A Debt Written in Blood

A Debt Written in Blood
Ivery Clark POV 

A crushing, suffocating weight settled over my chest. I couldn't move. I couldn't fight. The terror that had been driving my racing heart just moments before simply withered away, leaving behind a hollow, empty void. Dejected. Completely defeated. 

I sat there on the freezing concrete, paralyzed, my hands buried in the pool of my brother's blood.

Rowan was gone. Just like that.

Every plea I had begged, every tear I had shed, every hope I had foolishly held on to had led directly to this massacre. 

I didn't want to run anymore. I didn't want to explain. I just wanted the darkness to swallow me whole.

​I leaned forward, my forehead resting near Rowan's cold shoulder, waiting for the final bullet that would end it all.

Tears washed clean tracks through the thick blood on my cheeks as I buried my face into his neck, choking on my own frantic breaths.

​Then, a massive shadow fell over us. Before I could even react, a hand tangled violently into my hair.

​"Ah!" I gasped as a sharp, agonizing force yanked my head backward, ripping me violently away from Rowan's body.

​"Get up," Alrigo’s voice tore through the air, icy, dark, and utterly stripped of humanity.

My head was pulled back so far I was forced to look directly up into his eyes. 

There was no warmth left in them. No anger. No hurt. Only an endless, terrifying void of pure death.

“No more running, Ivery." Alrigo whispered, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low vibration that sent a cold shudder straight through my spine. “Didn't I tell you, you won't go far?”

"NO!" I kicked against the floor, desperately trying to drag myself toward Rowan.

“Let me go, you monster!!! Rowan!!” I stretched my trembling hand toward my brother's lifeless body.

"Please…”

Alrigo yanked me backward. I screamed and fought harder, tears streaming uncontrollably down my face.

Julia stood at the entrance, watching everything with an expression that was almost impossible to read.

Something inside me snapped.

“You…you did this didn't you!?” I twisted desperately in his grasp, glaring at Julia through the tears streaming down my face.

“You knew!” I sobbed. “You knew something was going to happen!”

Julia's expression flickered for the briefest second before she composed herself. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Don't lie to me!” I screamed. “Rowan knew something was wrong the moment he heard your voice! He said it was a trap!”

“You knew about Elias, you knew about Rowan, you knew exactly what was happening in this mansion! You appeared with Alrigo the moment Dominic was dead!” My voice cracked violently.

Julia's lips parted in feigned disbelief. “Are you accusing me of killing Dominic now?”

“You wanted this!” I cried. “You wanted Alrigo to hate me! You wanted him to think I betrayed him!”

“Enough,” Alrigo warned. 

But I continued, “I didn't know Rowan was going to do any of this, Alrigo. I swear to you, I didn't!”

“I begged Dominic to bring Rowan here because he was my brother!” I choked out. “I wanted to save him! I didn't know he was planning to attack Dominic. I didn't know he was going to kill him!”

Julia shook her head sadly. “Alrigo, she's only saying this because she's afraid of what is coming to her next.”

“Shut up!” I screamed at her. “You're the one lying! You have been lying from the beginning!”

“You took everything from me!” I sobbed. “You turned him against me, you manipulated everyone around him, and now my brother is dead!”

Alrigo's jaw tightened. “I said enough, Ivery. How many lies are you planning to spew?”

My heart sank at his words. “I'm not lying. I didn't betray you. I swear I didn't.”

Alrigo's gaze dropped toward the blood covering my hands, his expression hardening. “I saw you standing beside him, Ivery. I watched you run with the man who killed him. And you say you didn't betray me?”

“I was trying to stop him! I didn't run with him because I chose him over you.” I cried. “I was trying to save Dominic! I saw Dominic bleeding on the floor. But everything was too late!” 

Alrigo's expression tightened, “Then why didn't you tell me?”

“I didn't have time!” 

Alrigo let out a bitter laugh, “Oh really? But you had time to run!”

