Chapter 354: Whole
When I first woke up, my stomach was screaming louder than my head. Figures—after the merciless pounding Kael had given me, I’d burned through what little energy I had left. He was still sleeping then, chest rising and falling, his face obnoxiously peaceful and unfairly beautiful. I couldn’t even nudge him awake.
So I forced myself out of bed, every muscle in my body protesting, my legs barely holding me up. I muttered curses under my breath the entire trek to the kitchen, found pastries, and stuffed one in my mouth right there by the counter. Then, plate in hand, I limped back toward the room.
I wasn’t prepared for what I found.
Kael... my unshakable, cold, terrifying Kael... was frantic. He was calling my name, voice sharp, eyes wild, like he’d seen something I couldn’t.
"Kael?" I froze in the doorway.
He didn’t answer. He lunged. The plate slipped from my hands as he crushed me against him, burying his face into my neck so hard it almost hurt.
My heart twisted. What was this?
The phone rang. He ignored it at first. I let him hold me, stroking his hair to soothe whatever storm was clawing inside him. But when it wouldn’t stop ringing, I nudged him to pick it up.
He did. And I watched him. Closely.
I watched as fear flickered in his eyes, then anger, then something else—dread. All tangled together, tight and ugly. He exchanged a few curt words, his jaw tense, then cut the call.
I immediately reached up, cupping his face in my hands. "Kael, who was that?"
He didn’t answer. Not with words. He just lifted me quietly and carried me to the bed, pressing me down into the sheets, climbing on top of me as if needing to anchor himself against me. His face buried back into my neck, and I stroked his hair again like he was a child needing comfort.
"What’s wrong?" I whispered. "Is it work? Did something bad happen?"
It took him a long moment before he finally spoke. His voice was hoarse, low. "It’s my father."
My brows pinched. "What’s he up to this time?" I asked, already bracing myself for some new cruel demand from Ewan Roman.
But Kael’s reply made my chest hollow out. "He collapsed."
I stiffened under him. "What?"
"He collapsed," he repeated, slower this time, as if testing the weight of the words.
"Oh my God..." I breathed. I immediately pulled back, searching his face, desperate to read what this news was doing to him. "Kael—are you okay?"
His expression was unreadable, eyes dark, guarded. "I don’t know. They didn’t tell me much. Just that he’s... stable. If I want answers, I’ll have to go there myself."
I nodded faintly. Of course. Of course we’d have to go back. There was no other way.
Still, I couldn’t shake the image of how he’d panicked before the call. His father aside, why had he looked so terrified when I walked in?
"Kael." I cupped his jaw, forcing him to look at me. His eyes were so heavy, exhaustion clinging to them. "What’s on your mind? Tell me what you’re thinking."
His lips parted, and for a second I swore he wouldn’t answer. Then, quietly, he did.
"I’m thinking about us. About leaving all of this. Moving somewhere far. Somewhere no one knows us. Just you and me."
My throat tightened. Emotion swelled in me so sharp I couldn’t name it.
"Is that too much for you?" he asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft, almost vulnerable.
I let out a breath that trembled into a laugh. "We can start packing now."
The corner of his mouth tugged into the faintest smile—tired, but real. He leaned down, brushing a soft kiss against my lips, then pressed harder, deeper, his hands framing my face like I was the only anchor left in his storm.
By the time the next morning bled into noon, Kael was already in that cold, efficient mode I hated watching him slip into. His phone hardly left his hand, his voice steady as he fired instructions to Niko and the rest of his men, every word clipped, decisive. Deals, security arrangements, medical updates... he juggled them all like he’d been born to bear the weight of the world.
I lingered by the balcony, watching the waves lap against the Formentera shore. It already felt bittersweet, knowing we were leaving.
That evening, we boarded Kael’s yacht. He barely spared the view a glance; his mind was elsewhere, his posture sharp as a blade. I stayed beside him on the deck, head leaned against his shoulder, pretending I didn’t notice how tightly he gripped his phone, how often his jaw clenched when another call came in.
By the time Madrid came into view, I was exhausted. For hours we’d been locked in his villa here, like ghosts passing through rooms, doing only what mattered. I didn’t ask questions. He didn’t offer answers.
And then came the jet. Kael’s private jet was all smooth luxury, polished leather and hushed staff. But even wrapped in silence, he didn’t relax. He paced sometimes, speaking to men whose names I didn’t know in languages I only half understood. Other times he sat beside me, his large hand covering mine, his thumb tracing circles absentmindedly while his eyes stared out the oval window like the clouds themselves carried enemies.
I wanted to ask him again, what he was thinking, what he was feeling but the truth was written all over him: dread, fury, control.
The landing came too soon. The moment we stepped off the jet, reality hit harder than the humid air of home. Security, cars, flashing lights in the distance. I thought Kael and I would go straight to the hospital, face his father’s condition together.
Instead, as soon as we reached the black car waiting for us, Kael’s hand was at the small of my back, guiding me firmly inside.
"I’m coming with you," I blurted before he shut the door.
He leaned down, his lips brushing mine, slow and deliberate. "No, Firefly. Not this time."
"Kael, don’t—"
He kissed me again, harder this time, his hand cupping my jaw. "You don’t need to see him. Not today. You need rest."
"I don’t care about rest." My fingers fisted in his shirt, desperate. "I care about you. I should be by your side."
His eyes softened just enough to undo me, but his voice was still firm. "I’ll be fine. Just trust me."
I hated it. I hated how much he could disarm me with a kiss, with that unbearable tenderness in his gaze. But I gave in, if only because I didn’t want to add to the storm already brewing in him. I let him close the door, watched him disappear into the night in another car heading the opposite direction.
When the driver asked if he should take me to Kael’s penthouse, I shook my head. "My place," I said quietly.
And for the first time in weeks, I was driven back to the tiny apartment that used to be my whole world.