Damien Delaney walked into his small house after a long day at the factory. His back hurt and his feet ached. He carried a heavy bag of groceries into the kitchen and set it on the counter with a tired sigh.He took out his phone and checked it again. Still no message from Courtney. Not one text. Not one call.They had fought that morning. She wanted another vacation. A nice one, the kind with hotels by the beach and fancy dinners. He told her the truth. They could not afford it. Not this month. Not with the bills they still had to pay. That made her angry. She had been angry a lot lately.If it was not a vacation, it was a new necklace. Or shoes that cost more money than he made in two weeks. The worst part was that she earned a lot more than he did. Her family company paid her well. She could buy those things herself if she really wanted them. But she still came home and made him feel small for not being able to give them to her.Damien loved her anyway. He always had. So tonight he

Saul was quick for an older man. His fist came straight at Damien’s face. Damien saw it early and leaned back. The punch cut through empty air.Saul swung again, harder this time. Damien stepped to the side. After a few more misses, Saul was breathing heavily. His arms looked tired and slow.Damien took one calm step forward. His fist hit Saul right in the upper belly. The older man dropped to the floor, holding his stomach and trying to breathe.“Stay out of my way, old man,” Damien said.He opened the nightstand drawer and took out a thin necklace. It had a small Yin pendant, but the Yang half was missing. He slipped it into his pocket and walked out of the house without looking back.Saul’s voice followed him down the stairs. “You’re fired! If I ever see your face again, you’re dead!”Damien kept walking. Of course he was fired. It was the perfect end to a perfect night. No wife. No money. No family. No job. Everything he had was gone in one day.He walked for a long time with no r

Renee’s face turned deep red. She could not believe what she had just heard. Some tired-looking man from the street had spoken to her like she was a child. Even worse, her own sister looked like she wanted to laugh. The anger inside her boiled over fast.“How dare you talk to me like that?” she shouted. She marched straight toward Damien with her hand raised, ready to slap the calm look off his face.“Enough.”The voice was deep and strong. It filled the whole room and made the big light on the ceiling shake a little. Damien felt a cold shiver run down his back. He looked around quickly, searching for who had spoken so loudly.“Come here, dear boy.”Damien turned toward the bed. The old man was smiling at him. His eyes were wet with tears. Damien walked slowly across the quiet room until he stood right beside the bed.“You look so much like him,” the old man said. Tears ran down his thin cheeks. “Like my son.”Damien’s face showed pure confusion. Why would he look like this sick old m

Angela stood in front of Damien outside the big mansion. Both of her hands pressed against his chest to stop him from walking away.“Listen to yourself,” she said. “You’re going to kill him right now? You’re the new head of the Delaney Company. You have more money than most people will ever see. You’re about to join a group that can make you stronger than almost anyone. Why throw all of that away on one quick fight? Make the revenge slow. Make it hurt. Take everything from him piece by piece so he feels it every single day.”Damien’s anger cooled almost at once. She was right. Saul had spent years making his life small and hard. A fast death was too kind. Saul deserved to watch everything he owned get taken away slowly.Just then Damien’s stomach let out a loud growl. He had not eaten since the meal he cooked for Courtney earlier that day. Someone else had eaten that food while he walked home alone in the cold.Angela heard the sound and raised one eyebrow.“You need food,” she said.

The waiter set the last plate down and stepped away. The table was full of food. Steam rose from some dishes. Others looked almost too pretty to touch. Smells of meat, spices, and sweet sauce mixed in the air.Damien’s eyes went wide.“This all looks amazing,” he said.Angela watched him with a small smile. He had ordered almost everything that looked good. Dishes he had only seen in pictures before. Dishes Courtney and her family used to laugh about whenever he pointed them out.“Wait until you taste them,” she said.He did not wait. He picked up his fork and knife and started eating right away. He did not care about the people staring from other tables. Some whispered. A few shook their heads. Damien kept eating. The food was better than anything he had ever tasted. Soft, rich, full of flavors he could not name. For the first time in a long while, something warm settled in his chest.Angela could not ignore the looks the way he did. She knew most of them came from his clothes—torn,