His Cruel Billionaire Revenge Killed Me,Now He’ll Burn for the Truth

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After my family went bankrupt, I was sent to the bed of Capital City's newest power player.

He locked me in his room for two weeks. Two weeks of him taking what he wanted, whenever he wanted.

Until I got pregnant.

The day after the doctor confirmed it, he drove my parents to the rooftop.

I knelt at his feet, forehead striking the floor again and again, begging himfor the baby's saketo let them live.

He looked down at me like I was filth.

"Eight years ago, if your mother hadn't seduced my father, my mother wouldn't have lost control and killed him." His voice was ice. "She wouldn't have stood on that eighteenth-floor ledge in despair. She was pregnant, did you know that?"

His gaze dropped to my stomach. The cold in his eyes could have frozen blood.

"Now it's just one life for another."

I broke after that. He had me declared mentally unstable and locked away in the psychiatric hospital. Every day was a new kind of torture.

Until his precious little canary got pregnant. Then he had me brought back.

"Rebecca Fox used to be your family's housekeeper's daughter," Mason Blackwell said. "Now she's carrying my child. It's your turn to serve her."

This time, I didn't cry. I didn't scream.

Because I was already dying.

But after I actually died? That man who hated me to the bonehe wept and begged me to come back to him.

I wiped the blood from my lips and had just swallowed my painkillers when the door exploded inward.

Mason seized my wrist, his expression glacial.

"Chloe Harding." Each syllable was a blade. "You knew Rebecca is allergic to flowers. And you still filled the living room with them?"

His grip tightened until my bones ground together.

"Don't think that because I spared your life, I still have feelings for you. If you try anything against Rebecca" His voice dropped to something lethal. "I will end you."

Before I could speak, he forced a handful of soybeans into my mouth.

"You wanted to trigger her allergies?" A cruel smile. "Let's see how you like it first."

The beans lodged in my throat. I choked, coughing violently.

Mason's brow furrowed. His hand moved toward the water glass

Then stopped.

Instead, he slammed his palm against my back. The force sent me crashing into the table. Something in my ribs cracked.

The soybeans slid down into my stomach. Within a minute, my face swelled, the allergic reaction visible in real-time.

I felt nothing.

NoI chose to feel nothing.

I raised my hand and slapped myself across the face.

"I'm sorry. I failed to take proper care of Miss Fox. I'll remove the flowers immediately."

I didn't defend myself.

What was the point? In his eyes, I was already damned beyond redemption.

From the moment I returned to the Blackwell estate, Rebecca had made a game of humiliating me. Mason never saw it. Or maybe he just didn't care.

When Rebecca accidentally spilled soup on the floor, Mason made me kneel and lick it clean.

When she dropped her ring into the pool, he forced me into the frozen water in the dead of winter. Two hours. I nearly died.

Even those flowersRebecca had ordered them placed there herself. Just to see what Mason would do to me.

And now he stared at me, disgust carving deep lines into his face.

"Don't think bowing your head makes this go away, Chloe." His voice was quiet. Dangerous. "Rebecca is seven months pregnant. Your little stunt nearly made her miscarry."

He stepped closer.

"You're going to kneel in the memorial hall. You'll stay there until she's discharged from the hospital. I don't care if it takes days."

I nodded. My body was already brokenwhat was a little more?

I turned toward the door, dragging myself forward.

His hand shot out, yanking me back.

"You did this." His grip was bruising. "And now you're putting on this pathetic act? Who exactly is this performance for?"

I met Mason's bloodshot eyes and caught my reflection in thema fleeting, ghostly glimpse.

For a moment, I saw us at eighteen again.

Back then, I never imagined we'd end up here.

I had loved him once. And hated him too.

On the day I first became a mother, he dragged me into hell.

He made me watch as my own mother pushed my father off a building.

Then he forced her to confess her crimes to my facebefore she threw herself after him.

After that, he locked me away in the psychiatric hospital. Broke me down, over and over.

