RETURN OF THE LEGENDARY NORTHERN DRAGON

THAT MERCY JUST ENDED

"Marry you?" Ava's voice came out strangled. "That's insane. I'm nobody. I have nothing. I'm homeless, for God's sake—"

"I spent three years looking for you. I thought I'd found you. I married the wrong woman and served her family like a slave trying to honor my mother's wish." His grip tightened on her hand. "But I was wrong. You're the one my mother meant. You've always been the one."

"This is insane," Ava whispered. "You don't even know me well—"

"You gave everything to save strangers," Grayson interrupted. "You survived twelve years alone and kept your kindness. That's worth more than anything the Reeds could ever claim.”

Ava tried to pull her hand away but was too weak. "You're seriously talking crazy. I should leave. I should—”

Grayson knelt before her properly now, this man who'd led armies and crushed warlords, and spoke with raw emotion that had been locked away for three years.

"My mother's last words were to find you and marry you. I'm three years late, and I failed you in the worst way possible." His voice cracked. "But if you'll have me, I'll spend the rest of my life making up for what you've suffered. Trust me."

"We're not compatible. You don't understand—"

"I understand that you saved my life and paid for it with yours. I understand that I owe you a debt fifteen years overdue."

Victor cleared his throat from across the room, his discomfort radiating like heat. "Sir, perhaps the lady needs rest before discussing such—"

Grayson's gaze swung toward him, cold enough to freeze blood. "Step into the hallway. Now."

Victor's face went pale. "Sir, I just thought—"

"Now."

Victor fled toward the door. Grayson followed, his footsteps measured and deliberate. The moment they crossed into the corridor and the door closed behind them, Grayson moved like lightening.

He slammed Victor against the wall hard enough to crack the plaster. Victor's feet left the ground, Grayson's forearm pressed across his throat.

"You told me Vanessa Reed was the girl," Grayson said, his voice lethal and quiet. "You were absolutely certain. You looked me in the eye and swore it was her."

Victor's hands scrambled at Grayson's arm, trying to breathe. "Sir—I can explain—"

"Explain how I spent three years being humiliated by parasites while the real woman suffered on the streets?" Grayson's grip tightened. "Explain how I honored a lie while she went hungry?"

"I was young!" Victor gasped. "Twenty-four years old, just promoted to Sergeant. You offered advancement to whoever found her first. I wanted it so badly I—I cut corners in the investigation—"

"Cut corners." Grayson's laugh was blade-sharp. "You built your entire career on a lie. You became my personal aide because of this assignment. Everything you have, you stole from her."

Victor's face was turning purple. "I checked the Reed family records! Vanessa's age matched perfectly! Her family had charity connections to that district! Vanessa also had the birthmark, I assumed she was the right one, I swear I didn't know—"

Grayson's fist drew back, every ounce of killing intent focused on the man choking against the wall. Victor saw death in those eyes and knew he deserved it.

The fist stopped an inch from his face.

"You assumed," Grayson said, his voice dropping to something worse than rage—disappointment. "You gambled with my mother's dying wish because you wanted a promotion."

"Please," Victor wheezed. "I'll do anything to make this right. Anything, Commander."

Grayson dropped him. Victor collapsed to his knees, gasping for air.

"You're dismissed from my service," Grayson said flatly. "Effective immediately. Leave this city within twenty-four hours. If I see you again, I'll forget you once served me."

Victor's face crumbled. Being dismissed from the Dragon Lord's personal guard was worse than death—it meant becoming nothing, a pariah that no military or government would touch. His career, his reputation, his future—all gone with four words.

"Commander, please—"

"Twenty-four hours."

Grayson turned and walked back inside, leaving Victor kneeling in the hallway with his world in ruins.

Inside the penthouse, Ava had managed to sit up fully, clutching a blanket around her shoulders. Her eyes were red from crying, face still pale from blood loss.

"Is everything alright?" she asked quietly. "I heard shouting..."

Grayson's expression softened instantly, the coldness melting away. "Just handling business. You should rest. That wound needs time to heal."

"Why are you being kind to me?" The question burst out of Ava like she'd been holding it back her entire life. "Everyone takes. No one gives. What do you really want from me? What's the catch?"

Tears streamed down her face as she spoke, years of abuse and betrayal pouring out.

"There's always a catch," she continued. "Always. My relatives said they'd take care of me, then made me their slave. Shelters said they'd help, then kicked me out when I couldn't pay. Men said they'd protect me, then tried to—" Her voice broke. "So what do you want? Just tell me so I can leave before it gets worse."

Grayson sat down across from her, maintaining careful distance. "I want to correct a terrible wrong. My mother told me to find you and take care of you. I'm fifteen years late, but I'm here now."

Ava shook her head violently. "You don't understand. I'm cursed. Everyone who helps me suffers. My parents died because of me. My aunt's family went bankrupt after taking me in. Their business collapsed, their house burned down—everything." She laughed bitterly. "They said I brought destruction wherever I went. They were right."

"They were wrong."

"They weren't! Look at me!" She gestured at herself—broken, bleeding, worthless. "I'm twenty-seven years old and I sleep in cemeteries. I have nothing. I am nothing. You should stay as far away from me as possible before I ruin your life too."

"I've faced warlords and armies," Grayson said quietly. "I'm not afraid of curses or bad luck or whatever superstition your relatives used to justify their cruelty."

"Then what are you afraid of?"

"Failing you again."

The words hung between them, simple and devastating.

Ava opened her mouth to respond when Grayson's phone erupted with notifications. Buzz after buzz, the screen lighting up with incoming messages.

Grayson pulled it out, frowning. His private intelligence team. He opened the messages.

BREAKING: Reed Industries now loses major infrastructure contract

Reed Industries stock plummeting after investor exodus

Sources claim Reed family facing bankruptcy within days

Gerald Reed will be unable to explain sudden financial collapse

Message after message, all documenting the Reed empire's freefall in real-time.

Grayson felt nothing. No satisfaction. No regret. Just cold certainty that they were reaping what they'd sown.

"What is it?" Ava asked.

Grayson showed her the screen. "The family I stayed with for three years. They're learning what it means to lose everything."

Ava squinted at the messages, then gasped. Her hand flew to her mouth.

"That's Vanessa Reed," she whispered. "I know her."

Grayson's eyes sharpened. "How?"

"High school. She was a senior when I was a freshman." Ava's voice shook. "She and her friends made my life hell. They found out I was homeless, that I slept wherever I could. They called me 'cemetery rat' because sometimes I'd sleep at my parents' grave—it was the only place I felt safe."

Grayson's grip on the phone tightened until the screen cracked.

"They'd follow me," Ava continued, tears spilling freely now. "Find wherever I was sleeping and call the cops. Get me kicked out. Pour food on me in the cafeteria. Tell everyone my parents were criminals who deserved to die." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Vanessa was the worst. She'd smile while doing it. Like it was a game."

Something dark and terrible moved behind Grayson's eyes. The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

"You're telling me," he said slowly, each word precise, "that Vanessa Reed personally tormented you. For years."

Ava nodded, wiping her eyes. "I dropped out eventually. Couldn't take it anymore. Why?"

Grayson looked at her—this broken woman who'd saved his life and paid for it with everything—and then at his phone, at Vanessa's name plastered across headlines about financial ruin.

The Dragon had been patient. Merciful, even.

That mercy just ended.

"Because," Grayson said, his voice carrying the weight of mountains, "Vanessa Reed didn't just steal my wife's place. She tortured my wife for sport." His eyes met Ava's, and she saw something in them that made her shiver—not from fear, but from the certainty that justice was coming. "And that changes everything.”