Chapter 23: Hollow Without Her

Killian’s POV

The shield I had created to cover her from the world, the cruel one I live in, from the threat of my enemies. that shield had begun to crack.

I could feel it. It wasn't noticeable at first, but the cracks had begun to make itself more visible

And now?

Now, it felt like everything was shattering.

I don't know how long it will hold.

I didn't even know if it even exists anymore.

She had left the club room… she said needed space.

And for once, I let her go.

Not because I wanted to… but because she looked like she would suffocate if I didn’t.

So I watched her walk away.

Watched her as her spine stiffen

Her bright eyes glistened

Her voice trembled with things yet unsaid

Each step she took snapped something between us.

And still I stayed glued to the floor.

She would come back, she is just angry from not knowing the truth, she is confused, she doesn't know who to believe… yet

That was what I told

Dubai hadn't done anything

It couldn't and it wouldn't

“Dubai can't crack the foundation we had just started to rebuild, right?” I shouted aloud but there was no one to respond. So how am I sure that Dubai can't break us? 

I had asked aloud in hopes she had changed her mind and come back not needing space. 

That maybe… just maybe she would be patient and let me tell her when the time was right.

But deep down, I knew better.

That photo, the one that had her with Crest in it, the same one that wrote in bold black ink "Ask Killian what he did in Dubai."

Someone was planning.

They wanted her to doubt me. To fear me.

And the worst part was that It was working all in their favor. That was the part I didn't see coming

They had a reason. They alway did

I returned to finish the conversation I had walked away from. The first in a long time that didn't involve strategies to keep the press away from Emery. We talked about business, security protocols, and plans for containment for my company development. But my thoughts never left her.

And something… something inside of me was unsettled, I kept on replaying her last expression.

It was a feeling I couldn’t shake off. By the time the meeting ended, my chest was tight, my pulse hammering against my collarbone.

I walked out of the clubhouse and scanned the grounds.

And she wasn’t there.

She wasn't at the fountain, she wasn't even under the garden lights she said reminded her of Paris. She was nowhere to be found.

Still, I told myself she would be at the estate.

She had to be.

And when I got home, the lights in her suite were still on and the curtains were open.

Her coffee sat on the coffee table untouched. It was still warm, like it had been poured and left in a hurry.

Her sweater was folded neatly on the armrest and the Emery I knew would not leave her sweater that neat 

I frowned and moved quickly.

“She’s not here,” I muttered under my breath.

I called down to the kitchen.

Helen answered. “Yes, sir?”

“Where’s Emery?”

But the person at the other end was taking too long to respond. Helen took a deep breath before saying “She hasn’t returned. I assumed she was with you.”

I went still.

No, no, no.

I checked my phone and there were no messages, not even a single missed call.

I called Kai—the one guard assigned to shadow her secretly. The one I trusted above all else.

The line disconnected before it rang.

That’s when my heart dropped.

No one disables Kai’s line unless…

Unless… they can’t.

Unless he had already been silenced.

I tore through the house checking the security logs, the hallway footage, every inch of the estate’s system even the one that had the club house footage

The last image of her caught on camera was from two hours before. she was walking through the garden gate with her arms crossed and she was alone

Then there was nothing after that.

Every other footage after that had been wiped off the system 

Just static and silence.

I called Hale.

His voice was tense. “Boss?”

“She’s gone,” I snapped. “I want eyes on the road, on every traffic light from here to the goddamn ocean. I want air drones in the sky and the city locked down like it’s a damn warzone.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And Hale?”

“Sir?”

“If she’s not found by morning, I’ll make them all bleed.”

Day One….

We tore through the city.

My security team scoured black markets, airstrips, abandoned buildings, anywhere that someone could be hidden and would disappear without a trace.

I burned through favors like wildfire. Made calls I had sworn never to make again.

Pulled strings that left blood on my palms.

But every lead I got all met a dead end

And the worst part was that I couldn’t feel her.

I had alway believed that we were connected. I was able to feel her, that's how I usually figured her out. That's how I was able to understand her feelings — to know when she had cried, when she had laughed, when she was nervous, anxious….

I could usually sense her from across the room, feel her breathing in the quiet.

But now?

There was just silence

A hollow.

Day Two…

Hale's call came just after dawn.

His voice was clipped, controlled. But I heard what he wasn’t saying—heard it in the sharp pause before he spoke.

“We found him.”

I didn’t need to ask who.

I had already grabbed my coat and drove out to the site. The drive was short and I needed more time, more distance between me and the inevitable. But the world didn't slow down when it wants to send a message of grief.

Hale had shared the location with me. It was a construction zone on the city’s edge, it was a long abandoned site.