The child in my womb was the only hope I had left.

But when I was seven months pregnant, Mason had me strapped to an operating table.

"When my mother died, the baby inside her was seven months along too. Your family owed her one last life. Now we're even."

I begged. I screamed. I wanted to die with my child.

Mason had them bind my hands and feet.

"Your life belongs to me. You don't get to die without my permission."

The memories crashed over me. My head dropped lower.

"I'm sorry."

Mason grabbed my collar and yanked me up.

"Chloe, isn't this what you wanted? To compete with Rebecca for my attention?" His lip curled. "Fine. I'll give you the chance."

Before I could react, he kissed mehard, brutal, knowing full well I was allergic.

Then he shoved me away.

His eyes raked over me with cold contempt.

"Chloe Harding. You're nothing special after all."

"Someone like you doesn't deserve love. You exist to atone. That's all."

He stepped over me and walked away without looking back.

I clutched the medical report in my pocket.

And laughed.

Pancreatic cancer. Late stage.

The doctor said I had a week. Maybe less.

I watched his retreating figure and finally exhaled.

This penance is almost over.

I knelt through the night.

By the next day, Mason finally returned to the Blackwell estatewith Rebecca in his arms.

When they passed the memorial hall, he stopped.

His gaze landed on my face, now covered in angry red welts from the allergic reaction. His brow furrowed.

"Chloe. Rebecca wants congee. Made by your hands."

"And if you pull any tricks this timeif you hurt her or the baby" His voice dropped, glacial. "I won't show mercy."

I looked at Rebecca's swollen belly, rounded and ripe.

I pressed my forehead to the cold stone floor.

"I understand. Caring for Miss Fox is my duty. I wouldn't dare do anything untoward."

Rebecca gazed down at mebroken, kneeling, patheticand her face bloomed with satisfaction.

"Oh, sister." She drew out the word like a blade. "I heard that when you lost your baby, it was seven months along too." She rested a hand on her belly. "You wouldn't want me to end up like you, would you?"

Mason let out a cold laugh.

"Someone like her was never fit to carry my child."

"That baby was a blood debt her family owed mine. Nothing more."

I lowered my head until my forehead touched the ground.

I had never denied it. My family owed the Blackwells a debt that could never be repaid.

I still remembered the day his parents diedhow Mason's hands closed around my throat, squeezing, trembling.

His eyes were red-rimmed, swimming with tears.

"Do you have any idea? If your mother hadn't seduced my fatherif she hadn't sent those photos to my mothernone of this would have happened."

"My mother was seven months pregnant. Seven months. That was my little sister. She never even got to see the world."

"How can I not hate you, Chloe? I want to kill you."

He spoke the cruelest words.

But his hands... they slowly loosened.

He knelt on the ground, his palms marked with the crescents of his own nails.

I knewfrom the moment his parents died.

Our love had curdled into nothing but endless hatred.

A war that would only end when one of us stopped breathing.

I kept my head bowed as Mason walked past me, Rebecca cradled in his arms.

Clatter.

A small box landed at my feet.

Allergy medication.

I'd been born with hypersensitive skinmy list of triggers could fill a medical textbook. When Mason first learned about it, he'd started carrying these pills everywhere.

I picked up the box, popped it open, and placed a white tablet on my tongue.

Bitterness flooded my mouth instantly.

Just like my wretched life.

The red welts on my skin began to fade. I struggled to my feet and made my way to the kitchen.

Once the congee was ready, I carried it up to the second floor. I was about to enter when I heard voices drifting through the doorlow, intimate.

"Mason, why do you keep that woman around? The one who killed your whole family?" Rebecca's voice dripped with false concern. "Don't tell me you still have feelings for her."

I heard the soft pop of a button being undone.

"I keep her close for a reason." Mason's voice was flat, unreadable. "To torment her. Day and night. So she can never live, never dieonly remember the debt her family owes me. Forever."

A sharp pain lanced through my chest.

