The sound of his casual tone makes something twist violently in my chest. “No.”
The cheer drops instantly. “Shit. What do you need?”
I have to swallow hard against the nausea clawing up my throat. My voice comes out rough, almost cracked, like the words are being dragged out of me. “Kit’s…gone, Sam.”
There’s a beat of stunned silence on the line. “Gone?” Sam repeats, quieter now. “Gonewhere?”
I close my eyes for half a second, the hallway spinning around me. The worst part is I don’t knowwhere he is. I don’t know how he disappeared right under my nose.
“That’s what I need you to find out,” I say, forcing the words past the lump in my throat. “Get Luke, get your team. I need you to hack into Westbridge Mall’s CCTV feeds. All of them. Especially the corridors and entrances near the bathrooms on the ground floor.”
Sam clears his throat, the hesitation obvious even over the line. “Thetoilets, boss?”
“I know there won’t be cameras inside,” I snap, the panic bleeding into my tone. “Butanything. One minute he was in there. The next…gone… no one saw him leave.”
There’s a heavy pause on the other end. “I’ll get what I can,” Sam says, all business now. “I’ll have everything ready for you when you get home. I’ll call immediately if I locate him.”
I don’t even manage a reply before I hang up, my grip so tight on the phone I’m surprised the screen doesn’t crack.
I hang up just as Armen and Selina return, both of them looking grim.
“Nothing, boss,” Armen says. “Fuckingnothing.”
Selina shakes her head; worry carved deep into her features, face paling.
I pat her shoulder once, trying to keep my voice steady. “Remember your role.”
She nods quickly. “Yeah, of course.”
Armen looks between us. “What now?”
I walk back out into the main thoroughfare, eyes scanning the crowd like Kit might magically appear. People are already giving me a wide berth, sensing the storm rolling off me.
“Split up,” I order, voice rough. “Search every corner of this fucking place.”
They both nod and move off in opposite directions.
I don’t bother asking the security guards. Sam and Luke will pull better footage than any rent-a-cop could ever give me. I should head home… I should get in the car right now, drive back to the estate, and watch every second of that footage in the security room like the cold, calculated king I’m supposed to be. But I can’t make myself move. My feet stay rooted to the marble floor while my eyes keep scanning the crowd, desperately searching for a flash of dark curls or that oversized black button-down that still smells like me. I won’t leave yet… not while there’s even the smallest, stupidest chance he’s still somewhere in this building.
Please let this be a prank. Please let him have slipped into a shop to buy some ridiculous surprise. Something I can punish him for later. Something I can growl at him about while I pull him into my lap and pretend I wasn’t terrified.
For half a second the mask slips completely, my face falls, shoulders dropping. The cold, ruthless king fractures and all that’s left is a man who just realized the one person he’s allowed himself to care about might have finally run from him… or worse. The fear of failure hits like ice in my veins. I inhale sharply through my nose, the sound ragged even to my own ears. My hands curl into fists at my sides until the knuckles ache.No. I straighten my spine, lock my jaw, and force the mask back into place with brutal efficiency. But underneath it, the fear lingers like poison.
He has to be here somewhere… hehasto.
Please be here somewhere, Kit.
ChapterFifteen
~ Where are You? ~
Soren
The SUV pulls away from the now-quieting mall, the engine’s low hum the only sound in the otherwise suffocating silence of the cabin.
My hands are fisted so tightly on my thighs that my knuckles have gone white. My jaw is clenched so hard it aches, and my eyes keep twitching… small, involuntary spasms I can’t control. Every muscle in my body is wound tight, like a spring ready to snap.
We spent hours searching. Every shop, every corridor, every bathroom,twice. I even cornered one of the security guards, towering over him until the man’s face went pale, and demanded access to the staff areas, the break rooms, the stockrooms, anywhere Kit couldpossiblybe hiding. The guard took one look at me and nodded so fast I thought his head might fall off. We tore through it all…nothing.
