Chapter 11: Negative energy went wild-and all hell broke loose!

Words : 1892 Updated : Oct 23rd, 2025

Franco Balam's words had barely left his mouth when Diego Santee's eyes went bloodshot. A murderous aura rolled off him. Diego's elder brother had died in battle. As the Santee family's widowed daughter-in-law, Persephone Shadboult had worked tirelessly to hold the family together. Diego had long since seen her as family. If someone humiliated his family, there was no way he'd let it slide. "You're courting death." He snorted in contempt, and as the bodyguards swarmed in, he blasted a punch forward. Bang! The man at the front flew backward, the force rippling like waves through the line. The shock slammed into everyone behind him, sending them reeling, seeing stars, sprawled and unable to move. The one who took the punch hit the wall with a brutal thud and slid down. Crack! Cracks spidered across the entire wall, dust raining down. Franco stared, mouth agape, terror washing over his face. He'd never imagined that with just one casual punch, Diego could unleash such horror. Was this even human? Diego turned back, his gaze slicing across Franco like a knife. Franco panicked, stumbling backward, blustering even as his bravado crumbled. "Diego Santee, I'm warning you, don't do anything rash!" Diego acted as if he hadn't heard. His face darkened, and he closed in on Franco, step by measured step. "Don't do anything rash," Franco stammered. "I can pay you! The Santee family needs money, right? I'll lend you-no, I'll just give you the money!" His voice trembled. "You just got out of prison; finding work can't be easy. Be my bodyguard. I'll pay you two hundred grand a month. Good enough?" Diego let out a mirthless laugh and shook his head in contempt. "Franco Balam, you think you can buy me off with chump change? Not even close." "You-" Franco's face twitched. He gritted his teeth. "Fine. Name your price. I'll agree to anything. That works, right?" Diego lunged and clamped a hand around Franco's throat. "My price would cost you your life. You can't afford it. Since you're the kind of creep who drugs women, I'll cure you of that filthy habit." His gaze slid downward. "No, don't-" Franco trembled, instinctively squeezing his legs together. "Like it or not." Diego's expression stayed icy. He raised his foot and drove a savage kick into Franco's groin. Crack! A sharp sound rang out. Franco shrieked, raw and ragged, sweat poured off him in big, heavy beads. "Remember this feeling. If I hear you've done it again, it'll hurt worse than this." Diego spoke each word with knife-edged calm. In Franco's eyes, that handsome face had become downright devilish. "You… you're finished…" Franco's eyes darkened, hatred burning in his pupils. "The Balam family is related by marriage to the Black Dragon Gang. The Black Dragon Gang's young master is my brother-in-law. You ruined me-they won't let you walk!" Pain ravaged his senses, but he still howled through clenched teeth with all he had left. "I'd advise you not to bring trouble down on the Balam family." Diego let out a mirthless laugh and shook his head in contempt. "You should be grateful Persephone is unharmed. Otherwise, you wouldn't be walking out of this room alive." He turned and looked down at the Balam family's bodyguards collapsed on the floor. "You have ten seconds. Haul your young master out of here and get lost. One second late, and someone dies." The bodyguards scrambled in terror, hauling Franco up and bolting for the door. The room fell silent again, chaos lingering in the air. Diego didn't waste a second. He rushed to Persephone and checked on her. "Hot… so hot…" She was barely hanging on to sanity. Her body burned, her lovely cheeks flushed crimson. Alarmed, Diego caught her wrists as she clawed at her clothes and pressed two fingers to her wrist to check her pulse. A moment later, his face tightened. That bastard Franco had worried the drug would take too long and had dumped in at least two or three times the usual dose. With alcohol as a catalyst, it had hit her bloodstream all at once. Antidote or not, it was already too late. He hesitated for a heartbeat, and Persephone suddenly tore free of his grip and locked her arms around him. Her breath came fast, chest heaving, and Diego felt his own blood boil, rolling like a storm. Something long dormant inside him stirred. Ever since he began training, a current of heat had coiled in his lower abdomen, sometimes leaving him feverish and reckless. His master had said it was negative energy, something he'd carried since birth, tied to his blood and impossible to get rid of. Before Diego's release from prison, his master had warned him to keep his emotions in check-if he lost control, that negative energy would gnaw at his mind. Diego bit the tip of his tongue, desperate to clear his head. But the drug had overtaken Persephone; she clung to him like an octopus and wrapped herself around him, pressing close. Her breath warmed his ear. "I… I'm so hot…" Diego shuddered and tried to push her away. Persephone clung to his neck, her pale, rosy arms sliding across his chest, back and forth. "Persephone, calm down." He caught her hands to stop her frantic movements. A second later, she yanked at her clothes with all her strength. Diego was taller; looking down, he saw the whiteness of her chest, a curve begging to be touched. He reached for her hand and, by accident, grabbed somewhere he shouldn't have. He froze. Soft. Yielding. Even through the fabric, the warmth and softness short-circuited his brain, leaving him stunned. In that dazed instant, Persephone kept tearing at her clothes. Pressed together like that, sight, touch-even her scent-overwhelmed him. This was bad-very bad. His nose suddenly started to bleed. The negative energy in his core roared free, no longer held in check. He looked at her-half-bared perfection, her pale cheeks flushed a deep rose, full lips, and those eyes, the most dangerous of all. When sober, she was a snow lotus high above the world, sacred and untouchable. Now she was a siren, every glance deadly. Diego's last shred of reason disintegrated. What followed blurred into heat and rain-soaked haze. … Two hours later. Diego jolted awake on the bed in the side room. He looked down at Persephone lying there, not a stitch on. His temples pounded. He'd really done it now-this was going to blow up in his face. The bed was a wreck; he didn't need to guess what had happened. He moved fast, panicked, easing himself up with care. He reached for his clothes, trying to slip them on and escape before Persephone woke. He had just grabbed his pants when a cold voice cut in from behind him. "Diego Santee, where are you going?"

Chapter 11: Negative energy went wild-and all hell broke loose!

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