Chapter 94 Chapter 94. Trading Zoria for Faye
Zoria laughed, lifted Hamburger off the bed, then got up to change her clothes, preparing to take it outside for a walk. She grabbed the leash and opened the door, only to see Zephyr standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, wearing nothing but a long black bathrobe and smoking.
Under the interplay of lamplight and shadow, Zephyr’s side profile looked dark and brooding. His gaze was fixed outside the window, as if something heavy weighed on his mind. An ashtray sat on the table, cigarette ash and filters piled into a small mound—it looked like he had been smoking all night.
Zephyr turned to look at Zoria, his voice hoarse. "Why are you up so early?"
Even from a distance, Zoria could clearly see the dark circles under his eyes and the red veins webbing his bloodshot gaze.
Zoria did not answer. She simply tightened her grip on the leash and prepared to head downstairs. Watching her indifferent retreating figure, a sharp pain suddenly stabbed at Zephyr’s heart. He strode forward, reached out, and pulled Zoria into his arms, holding her thin body tightly against his chest.
Zoria instinctively looked up and met Zephyr’s gaze, which was strangely different from before. In the past, the way he looked at her had been nothing but raw, violent, merciless desire. This time, though, his eyes held longing, guilt, pain, and a kind of inner torment, as if he were punishing himself.
“Zoria, after yesterday… did you ever feel like we went back to how things were before? Back to when we first met?”
“No.”
Zephyr had long expected that blunt answer.
What he had really wanted to ask was whether she could forgive him, whether she still loved him. Thankfully, he hadn’t said any of that out loud.
After enduring his embrace for a moment, Zoria shoved him away with her elbow. “If we really could go back to when we first met, I’d stab you to death without hesitation.”
Her thin, icy voice grated sharply on his ears. Zephyr lowered his head and quietly studied her pale face, the gentle yet distant lines of her features. A flicker of turbulence rose in his light violet eyes. Suddenly, he cupped Zoria’s head and bent down to kiss her.
Zoria’s breathing grew rapid, her body retreating uncontrollably. She frowned as she felt his kiss deepen, then clenched her teeth and bit down hard on his tongue.
A salty, metallic taste instantly flooded her mouth. Zephyr’s tongue split under her bite, blood welling up. The wound burned and throbbed with pain, yet he still couldn’t bring himself to let her go. When he saw the disgust in Zoria’s eyes as she looked at him, his heart ached unbearably, even more than the injury on his tongue.
Zoria released the dog’s leash and swung a punch straight into his face. The pain made Zephyr immediately let her go.
Zoria wiped the corner of her mouth. “Are you out of your mind?”
Zephyr leaned back against the wall. His usually calm eyes now carried a chaotic pressure that was hard to name. He pressed his forehead down, his temples throbbing violently.
After a while, he lowered his hand. “You’re my mate. What’s wrong with me kissing you? Even if I forced myself on you right now, or traded you to someone else, you’d still have to endure it.”
Zoria pressed her lips together. So he hadn’t slept all night because he was plotting how to humiliate her.
“Then go ahead and trade me. I’d rather be raped by someone else than stay by your side.”
After saying that, Zoria crouched down, picked up the leash again, and led the dog away.
She would rather be raped by someone else than stay with him? Zephyr was so furious that he slammed his fist into the wall, then ran a hand through his hair in frustration. His chest felt so tight it was hard to breathe, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do anymore.
Did he really have to use Zoria to trade for Faye? But what would happen to Zoria then? And if he refused, what would happen to Faye? He had thought about it all night and still couldn’t untangle the mess in his head. The more he thought, the more confused he became.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Zephyr did not contact Lysander, and Lysander did not take the initiative to reach out to him either. The subordinates he had sent out to look for clues about Faye still came back empty-handed, without a single useful lead.
On the third day, Lysander sent over another video. The moment Zephyr saw its contents, his unease turned instantly into sheer panic.
The video contained only one frame: a frail body sprawled in a pool of blood. Her upper body was bare, smeared with dark, dried crimson. In just two short days, Faye had grown so thin she was nothing but skin stretched over bone.
Her hair was a tangled mess, clumped together by congealed blood. Her entire body was covered in it, making it impossible to tell where she was injured. Her legs were twisted at a grotesque angle—just looking at them was enough to make one’s skin crawl.
Zephyr shut off the video and, in a surge of fury, hurled his phone onto the floor. Faye was completely innocent. He could not sit back and do nothing, could not turn a blind eye to the pain she was suffering now. He raised a hand to his forehead. The spot between his brows throbbed sharply, pulse after pulse, as if claws were tearing at it without mercy.
A long time passed before he finally picked up the phone and called Lysander.
“Have you thought it through?” This time, Lysander answered. His voice was clear and pleasant to the ear.
“Where is Faye?”
Lysander let out a low, satisfied chuckle. “If you want to save her, bring Zoria here in exchange.”
“If I’m calling you, that means I’ve agreed.” An indescribable bitterness welled up from deep in Zephyr’s chest. He closed his eyes, the nerves between his brows flaring with piercing pain once again.
“Good. It’s good that you agreed. You shouldn’t be too greedy. But I suggest you explain things properly to Zoria—save me the trouble of having to explain it to her myself.”
Zephyr slowly opened his eyes. His gaze was dark, heavy. “I don’t need you to remind me.”
On the other end, Lysander laughed with open delight. “Bring Zoria here, and I’ll give you Faye’s address. Don’t try to bargain. You know very well that if I’m not pleased, all you’ll get to see is Faye’s mangled corpse.”
With that, Lysander hung up. A moment later, an address appeared in Zephyr’s inbox, along with the demand that he bring Zoria there.
Zephyr stared at the screen for a long time. He did not know whether he would come to regret this choice in the future.