Concrete dust was floating in the air like ash.

And there was a river…

It wasn’t even a river. It was just a thick, black line of water that barely moved that was choked with oil and trash.

I found Hale standing beneath a slab of collapsed wooden framework that was once used to support the building. He didn’t say anything when I approached, he just nodded toward the edge of the bank.

And there he was — Kai.

His face was down, half-submerged in the dirt,his limbs were twisted like he had been thrown there without thought.

It was just one shot.

Just a shot at the back of the head, he was shot at a close range and there was no sign of struggle.

I squat beside his body, ignoring the unpleasant strong smell of decaying life and death.

One of my men rolled him over gently.

His eyes were still wide open.

As if he had seen it coming but too late to react

As if he knew he had failed me.

Like he knew what that failure meant.

“His comms were stripped,” Hale murmured. “No phone, no weapon, there is nothing on him.”

I didn’t respond. 

I couldn’t.

My eyes were locked on something tangled in the front of his shirt — it was a silver chain 

I reached for it slowly, like it might burn me.

It slipped from his collar with a drag. A tiny pendant glinted in the morning light — a moon, carved delicately into a crescent.

It was Emery’s.

The one I gave her the day I asked her to stay.

“Keep this with you,” I had said to her. “Even when I can’t be near, it means I’m watching.”

But now, it was stained with red.

The chain had snapped like someone had ripped it of her neck.

My hand clenched around it until the metal dug into my palm.

“She was with him when it happened,” I said, voice low, flat. “He died protecting her.”

Hale didn’t argue.

Because we both knew Kai would never leave her side.

Not unless he was forced to.

Not unless he was already dead.

Crest. It was him

It had to be him.

This wasn’t just about leverage anymore.

This was a message.

He wanted me to go berserk

He wanted me to suffer.

Day Three…

I hadn’t eaten and barely had any sleep

My team was unraveling at the seams. Every hour passed with nothing but silence.

Until a message came.

It was encrypted, it had no sender and couldn't be traced.

It was a location ping.

A single sentence:

“Come alone or don’t come at all.”

Attached was a video.

I wasn't clear but it was enough.

Emery was bound to a chair in a dark room, there were bruises on her cheek, her lip had split but she wasn't crying or screaming.

Just staring at the camera like she already knew she was being watched.

And I did the one thing I never do.

I broke.

Sank to my knees on the floor and clenched my fists until my nails bit blood from my palms. I know that video was fabricated but still it broke me

I was the one who let her go that night.

I had told myself that space would help.

I thought I was protecting her.

But love without action is just another lie.

And I had lied too many times.

Day Four…

Mel showed up the next morning.

She tried to tell me to rest.

I nearly broke the glass in my hand.

“Rest?” I hissed. “You want me to rest while she’s out there?”

Her expression was a mix of heartbreak and fear. “You are unraveling.”

I smiled coldly. “I was never whole to begin with.”

Later that afternoon, a lead came. It was a tip from someone within Emery's adopters circle

A whisper that Julian Crest had taken her to a private estate two hours outside the city. At an old diplomatic compound with underground tunnels, built like a fortress.

I didn’t wait.

I immediately sent in my team to check if the info was correct and it was indeed useful information. They had a four man team to patrol rotation and though it was an old diplomatic compound, it was heavily guarded.

And there was one room that was separate from the others, it was heavily guarded. Having more guards then the entire four man patrol team together.

I knew it was her.

I could feel it in my blood.

We moved at midnight after hours of strategic planning.the operation was fast and quiet 

By the time we reached the back corridor, I was already ahead of my team, my gun drawn out, breathing like a possessed man.

Their guards didn't stand a chance against mine

I kicked in the door — and there she was.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, the room was windowless, her arms were wrapped around herself like she was holding the remaining piece of herself together.

Her head whipped toward the noise.

Our eyes met.

And everything inside me broke.

She stood slowly, blinking in disbelief. “Killian?”

I didn’t say anything.

I dropped the gun, crossed the room, and wrapped her in my arms.

She trembled, but she didn’t pull away.

“I thought you’d never come,” she whispered.

“I would’ve burned the world to find you.”

And I meant it.

Back at the estate, she didn’t speak for a long time.

She sat curled in my hoodie, on the couch in my suite, sipping tea she didn’t drink.

She didn’t cry.

Didn’t scream.

She was — just calm 

Like something had snapped.

I sat across from her and said nothing.

Because I knew better than to speak when the wound was still bleeding.

But inside?

I wasn’t calm.

Inside, I was already planning the next move.

Because Crest wasn’t finished.

And I wasn’t letting her out of my sight again.

Even if it meant locking the entire world out.

Even if it meant locking her in.