Chapter 2

Before I could register his words, he grabbed my hands and pulled me out, his grip on my wrist tightening painfully. He opened the door and pushed me out, causing me to trip and hit the floor.

“You can’t do this!” I yelled after him, but Clark only snorted.

“Watch me.” And with that, he slammed the door in my face.

For a moment, I couldn’t move. I just lay there, stunned, realization dawning on me like a bucket of ice-cold water. I had been cast aside like garbage by the man I loved, but what broke me more than the betrayal was the thought of my sister, lying in a sterile hospital room, running out of time—and the only lifeline I had was now severed.

I wiped my tears with the sleeve of my top, forcing myself to my feet. I clutched my bag tightly as I wandered through the streets, not knowing where to go.

I was lost and could barely think straight, and I didn’t realize I had turned into a dark alley, but the second I entered, I felt it.

Eyes on me.

I turned sharply on my heels and gasped as I ran into three men. They blocked the exit, smirking at me like vultures on prey.

“You lost?” One asked, licking his lips. “Or maybe you just finally came to pay up.”

My blood turned to ice. The loan sharks. I stepped back on instinct, and they followed, and my eyes caught one of them spinning a blade between his fingers.

“Lila, right?” The one with the blade stepped forward and grabbed my hair. I winced, trying to struggle, but he pressed the blade against my neck, forcing me to stay still. “You owe us a pretty girl.”

My lips trembled as I held back a sob, one wrong move and I’m as good as dead. “I… I don’t have the money,” I managed to whisper, “P-Please give me some time, I can—”

“We don’t have time.” The third one sneered, pulling something from his coat.

My skin paled. It was a gun.

“But we’re reasonable guys,” he added, pressing the gun between my cleavage. The metal was cold against my skin, causing a shiver to run up my spine. “You give us a good time, and maybe we’ll forget all about the debt.”

I was too scared to speak, knowing what they meant. The men snickered as they closed in, and I braced myself, but then—a gust of wind rushed through the alley, sharp and sudden. The streetlamp above flickered, then went out with a sharp pop.

“What the hell—?”

A shadow of a man emerged from the darkness like a smoke screen. Tall. Unmoving. Dressed in black from head to toe.

I couldn’t see his face, but the moment I looked at him, my breath caught in my throat.

Something shifted inside me.

Time slowed. The pounding in my chest wasn’t just fear anymore. It was something… else.

Something deep.

“The hell are you supposed to be?” the gunman spat.

The figure didn’t speak.

The man raised his gun “Back the fuck off before I—”

Bang!

The shot rang through the alley, and I screamed, covering my ears.

But the man in black didn’t fall.

He didn’t even flinch.

The bullet hit him square in the chest, and he simply stood there, brushing off the hole in his coat like it was a wrinkle.

“What—”

Before the gunman could react, the figure moved. Fast. So fast it looked like he teleported.

He grabbed the man by the throat and lifted him effortlessly off the ground. The other two backed away in horror, eyes wide.

My legs gave out, crumbling to the ground as I gulped my spit.

“Where is the chip?” He asked, his voice smooth yet lethal. “The one you stole from my auction.”

“What chip?” The thug choked, and the man’s gaze hardened.

“Wrong answer.”

My eyes widened in horror, frozen in awe as the man’s body began to convulse. A sickly black mist seeped from his skin, his eyes rolling back as the life drained out of him like a vacuum. Within seconds, the gunman’s body shriveled and crumpled like a dried husk.

The man let his body drop with a hard thud.

He raised his head, and the moonlight caressed his face, highlighting crimson eyes that glowed with bloodlust.

Eyes that held no humanity.

“You fucker!” The one with the blade charged at him, but he grabbed his hand and snapped it back in a way that seemed impossible. The sound of bone cracking mixed with his scream of agony, but his head was slammed against the wall in the next second.

Just as his friend did, he shriveled away, his body going limp.

The leader stood frozen, and slowly the man turned to him, his expression giving nothing away.

Just as he took a step forward, the man dropped to his knees and cried out.

“Please!! I don't have what you are looking for!” He yelled, his eyes already watering with tears. He shook like a leaf in the storm, but then the man didn’t seem to think much of his plea.

In a swift motion, he grabbed the man by the back of his collar, his crimson eyes glinting dangerously.

“You stole from me, and you will pay with your life.”

At that moment, I don’t know what came over me. My body moved on its own, and I sprang up, reaching out to hold onto the man’s arm.

“Stop…” My voice trembled, but I didn’t relent. “Please Stop….”

This man wasn’t human, and yet here I was holding onto him like he was my lifeline. I kept my head low, but I could feel his gaze on me, sharp and piercing.

The other man kept whimpering, but to my surprise, the man let him go, and he scrambled to his feet, running out of the alley with a yell.