“I was terrified, okay!” I cried out. “I was terrified of what was coming next. I couldn't think! Of course I tried to save my brother but I never wanted Dominic dead. I never wanted any of this.”

Alrigo stared at me for several agonizing seconds.

“Ivery, enough already,” he said coldly. “For god sake, just don't talk...”

“You don't believe me…”

“Enough!” His hand shot forward, gripping my cheeks and forcing my face upward until I had no choice but to look directly into his eyes.

“I don't want to hear another word from you,” he snarled, his voice shaking with barely restrained fury. “You've pushed me far enough already. Don't test what little patience I have left.” 

Tears spill more from my eyes, “Right. Then what are you waiting for? Kill me. End me too! Just shoot me, Alrigo! Kill me next to him!” 

“Because Rowan is dead. Dominic is dead. And whatever was left between us…” My voice cracked. “It's dead too. End this once for good.”

Something flickered in Alrigo's eyes for the briefest moment before his expression hardened.

“Kill you…?” A corner of Alrigo's mouth lifted into a cold, humorless smile. 

"You want an easy death, Ivery? While I rot here?” he hissed melavolently. 

My blood ran cold as he leaned closer, his eyes empty and merciless.

His fingers tightened around my hair. "No, Ivery. I won't give you an easy death. You don't get to die. Instead…I'm going to make sure every breath you take feels like a blade turning in your chest for what your brother has done.”

Alrigo leaned down, bringing his face so close I could feel the ragged, ice-cold thread of his breath against my skin.

Up close, the mask of pure death broke for a fraction of a second, laying bare the shattered, ruined man underneath.

“You broke every single piece of me," Alrigo hissed, his voice trembling with a terrifying mix of fury and grief, his eyes burning into mine like a brand. "So I am going to tear down every piece of you. You will pray for the bullet that took your brother, Ivery. But I will never, ever let you rest.”

He let out a breathless, bitter laugh, a sound so hollow it made my stomach violently turn.

“You're going to live, Ivery," he whispered, his voice dropping into a sickening, twisted rhythm. "You're going to stay alive and bleed for me every single day. I won't ever give you an easy way out.”

With a sudden, vicious yank, he dragged me the rest of the way out of the stairwell, ignoring my agonizing screams as the darkness of the hallway swallowed us whole.

He dragged me backward all the way through the cavernous hallways of the mansion. 

My knees scraped violently against the cold marble, leaving long, smeared trails of blood behind us.

I thrashed and clawed at his arm, but his iron grip on my hair never loosened for a single second.

When we reached the vast, dark foyer, Alrigo finally released his hold and shoved me forward with a brutal, terrifying force.

My body slammed onto the unforgiving marble floor, knocking the breath completely out of my lungs.

"Ah—!”

A sharp groan of agony tore from my throat as I curled into a ball on the cold floor, clutching my ribs, gasping desperately for breath that wouldn't come. 

My vision swam in blurred spots of black and red, every bone in my body screaming in pain.

Alrigo stood above me like a dark, merciless shadow. His eyes were completely empty.

“Throw her into the bottom cellar. I want every single ray of light blocked out. No windows. No lamps. Complete, absolute darkness.”

He stepped closer, his shadow completely swallowing me as he bent down, his voice dropping to a deathly, venomous whisper.

"She shouldn't breathe a breath of fresh air. She shouldn't see a single sliver of light. Make sure there is not even a whisper of a chance for her to escape... until I come back to deal with her myself.”

My vision blurred into a dizzying smear of black and red. 

The agonizing ache in my scalp, the sharp, throbbing pain in my ribs, and the suffocating weight of Rowan’s blood drying on my skin all merged into a single, overwhelming wave of agony.

I couldn't draw a complete breath. Every short gasp felt like shattered glass slicing through my lungs.

Through the tear-stained, crimson haze of my sight, the last thing I saw was Alrigo turning his back on me. 

His tall, looming shadow moved away with cold, unyielding authority, leaving me lying broken on the stone floor without a single glance back.