a fresh wave of heartbreak. Instead, I felt nothing but a freezing clarity.

​"Tch," I scoffed.

​Saga's head snapped up. He glared at me over Sapphire's trembling shoulder, his eyes flashing with renewed hostility. "What did you just do? Are you mocking her?"

​"Since you guys are clearly busy, I won't interrupt this touching reunion any longer. Have a pleasant time, Mr. Ronway."

​I turned on my heel.

​"Rose! Stop right there! I did not dismiss you!" Saga’s voice barked behind me, "Rose! If you walk out that door, you don't have to come back until you apologize!"

​I didn't stop.

​The sun was blinding as I stepped out of the Ronway Villa. With every step, a shockwave of electric torment shot up my spine, but I refused to let my knees buckle.

​I reached into the pocket of my slacks with blood-stained fingers. ​I pulled out my burner phone and dialed the heavily encrypted, international sequence. The line didn't even ring twice.

​Click.

​"You called fast," a deep, smooth baritone echoed through the receiver.

"Were you sure I would call?"

​"I guessed," Alp Norex replied effortlessly. I could hear the faint clinking of crystal in the background, as if he were casually pouring himself a drink.

"A wolf doesn't survive long on a leash, Rose. How is the weather over there?"

​"Bloody."

​A low, dangerous hum vibrated on the other end of the line. "So? What is your answer?"

​I opened my eyes, staring at the distant, smog-choked skyline of the city.

​"I'll take your deal."

​There was a heavy pause on the line.

​"A one-year marriage contract," Alp confirmed, his tone strictly professional, yet edged with a undeniable satisfaction.

​"Yes," I breathed out. "But I need ten days. In ten days, I'll come to your territory. Leave me the extraction coordinates on a secure server."

​"Why the delay?"

​"I have to deal with some business before I leave," I stated coldly.

​

​"I see," Alp murmured. He didn't ask questions.

​"Goodbye, Mr. Norex."

​"See you in ten days, Miss Frost."

​Click.

​I lowered the phone from my ear. ​Ten days.

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