Dustin's gaze hardened as he looked at the bound figure. "Irene!" he exclaimed, his eyes narrowing.

The woman Bianca had brought was Irene West, tightly bound with thick ropes, knives pressed to her throat by two men who forced her forward. Irene was severely bruised, the marks of rough handling evident.

"Dustin, I'm so sorry," Irene said guiltily. "I went to the school this morning to collect some documents, and they ambushed me halfway there…" She feared she'd implicated him.

Dustin's face darkened. He'd never expected Bianca to target Irene, especially since he wasn't close to her. If Bianca wanted to blackmail him, abducting a Langley family member would have been more effective. However, he'd already assigned his Hell Guards to protect the Langleys, making such a move impossible for Bianca.

"What's the point of this?" Dustin asked, frowning.

"What's the point?" Bianca sneered. "Stop pretending! Irene's clearly special to you. Why else would you give her the priceless Verdigris Emerald? You even helped her deal with Phoebe Chandler and Aaron Burke."

Dustin raised an eyebrow. He didn't consider the emerald particularly valuable, and Phoebe and Aaron had been the aggressors. Still, he couldn't let Irene die.

"What do you want?" he asked calmly.

"What do I want? Softening up now? I thought you had more backbone! In the end, you're defeated by a woman. Dustin! Oh, Dustin! You're not as great as you think!" Bianca taunted, her gaze sharpening. "Shouldn't you be groveling?"

Dustin remained impassive, his face slowly darkening with anger.

"Don't you care about this woman's life?" Bianca produced a small knife, poised to slash Irene's face. "Looks mean more to a woman than life itself!" She didn't believe Dustin would simply watch.

"Dustin, don't worry about me!" Irene gritted her teeth. "I won't be your burden!"

Seeing the knife, she made a decision. She thrust her face toward the blade. Blood spurted from the resulting gash.

Everyone was stunned, including Dustin. He'd never imagined Irene would self-harm to protect him. Bianca reacted swiftly, pulling back the knife, preventing a fatal injury.

"Are you crazy? What's wrong with you?!" Bianca shouted, furious and bewildered.

Dustin's face turned icily cold. He rarely cared for anyone, but Irene's act had profoundly shaken him. Would he let a woman sacrifice herself for him? Was he a coward?

"You will all die!" he said coldly, then moved with blinding speed.

He reached Irene in an instant. Before the men holding her could react, he seized them by the throats, lifting them off the ground. With two sickening cracks, he crushed their windpipes.

Bianca, panicked, dropped her knife and stumbled backward. Dustin's murderous glare froze her in place.