Chapter 14 – The Price of Power

Emery’s POV

The day started in silence, yet it was a silence that held promises of chaos. I could sense the tension across Killian’s shoulders as we dressed in the dim light. I saw it; it was there in the way he refused to meet my gaze—he wasn't trying to act cold or distant, but because his mind was already elsewhere. Planning. Strategizing. Bracing himself. 

Occasionally, he would frown, his brows or forehead would deepen, and sometimes he would exalt loudly like he had gotten to a dead end.

“You don’t have to come,” he said, adjusting his cufflinks, his tight tone carrying a hint of tension.

“Yes, I do.”

He turned to face me, his eyes dark and his expression flat and unreadable. "It won’t be clean."

“Are we any different? Neither is anything about us.”

That brought a light smile to his lips. It held something warm. But it disappeared just as quickly as it came

The confrontation was held in the boardroom, and it was masked as a negotiation between two companies, yet nothing about the atmosphere felt diplomatic. It was a trap, and we were both aware of it and still, we both arrived at the agreed location

Lawrence Vale—the rival entrepreneur aiming to seize Killian’s empire—waited for us in a glass-walled conference room downtown, he was surrounded by his sycophants and exuded a smug arrogance that made my skin crawl.

Killian strode in with the composure of a monarch entering his enemy's ground, but he wasn't faded. Controlled. Deadly.

The atmosphere shifted when the door closed behind us.

"Wolfe," Lawrence greeted, he sat in his chair as if he owned the place. "I hear your assets are slipping away from your hand. It must be tough watching your little empire fall apart."

Killian smiled—but it didn’t reach his eyes. "The only thing slipping is your grip on reality."

The room fell silent.

Then Lawrence pushed a folder across the table. "Everything the board needs to strip you of your authority. Signed. Sealed. Delivered."

My breath caught in my throat.

Killian didn’t even glance down. "You’ve overplayed your hand, Vale."

Lawrence chuckled. "And what are you going to do? Threaten me? Beat me to a pulp in front of your new pet?"

I flinched.

But Killian remained unfazed.

He moved with a speed I thought was impossible. One moment he was composed; the next, Lawrence was pinned against the wall, Killian’s fist buried in his gut, papers flying everywhere.

"Let me clarify something," Killian growled, his voice sharp as a knife. "If you come after my business, I will fight you. If you come after her—" his fist slammed into the wall next to Lawrence's head, "—I will end you." 

Guards rushed in, yet Killian remained unyielding, standing tall and unaffected. Lawrence was left gasping, his face flushed with humiliation. 

This side of Killian was a side I had never seen before. I was new and terrified. But I wasn't scared for myself. Rather, I was scared for him— Lawrence. 

His shoulder, which was high when we first entered the boardroom, had fallen.

No one dared to challenge Killian Wolfe. 

Hours later, back at the penthouse, the weight of the day's event pressed heavily on my chest like a stone. 

"You didn’t need to go that far," I said, pacing the living room. "You made him look foolish." 

Killian, now dressed in a fresh shirt, leaned against the counter, his eyes narrowed as he observed me. "He targeted you, and besides, he is a fool.”

"I’m not a pawn, Killian. I’m not just a reason for you to show off your power." 

"I didn’t use you," he retorted sharply. "I safeguarded you." 

"Is there a difference?" I asked bitterly. "Because I can’t tell anymore. I saw you transform into someone else today." 

His jaw tightened. "I became the man I need to be to survive." 

My heart jumped into my mouth at his words. It became clear that I didn't really know as I thought I did. I thought I had seen the man behind the mask but I hadn't. I was just a fragment of who he was. 

And I remember that story he had told him about himself while growing up. I want to believe that that's the reason why he's so twisted. Why I can't figure him out but I can't

I want to see him but he would allow it. Whenever he opened up, he would retreat, and he would close up tighter than before, but I wouldn't let him down this time.

"And what am I?" I stepped closer, my voice quivering. "Just another asset you protect for your own gain? Or do I actually hold significance?" 

He closed the gap between us in two strides. "Don’t do that." 

"Do what?" 

Turn this into something you can walk away from," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "Because you’re in this now, Emery. Whether you like it or not." 

I looked up at him, my anger and fear clashing in my chest. "And what if I want out?" 

He didn’t respond. 

He kissed me. 

With intensity. 

Desperation. 

As if possession was the only language left for him to speak. 

My hands found their way to his chest, pushing and pulling, wanting to understand. But the kiss didn’t bring answers—it only ignited my questions. 

When we finally pulled away, breathless and shaken, the space between us felt both charged and delicate. 

"I don’t recognize who you are anymore," I whispered. 

"I don’t either," he replied. "Not when I’m with you.”

I couldn’t find sleep.

Not because of the kiss or the lingering taste of desperation that still clings to my lips. But because I couldn’t erase the image of what Killian had done—how he had lost control, how the monster lurking behind the man had shown itself without remorse.

He was frightening.

He was stunning.

And I despise that I couldn’t decide which emotion was stronger.

I stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the city lights flicker beneath me, trying to convince myself that I still had a choice.

I could walk away.

I should walk away.

And yet…

The sound of his low deep voice could be heard through the gap in the door. He was on the phone. Moving back and forth. Speaking sharply yet quietly.

I knew I shouldn’t eavesdrop.

But I did.

“She doesn’t know,” Killian stated. “And I won’t tell her until I have to. Not until I have dealt with it.”

A pause.

A frustrated grunt.

Then—

“If Vale makes another move, the agreement with Reign Holdings could fall apart. I can’t let that happen. Not now—not with her so close to leaving.”

My heart hammered in my chest. What deal?

And what the hell did it have to do with me?

I retreated before he could see me, quietly slipping into the hallway and then into the library. My refuge.

I needed space. Time. Answers.

But the moment I stepped inside, something caught my attention—a pile of folders left on the mahogany desk. One of them had my name labeled on the tab.

My throat went dry.

Against my better judgment, I opened it.

Inside were surveillance images. Me entering my old apartment. Chatting with friends. Shopping.

My heart broke into a million pieces but I don't want to believe that the SHE he was talking about was not me. I chose not to believe it was me. 

Emails. Background checks. My ex-boss’s statement. A copy of the non-disclosure agreement I signed after the Tobias scandal erupted.

My world shifted.

Killian hadn’t only just stumbled into my life.

He had investigated it.

Planned it.

He screamed his way into every aspect of my existence.

The kiss.

The proposal.

The protection.

Was any of it genuine?

Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring the edges of the documents. My knees gave out, and I collapsed onto the carpeted floor.

He was aware of Tobias long before I ever mentioned it. He knew about the trauma, the court settlements, the scars I had thought I was able to hide from the world but he knew. He was aware of it all 

And stit, he came into my life like a man who had been deprived of sustenance.

I heard his footsteps mere seconds before the door creaked open.

"Emery?"

I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. I just couldn’t.

"I trusted you," I murmured, my voice barely rising above a whisper. "I wanted to trust you."

His silence was louder than an answer.

"Was everything between us… part of your arrangement?" I finally turned to face him, clutching the file with my trembling hands. "Or was it just part of your tactic?"

His face paled but it was just for a second. Then his steel mask returned.

“I did what I had to do.”

My heart shattered at his causal response. It was like he didn't care that I found out. I saw no remorse in his words

“I didn’t plan to fall in love with you,” he added, softer now. “That… that was never part of the strategy.”

I flinched at the word.

This was the second time he said those words to me. And it hurt my hand found its way to my chest, and gripped it so hard that I could almost hold my heart and it was bleeding after being stabbed by his betrayal

"So what am I, Killian?" I whispered. "A vulnerability? A risk? Or just another power play you couldn’t resist?"

His jaw tightened. "You’re the only thing that ever made me question all of this."

I shook my head, my tears streaming down freely. "I don’t know what’s more painful—what you did or the fact that I still want to believe you meant every word you spoke."

The silence between us was taut and unyielding.

“I need space,” I said finally, rising to my feet. “And for once, I need that decision to be mine.”

He didn’t try to stop me this time.

He didn’t follow.

He didn’t beg.

And maybe that hurt more than anything.

The penthouse door clicked shut behind me.

Outside, the air was sharp and cold, biting at my skin as if the universe wanted me to stay awake—and wanted me to feel everything.

I walked.

No destination. No plan. Just my feet moving one after the other through a city that suddenly felt foreign. I didn’t care that it was past midnight. Or that I was still in the silk dress Killian had chosen for the dinner I now wished I could erase.

I just needed to breathe. To think.

But as soon as I reached the park at the end of the street, it struck me.

The weight. The loss. The brutal ache of betrayal.

I sank onto a bench, fingers numb, vision blurred with tears.

He knew.

From the very beginning, he had known everything. My secrets. My pain. My scars. And he still allowed me to believe I had control of this narrative.

A sob escaped before I could contain it.

And then my phone buzzed

1 New Voicemail

I hesitated… then pressed play.

Emery.”

His voice was low, rough.

“I know I don’t deserve the chance to explain. I never intended for you to find those files in that way. I should have told you sooner. I should have trusted you the way I asked you to trust me.”

A long pause.

“But I didn’t lie about how I feel. Not about us. That’s the only thing I never planned for—and the only thing I can’t walk away from.”

Another pause.

“There’s something you don’t know. Something that might change how you see all of this. I didn’t just choose you, Emery. I had to protect you. Because someone else was looking into your past. Someone dangerous. And I couldn’t allow them to use you the way I—”

Static. Then the message was abruptly cut off.

My stomach twisted.

Someone else?

Who?

And what had Killian meant when he said he had to protect me?

I stood slowly, heart racing —not with heartbreak, but with fear.

Because if Killian wasn’t the only one digging into my life…

Then I wasn’t merely a pawn in his game.

I was a pawn in something much bigger.

And I was running out of time to figure out who was playing me next