Chapter 9

Killian’s POV

“Please… please don’t!” I screamed, my voice breaking as she shoved me down the cold basement steps. My knees scraped against the rough floor when I fell.

“I didn’t do it,” I cried, tears burning my eyes as I reached for her shadow in the doorway. “Please, I swear I didn’t.” But my begging meant nothing. Katherine’s face loomed above me, twisted with rage, her eyes full with hate I never understood. 

“Next time you’ll keep your filthy hands off my son,” she spat, her voice sharp enough to cut through my chest. “You little bastard.” The slam of the door echoed like thunder, sealing me in. 

Darkness closed in too quickly, and the air felt too thin, like it was being stolen from my lungs. But what broke me wasn’t the darkness—it was the face I saw just before the door shut. Rowan. 

Standing there behind her, his mouth curling into a cruel smile. My own brother. Watching. Enjoying it. Knowing he had caused this. My chest tightened, fear turning to a scream that clawed its way out of me.

I jerked awake, my voice still raw. “Please!” The shadows of the room spun until a soft hand pressed against my face. “Hey, Killian,” River’s voice whispered, low and steady. “It’s just a dream. You’re dreaming.”

My breath came in short, sharp pulls as I blinked up at her. She was on my bed, leaning close, her fingers warm against my skin. Her touch grounded me, but the ache inside me didn’t leave. That dream… no, that memory. It never left.

For years I had been dragged back into that basement every time I closed my eyes. Back into the cold, into the darkness, into the sound of Katherine’s cruel voice and Rowan’s smile. Many never knew Rowan was my half brother. 

Only the maids from those days remembered the truth, but the world believed the lie. My stepmother hated me for reasons I could never understand, and my father never cared enough to stop her.

Two days. That was how long I stayed locked down there, hungry, crying for my mother who could never come, praying she would walk back through the door and pull me into her arms. But she never did. 

She was gone, stolen by death, and I was left with nothing but the hollow echo of her absence. I swallowed hard, trying to steady my voice, but it still came out broken. “Why… Why did she hate me so much?”

River’s eyes softened as she rubbed my shoulder gently. “I’m sorry, dear,” she whispered, her touch tender, her voice carrying a warmth I had longed for my whole life. But deep down, nothing could erase the truth. 

The past had branded me. Every scar, every nightmare, every piece of pain was etched into me forever. I hated this part of me, the side that tore down the walls I built and made me look weak, small, like a helpless child. 

I hated River seeing me like this. This was the second time she had watched me thrash in my sleep, trembling from nightmares I could never shake. But what I hated even more was the way I needed her afterwards. 

The comfort. The warmth. The way she made me feel safe, something I had not known since I was a boy. “Come here, Killian,” she whispered, her arms opening. Without a second thought I leaned in, burying my face against her like a lost child clinging to his mother. 

Her hand stroked my back in slow, steady circles, each touch calming the storm inside me. “You’ll be fine, Killian,” she said softly, her voice breaking through the shadows that still clung to me. “One day you’ll wake up and this dream will be gone.”

Her words wrapped around me like a blanket. For a moment I wished this was real—not just our act, not just the fragile arrangement we lived in. I wished whatever we had could be something lasting. I wished I could hold her every time the nightmares came. 

I wished she was mine.

The thought burned inside me, making me want to lift my head, look at her, and press my lips to hers. I wanted to thank her, not with words, but with something that showed how much she had given me without even knowing. 

Since I walked out of rehab I had been a ghost, working day and night to keep myself standing, to claw back the pieces of a life I thought I had lost. But when River stepped into it, everything shifted. She made the empty days bearable. 

She made the darkest nights lighter. She was a healer without realizing it, stitching parts of me back together that I thought would never mend. “Happy birthday, River,” I murmured, turning my face toward hers before brushing a gentle kiss against her forehead.

She blinked, then laughed, the sound warm and surprised. “I even forgot it was today.”

“I didn’t,” I said, a small smile tugging at my lips. “I planned something for later. A nice dinner. Just for you.”

“Okay, I’ll do that after work,” she answered with a smile. “You can take the day off. It’s your birthday,” I told her, though I already knew what she would say.

She shook her head, strands of her hair brushing against my cheek. “I have a lot to finish up, Killian. But I promise I’ll meet you after work.”

“Fine,” I muttered, though I hated it. She tilted her head, studying me with those steady eyes that always seemed to see too much. “I’ll stay a little while longer,” she said, her hand still patting my back. 

“I don’t mind going in late.”

Something in me broke at that. I sank deeper into her embrace, breathing her in like I needed her more than air. Her hand never stopped moving, gentle and sure, and slowly the weight of exhaustion pressed down on me again. 

My eyelids grew heavy, the sound of her voice still humming softly above me, and before long I was drifting back into sleep—only this time, wrapped in her arms, the darkness did not feel so heavy.