My grip on the door handle tightened until my knuckles went white.

I know.

This hatred will only end when I'm dead.

Good thing I'll be gone soon.

That night, I was heading back to my room when a sound split the sky.

Fireworks.

Brilliant cascades of light bloomed across the darkness. I stood there, transfixed by the fleeting glow.

Then a voice slithered up behind mefamiliar and razor-edged.

"Beautiful, aren't they? The fireworks made from your family's ashes?"

I spun around.

Rebecca's eyes gleamed with triumph.

My pupils contracted. "What did you just say?"

She sauntered closer, lifting one manicured finger toward the bursting colors overhead.

"A monk told me your family's vengeful spirits were haunting my baby. That's why I've been so unwell." She smiled, serene as a saint. "He said the only way to protect my child was to deal with your family properly."

She paused, savoring the moment.

"So I had your parents' ashesand your baby'smade into fireworks. To bless my child." Her smile widened. "And to make sure their souls never find peace. Not in this life. Not in the next."

I lurched forward, a scream tearing from my throat.

"Why? Why would you do this to them? My parentswhatever their sinsthey helped you once! Why couldn't you let them rest in death? Why scatter their bones to the wind?"

My hand hadn't even touched her when she crumpled backward.

The next second, a crushing force slammed into me.

Mason caught Rebecca in his arms, his gaze slicing into me like a blade.

"Chloe." His voice was ice. "I warned you. Touch her again, and I will end you."

I stared at himat the hatred carved into every line of his faceand something inside me finally shattered.

I fell to my knees before him.

"Mason." My voice cracked. "I'll do anything you want. Anything. Justpleaselet my family keep one shred of dignity. That's all I'm asking."

He went still.

Rebecca immediately wound her arm through his.

"Mason, when I was hospitalized for the baby, I visited the chapel. The monk said vengeful spirits were latched onto usthat the only way to protect our child was to grind their bones to dust and scatter them so they'd never reincarnate." She pressed closer to him. "That's why I had her family's ashes made into fireworks."

I bowed my head to the floor. Once. Twice. Again and again, until my forehead burned.

"Mason. Every sin is mine. Mine. They're already deadlet the debt die with them." My voice broke into a sob. "I'll bear all your hatred. Every last drop. Just... please... leave their remains in peace?"

Mason's face turned ashen. He grabbed my collar and yanked me toward him, his eyes bloodshot with rage.

"Let them go?" His voice was raw. "Who let my family go?"

"My sister never even got to see this world."

My throat had gone hoarse from crying. Blood kept streaming from my forehead, warm and relentless.

"But our baby never got to see this world either!" I choked out.

Mason froze. Something fractured behind his eyespain and hatred colliding, neither winning.

Before he could respond, Rebecca rushed forward and grabbed his arm.

"Mason, this is all my fault. I shouldn't have brought up your parents." She pressed closer to him, her voice dripping with false sweetness. "If your sister had survived, maybe she could've walked our children to school together someday..."

I watched his gaze darken, sinking into that familiar abyss. Desperate, I grabbed the fabric of his trousers.

"Mason." My voice cracked. "You hate my entire family, don't you? Then take my life. Take it."

"Once I'm dead, your vendetta ends. That's all I'm askingjust let my parents and my child rest in peace."

Something snapped in him. He hauled me to my feet like a man possessed, forcing my face toward the sky where the fireworks still bloomed, one after another.

"Chloe." His breath was hot against my ear. "What your family owes me can never be repaid. Not in this lifetime. Not in a thousand."

"Don't think I can't see through you. You want to use death as an escape from your sins."

His grip tightened until my bones ached.

"I won't allow it. You'll live. You'll stay by my side and atone for every single day of your miserable existence. You'll drown in guilt until your last breathand even that won't be enough."

He forced me to my knees, pinning my wrists behind my back. I had no choice but to watch each firework burst across the darkness.

