I Was Sent to the Casino Tycoon as Debt Repayment Chapter 07

I Was Sent to the Casino Tycoon as Debt Repayment Chapter 07

When I didn’t flinch, Stella turned to Victor instead.

“Victor, you promised my brother. You promised him you’d take care of me — you can’t do this.”

Victor didn’t look up. He kept tracing the edge of his custom switchblade, the metal moving in slow, even strokes, as if she weren’t in the room.

When he spoke, his voice was perfectly level. That was what made it terrifying.

“You know how I’ve treated you, Stella. Twenty years. Anything you wanted — within reason — you got it.”

“All of that was for your brother. Because he gave his life for mine.” A pause. “But you touched Elena.”

The blade punched through the tabletop and buried itself in the wood.

“Be grateful your brother’s name still means something to me. Otherwise this knife wouldn’t be in the table.”

Something in Stella broke. A laugh spilled out of her — raw, unhinged — and halfway through it turned into sobs.

“You’re heartless. You know that?” Her voice cracked open. “I’ve been in love with you since the day I met you, Victor.”

“Everything I did — all of it — was for you.”

“What does she have that I don’t? She’s nothing but a nobody, she

—

doesn’t belong in our world, and she sure as hell doesn’t love you the way I do.”

“So why her? Why wasn’t it me?”

I’d already figured it out before they dragged her in. The obsession, the hatred — it was never subtle. It was never about the casino or the debt. It was about Victor.

“What Victor and I have is none of your concern.”

“Loving someone isn’t a crime. But what you did to me — to a woman nine months pregnant — that is.”

“You crossed the line, Stella. Now you pay the price.”

“Your brother bought you twenty years with his life. That’s spent.” I looked at Victor. “Strip her of the Mercer name. She’s dead to this family.”

The despair that flooded Stella’s face was total. “No — you can’t. I won’t leave. I won’t leave the Mercer family.”

“Victor — please. Say something. I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll leave the country, I’ll disappear, I swear I’ll never come back.”

Victor said nothing. He glanced at his men, and that was enough.

They hauled Stella out. Her screaming echoed down the hallway until a door slammed shut and cut it off.

“You okay? We can stop.”

I shook my head. “Let’s get it all done now. Bring in…” The words stuck for a second. “My mother. And Chloe.”

—

He searched my face, then nodded. A moment later, they were brought in.

Chloe crumpled against the wall the second she saw me — knees giving out, already shaking.

“Elena, I’m sorry — I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, I swear I didn’t know —”

A cold smile touched my lips. *Scared now? Funny. You had plenty of nerve before.*

Mom was shaking, but she stepped in front of Chloe all the same. “If you want to blame someone, blame me. This wasn’t Chloe’s doing.”

“Sending you to pay the debt — that was my decision.”

I laughed — or tried to. Halfway through, the sound broke apart and came back as tears.

“Mom, am I even your own flesh and blood?”

Mom pressed her lips together and said nothing.

“When you found me, you couldn’t stop crying. You told me how sorry you were, how long you’d been searching.” My voice thinned. “You told me you loved me.”

“So where is it? Where did all that love go?”

The color bled out of Mom’s face. Tears spilled before she could stop them.

“Elena, don’t. I didn’t have a choice. The hospital mix-up wasn’t Chloe’s fault —”

—

“She’s the daughter I raised for twenty years. What was I supposed to do?”

I wiped my face. When I spoke again, the tremor was gone.

“What if the swap wasn’t an accident?” I watched her face. “What if Chloe’s birth mother and my father planned the whole thing?”