River’s POV

I had not been myself for days after Rowan showed up at our home. His presence had unsettled me so deeply that sleep became a stranger. That morning I woke before the sun, my chest heavy with thoughts I could not shake. 

I slipped out of bed and headed downstairs, hoping a cup of coffee would calm the storm inside me. The bitter warmth slid down my throat, but it did little to ease me. 

When I finished, I climbed back upstairs, and went straight to my baby’s room. She lay curled beneath her little blanket, her chest rising and falling in the kind of peace I had long forgotten. 

Looking at her, I felt both full and broken at the same time. She was everything to me, the reason I kept going. She was mine and I would never let Rowan take even the smallest place in her world. 

He may have given her life, but he would never be her father. Not now, not ever. A tear slipped from my eye before I even knew it was there. I wiped it away quickly and turned back toward my room, but something tugged at me. 

A thought I could not ignore.

Killian.

The last time I had gone into his room, I had found him tangled in his sheets, trapped inside some nightmare so fierce it shook his whole body. That memory haunted me now. I pushed his door open softly, and my heart clenched at the sight before me. 

He was shaking again, his chest heaving, his hands clenching the sheets as if he was fighting an invisible enemy. His skin glistened with sweat and his lips moved with words I could not hear. 

“Killian,” I whispered as I rushed to his side, my hands pressing gently against his shoulders. He struggled beneath my touch, lost in that dark dream. “Killian, wake up. It’s me, River. You’re safe.” 

His eyes snapped open, wild and clouded, before they found me. His breathing was ragged, but I held him close, wrapping my arms around him until the tremors in his body began to ease. 

For a moment, he only leaned against me, silent, as if pulling himself back from a place he never wanted to be. Then, with a voice hoarse but warm, he said, “Happy birthday, River.” The words startled me. My birthday? I had forgotten. 

A small laugh escaped me, shaky and disbelieving, as I shook my head at myself. “I can’t believe I didn’t even remember.” He gave me a faint smile, though his eyes were still shadowed by whatever dream had gripped him. 

“I remembered,” he said, his voice low. “And I planned something for you.”

“You know I have to work,” I whispered. “Just for today River, give yourself a break. You deserve it atleast” Killian said. And for a moment I knew what he said was the truth. I needed rest.

“Fine, I'll call to tell them I’m taking a day off,” I replied. I stayed beside him until the tension drained from his body and his breathing slowed again. 

One thought lingered in my mind like a prayer. Killian was a good man, better than I deserved, and one day I hoped those nightmares would let him go.

-

Killian drove us through the glowing city, and I could feel his eyes on me even when he was supposed to be looking at the road. The corner of his mouth curled like he was holding back a smile.

“Hey,” I teased, tilting my head toward him, “keep your eyes on the road or you’ll kill us both.” He let out a low laugh, the kind that seemed to rumble from his chest. 

“My bad, but when you look like a diamond why wouldn’t I stare?” I rolled my eyes, though my lips tugged upward against my will. “Noted. Next time I’ll make sure to look less like a diamond so you won’t crash the car.”

That broke both of us into laughter that lingered long after the sound faded. The car finally slowed to a stop, and when I stepped out, I was marveled. The restaurant stood like something from a dream, all glass and gold, its entrance glowing under soft lights. 

Inside, chandeliers spilled light across the marble floors, and every table was dressed in silk and roses. People turned when we walked in, and for a second it felt like the whole place had been made to celebrate me.

Killian led the way to our reserved table near the large windows where the city lights stretched endlessly outside. He pulled out a chair for me like a gentle man, and I sank into it as my eyes caught him fully for the first time tonight.

The black suit he wore hugged him in all the right places, sharp against his broad shoulders and chest. The crisp white shirt beneath only made the lines of his body stand out more, and his dark tie gave him an edge that made him look both powerful and untouchable. 

He sat across from me, leaning back in his chair like he owned the room, yet his gaze held only me. “Happy birthday once again, River,” he said, his voice calm yet threaded with something heavier, something that made my pulse quicken.

Killian leaned forward, his gaze sweeping over me. “Well, before we even look at the menu, I need to take a picture of you in this dress.” His voice was low but playful. “You look too stunning not to capture this moment.”

I laughed lightly, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear as he pulled out his phone. He tilted it, studying angles as if nothing but perfection would do. “Alright,” he said, “give me that smile.”

I let my lips curve, and at that exact second, my own phone lit up on the table, vibrating against the glass with a sharp sound that made me glance down.

One new message. Unknown number.

I picked it up, expecting maybe another birthday text. My smile froze. My breath snagged in my throat.

‘Happy birthday, River.’ The words glared back at me, followed by an image that hollowed out my chest. It was me. Completely naked.

Who had this picture? How did they get it? Why now? I kept my face still, forcing my lips into the shape of calm, but inside I was crumbling. And then it all clicked.

The only person that had access to these pictures was Rowan.