"Your family will never find peace, Chloe. They don't deserve to. They weren't even human."

The last firework faded. The sky went dark.

So did the last flicker of hope inside me.

I looked up at him, tears and blood blurring my vision, and spoke slowlyeach word a nail in our shared coffin.

"Your mother was innocent. But so was my father. So was my child."

"Mason... the knot between us will never come undone."

"As long as I'm alive, we'll both stay trapped in the past."

"Let me go." My voice broke. "Let yourself go."

The moment the words left my mouth, the cancer cells I'd been fighting surged through me like wildfire. Pain consumed every nerve. My vision blurred, consciousness slipping away like water through fingers.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the cramped storage room.

Sunlight streamed through the small window. I reached out, trying to catch it in my palm.

My hand closed on nothing.

The door creaked open. Mason stood in the doorway, exhaustion carved into every line of his face. For a split second, something flickered in his eyes when he saw me awakesomething almost human.

He buried it instantly.

A dress landed on my bed.

"There's a charity gala tonight." His tone was flat, businesslike. "Rebecca specifically requested you accompany her."

I picked up the dress with trembling hands, but my gaze drifted to the clock on the wall.

Today was the last day of the week.

The last day of my life.

Mason watched memy stillness, my lack of reaction. Something about it made him step closer. His hand shot out, fingers closing around my wrist like a vice.

"Chloe." His voice was low, dangerous. "If the knot between us can't be undone, then I won't let you go. Even if we're both trapped in this hatred forever, I will never release you. Don't ever think about escaping me."

I looked into those eyesso familiar, yet belonging to a stranger.

Slowly, I nodded.

"This time," I whispered, "I won't run."

Because I'll be dead before the night is over.

That evening, I accompanied Mason to the gala.

The banquet hall was warmheated to perfectionbut cold seeped into my bones anyway, settling deep where no warmth could reach.

Mason glanced at me once, then turned and walked toward a server.

The pain churning inside me nearly made me black out. I forced myself toward the balcony, each step a small war.

"Chloe Harding, how much longer are you going to cling to Mason? Have you no dignity? No shame?"

Rebecca's voice cut through the noise. I'd barely turned when she shoved mehard.

"As long as you're alive, I'll never be Mrs. Blackwell."

My foot slipped. Instinct took overI grabbed for her, and we both tumbled over the railing.

My hands caught the guardrail. I held on.

A scream tore through the night. Mason appeared moments later, a scarf clutched in his hand.

Rebecca twisted to look at me, a mocking smile curling her lips.

"Chloe. Who do you think he'll save first?"

I watched Mason stride toward her without a heartbeat's hesitation.

Good, I thought. The relief that washed through me was almost sweet. He doesn't love me anymore.

Rebecca turned wide, wounded eyes up at him. "Mason, pleasesave me and our baby."

Her voice trembled. "I don't know what I did to offend her. She just... she tried to push me off."

Mason grabbed Rebecca's hand instantly, but his gaze stayed locked on me.

"Chloe. You're just as vicious as your mother."

The words sank into my chest like a blade.

Within seconds, Rebecca was safe on solid ground. She moved to throw herself into his armsbut he pushed her aside and stretched his hand toward me.

"Chloe. Give me your hand."

"You don't get to die without my permission."

I stared at that hand. At those long, elegant fingers I'd once memorized.

I laughed.

And then the tears came, sliding down my cheeks even as I kept laughing.

When I didn't reach for him, something flickered in Mason's eyespanic, raw and real. His voice turned urgent.

"Chloe. Give me your hand. Don't make me say it again."

But I just looked at him. Quietly. Calmly.

"Mason. You said my family owes you a debt we could never repay in this lifetime."

I smiled.

"Then take my life. Consider it settled."

His pupils dilated. Horror flooded his face.

"And in the next life," I whispered, "I pray we never meet."

I let go.

The wind rushed past me. In that single suspended moment, I raised my hand and waved at him.

Mason. The knot between usit's finally undone.