THE COST OF SAVING HIM 의 모든 챕터: 챕터 11 - 챕터 20

The city looked different before sunrise.Maybe it was because I had never really been awake to see it at this hour, or maybe it was because exhaustion had started blurring the edges of everything. Either way, the streets outside the tinted windows felt strangely distant, as though I were watching someone else's life move past instead of my own.Streetlights cast long golden reflections across empty roads. A few early commuters hurried along sidewalks with coffee cups in hand, completely unaware that somewhere across the city a woman was sitting in the backseat of a black car wondering how her entire life had managed to collapse in less than twenty-four hours.I lowered my gaze to the phone resting in my lap.Seventeen missed calls.Twenty-three messages, every single one from Mara.The guilt hit immediately.I could already imagine her reaction. She was probably pacing her apartment, convinced I'd either been arrested, kidnapped, or murdered. Knowing Mara, she'd likely cycled through

Nadia's POV I woke up slowly, not because I wanted to, but because my body seemed determined to remain exactly where it was. For a while, I stayed still beneath unfamiliar sheets, staring at the ceiling and trying to understand why I felt unusually rested. That alone felt suspicious. The last thing I remembered clearly was being annoyed, exhausted, arguing, and being brought into a house that looked expensive enough to belong in another country entirely. After that, nothing. My brows pulled together. I pushed myself upright and reached for my phone. 10:37 AM. I stared, then checked again. That wasn't normal. I wasn't someone who slept this late. University had practically trained me to survive on little sleep and poor decisions, so waking up close to eleven felt wrong in a way I couldn't explain. My attention shifted slowly toward the bedside table. There was a glass of water sitting there, half empty. I looked at it for several seconds. Interesting. Maybe I was overthinking, o

For several seconds after Kane spoke, nobody moved. The room stayed exactly as it was — the morning light still stretched across the floor, the phone remained in my hand, Mara's name still sat at the top of the screen. Everything looked normal, which felt wrong, because a few minutes ago she had simply been my friend. Now somehow strangers knew her name.I looked down at the phone again, then back up. My throat felt tight, like something had settled there that I couldn't swallow past. "...they want Mara?"Kane didn't answer immediately. He remained standing beside the window, his expression unchanged in the way that had started becoming familiar to me — not because he didn't care, but because apparently panic wasn't something he allowed himself. Lev stayed near the desk. Neither of them looked surprised. That scared me more than anything else could have.I swallowed. "Why her?" Kane looked at me. "They can't reach you." Simple and Direct. Like that explained everything. Maybe it did.

The black SUV rolled to a smooth stop beneath the covered entrance of Kane Corporation just after eight. Glass stretched upward in impossible lines above the vehicle, reflecting the pale morning sky and swallowing the surrounding buildings until the entire structure looked less like an office and more like something designed to remind people exactly who owned this part of the city. The driver stepped out first. Lev exited from the front. Then Kane. The moment his shoes touched the pavement, movement followed. Security straightened. Employees near the entrance lowered their voices. A receptionist standing inside immediately stood. Nobody rushed. Nobody stared. People simply adjusted. Kane buttoned his jacket once and started walking. "Good morning, sir." He gave a small nod. Nothing more. Another employee moved aside immediately. Someone else stopped speaking halfway through a sentence. None of them looked nervous, not exactly. It was closer to awareness. Kane wasn't loud, never had

Kane's POVThe office had been quiet after his father left. Nobody entered. Nobody interrupted. The city stretched beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, indifferent and vast, while untouched files remained spread across the desk like a problem Kane hadn't decided to solve yet.He sat in the same position for several moments before finally reaching for the next document.A knock interrupted him.His secretary stepped inside carefully, a tablet held against her chest. "Sir, your meeting with the Eastern Development Group is in two hours. I wanted to confirm whether I should send the updated presentation to the board before—""Cancel it."She stopped. Her fingers tightened slightly around the tablet. "Sir?"Kane finally looked up — not annoyed, not angry, just enough for her to immediately understand she had asked once too many."Cancel it."Her posture straightened. "Okay, sir. I'll notify everyone." She pressed something quickly on the tablet and left without another word. The door clos