THE BILLIONIARE'S DEBT

"Where the hell is my money, Sam?" The deep, dangerous voice echoed through the enormous office. Sam's entire body trembled as he stared at the man sitting behind the black marble desk. His hands were shaking, his forehead glistened with sweat, and his heart pounded so violently that he could barely breathe. Damian Blackwood. The name alone was enough to send fear through the business world. A billionaire. A mafia boss. A man whose wealth could buy an entire city and whose anger could destroy anyone unfortunate enough to earn it. And right now, Sam had done exactly that. "I—I can explain, Mr. Blackwood." Damian slowly raised his head. "Explain?" He let out a humorless laugh before standing up. "Three months, Sam. I've given you three f*****g months to return my money. Every time you come here, you give me another excuse. So tell me, what exactly am I supposed to explain to my men when they ask why I haven't dealt with the pathetic little rat who thinks he can steal from me?" "I didn't steal from you!" Sam blurted out before immediately regretting his words. The room fell silent. Damian's expression darkened. "What did you just say?" Sam swallowed hard. "I—I mean, I never intended to keep your money. I swear. I was going to pay you back, but the company isn't doing well. We've been losing investors, our profits have dropped, and—" "Do I look like your f*****g financial adviser?" "N-no, sir." "Then why the hell are you telling me about your company?" Damian stepped away from his desk and reached for the gun resting inside its drawer. The moment Sam saw the weapon, all the blood drained from his face. "Mr. Blackwood, please—" CLICK. Damian c****d the gun. Sam froze. "Get on your knees." Without hesitation, Sam dropped to his knees. "Please, sir! I'm begging you. Just give me a little more time. I promise I'll pay every single penny!" Damian stared down at him with cold, merciless eyes. "Time?" He let out a short laugh. "You've had time. You've had opportunities. You've had every f*****g chance to settle your debt, and yet here you are, wasting my evening with another pathetic excuse." He grabbed Sam by the collar and pulled him closer. "Do you know what happens to people who take my money and refuse to return it?" Sam shook his head frantically. "P-please, I have a family—" "Then you should have thought about your family before you decided to play businessman with money you couldn't afford to lose." Damian shoved him away. Sam stumbled backward, catching himself before he fell. His mind raced desperately for a solution. Anything. He couldn't die here. Not today. Not when he still had so much to lose. And then, an idea came to him. A terrible idea. An idea that would save his life at the expense of someone else's. "Wait!" Damian turned toward him. "You have three seconds to give me a reason not to put a bullet in your head." Sam's throat tightened. "What if—what if I gave you something else instead?" Damian's eyes narrowed. "Something else?" "Yes, sir." "Have you suddenly discovered how to print money?" "N-no, sir." "Then what the f**k are you talking about?" Sam hesitated. His lips trembled before he finally forced the words out. "What if you took my sister instead?" For a moment, Damian didn't move. He simply stared at Sam. Then his expression changed. Slowly. Dangerously. "What did you just say?" Sam's heart nearly stopped. "I—I mean, my sister. You could take her in exchange for the money. Whatever the debt is, you could consider it settled if you—" BANG! Sam screamed as Damian fired a bullet into the wall beside his head. He collapsed to the floor, covering his ears. "YOU THINK THIS IS A f*****g JOKE?" "N-NO, SIR!" Damian grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hauled him upward. He pressed the gun against Sam's forehead. "Do I look like a f*****g pimp to you?" "No! No, sir! Never!" "DO I LOOK LIKE SOMEONE WHO BUYS WOMEN FROM DESPERATE LITTLE COWARDS WHO CAN'T HANDLE THEIR OWN f*****g PROBLEMS?" "No, sir! Please!" Sam's entire body shook. "I didn't mean it like that! I swear I didn't!" "THEN WHAT THE HELL DID YOU MEAN?" Sam squeezed his eyes shut. "After our parents died, everything became too much for me!" His voice cracked. "The company was left in my hands. I had bills to pay, employees depending on me, and debts piling up. I tried, Mr. Blackwood. I really did, but I'm losing everything!" Tears gathered in his eyes. "My sister is all I have left. But if giving her to you is the only way to save my life, then I'll do it. Please, just don't kill me." Damian's jaw tightened. "Do I look like I care about your dead parents?" Sam fell silent. "Do I look like I give a single f**k about your company, your bills, or the problems you brought upon yourself?" "N-no, sir." "THEN SHUT THE f**k UP!" Sam immediately pressed his lips together. Damian released his shirt and stepped away. For several seconds, neither man spoke. Damian returned to his desk, placed the gun on the surface, and sat down. His fingers tapped slowly against the black marble. He was thinking. Sam remained on his knees, too terrified to move. Damian had no interest in taking someone's daughter or sister as payment for a debt. He was a businessman, not a f*****g slave trader. But the more he considered the situation, the more he realized that Sam had nothing left to offer him. The company was failing. The money was gone. And Sam was clearly incapable of paying back even a fraction of what he owed. Killing him would solve nothing. The debt would remain unpaid, and Damian would still have lost a substantial amount of money. But his sister? Damian had heard of the Williams family before. Their family business had once been respectable, and their daughter had grown up away from the ruthless world of business and organized crime. He knew nothing else about her. He didn't know what she looked like, what she sounded like, or whether she was anything like the pathetic excuse of a man kneeling in front of him. And frankly, he didn't care. This wasn't about wanting a woman. It was about collecting a debt. Damian leaned back in his chair. "What's your sister's name?" Sam lifted his head so quickly that his neck almost hurt. "Sir?" Damian's eyes turned icy. "Did I f*****g stutter?" "N-no, sir! Her name is Chloe Williams." Damian repeated the name silently. Chloe Williams. Interesting. He drummed his fingers against the desk for another moment before finally speaking. "Fine." Sam blinked. "I'm sorry, sir?" "I said fine." Damian's voice was terrifyingly calm. "I'll accept your offer." For a second, Sam simply stared at him. Then the meaning of those words sank in. He was going to live. A smile slowly spread across his face. "Thank you, Mr. Blackwood! Thank you so much! I promise you won't regret this!" Damian's expression turned murderous. "Get that smile off your f*****g face." Sam's smile vanished instantly. "Y-yes, sir." "And don't you dare thank me. I'm not doing you a favor." Damian leaned forward. "Your sister will come here, and the moment she does, your debt becomes my problem to deal with. Until then, you owe me every single penny you borrowed." Sam nodded frantically. "Of course, sir. Of course." "Now get the f**k out of my office." Sam scrambled to his feet. "Thank you, sir. Thank you so much." Damian's eyes narrowed. "Get out before I change my mind." That was all Sam needed to hear. He rushed toward the door, pulled it open, and practically ran out of the office. He didn't stop to look back, nor did he bother to think about the person whose life he had just traded for his own. All he could think about was the fact that he was still alive. Inside the office, Damian picked up his glass of whiskey and took a slow sip. "Chloe Williams," he muttered, recalling the name Sam had given him. He leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable. He had never met the girl, and he had no interest in getting to know her. As far as he was concerned, this was nothing more than a debt that needed to be settled. He reached for his phone and dialed a number. "Get me everything you can find on Chloe Williams," he ordered when the call connected. "Her background, her daily routine, her family, everything." He ended the call and set the phone down. Then he glanced at the gun resting on his desk. Sam had walked into his office hoping to save himself. And he had succeeded. But Damian wasn't a man who let people walk away from their debts without consequences. If Chloe Williams was going to be brought into his world, he wanted to know exactly who he was dealing with. Because whether she liked it or not, her brother had just made a decision that would change her life forever. And Damian Blackwood intended to see it through.