Chapter 4No Forgiveness, Only Payback

Damian returned that night. He knelt in the center of the living room and, in front of me, had his bodyguards lash him ninety-nine times with a whip.

Blood seeped into the grout between the marble tiles, the metallic stench making me sick.

I turned away, picked up the divorce papers from the table, and held them out to him. "Sign them. We were legally married but never had the wedding. Not many people know. It will be a clean break."

He looked as if he’d been struck by lightning, the color draining from his face. He shook his head frantically, reaching for my hand. "No, Ava, I won't divorce you. I love you, Ava, I love—"

I stepped back, and he stumbled forward, falling to the floor.

His eyes darted to the fruit knife on the side table. In a crazed motion, he snatched it and plunged it into his own abdomen.

Damian had made his start in the city's underworld; he was ruthless with others, and even more so with himself. He forbade the staff from calling a doctor and waved away his bodyguards. His eyes were locked on me as he gave a weak, pained smile. "Is that enough to make you feel better? If not, I can do it again."

I stared at the blood pouring from his wound, then finally lowered my gaze. "The divorce, or the baby in Lana Hill's womb. Choose one."

The smile froze on his face.

Damian disappeared for three days. When he returned, he looked like a hollowed-out shell of a man. He threw a medical report on the table in front of me. An abortion report.

His face was a mask of agony. "Lana's baby is gone. Are you satisfied now?"

I didn't even glance at it.

He sighed, a sound heavy with exhaustion, and knelt before me, taking my hands in his. "Ava, I've sent Lana away. Can we please go back to how things were?"

He orchestrated the murder of my child, ensured I could never be a mother again, and now he thought a simple, dismissive "sent her away" could erase the soul-crushing pain I endured. Damian was always so arrogantly certain that if he just bowed his head a little, I would forgive him for anything.

He didn't know. We could never go back.

Seeing my silence, he tried a different tactic. "Some friends are throwing a 'finally-off-the-market' party for us tonight. Let's go together."