Chapter 231 The Sanctuary of Storms
Chapter 231 The Sanctuary of Storms
Saint watched Baby go up the stairs in a rush and sighed.
Baby didn't speak to him through the ride back, and he knew what was coming. He simply stood at the entrance, waiting for Baby to come down.
After a minute, Baby walked down the stairs with his backpack behind him.
Saint saw that Baby was ready to leave without still saying a word, so he locked his door, folding his arms over his chest.
"May I know where you're going?" Saint asked softly.
Baby scoffed, gripping the shoulder sling tightly. "I'm going to practice. Ironclad Ravens, remember?" He arched his brows.
Saint sighed, "Without me? Now? With all this going on?" He slowly approached Baby. "You know, I think your mom was right. I think we should ditch this game and sort our lives out first. Sloane would understand—"
"Speak for yourself, Saint," Baby frowned, "I have sorted myself out, and I have decided to focus on my career instead of a man who—"
"Baby, don't say that, you know that's not true," Saint pleaded.
But Baby continued anyway, "A man who abandoned me to marry some childhood sweetheart," he stated, breathing slowly.
"Now, that's insensitive of you," Saint murmured.
"Insensitive? It wasn't insensitive when I watched you sign the damned marriage certificate? Jesus, Saint, you're a married man; what the fuck am I supposed to do with a married man?" He chuckled bitterly.
Saint gritted his teeth, staring at Baby's flushed face.
"What would you have had me do? Refuse?" Saint's voice lowered, tired.
Baby shook his head, looking away to hide his teary eyes, "No. I'm not an idiot... but it hurts, Saint..." he chuckled, shrugging, "You married Kora and this is the end of us. The last thing I'll do is fuck a married man—"
"You're not being very considerate at the moment, Baby. Do you stop to realize that I am in a position I don't know how to escape? How do you think I feel knowing there's a possibility I'd actually lose you?" He covered the distance between them, taking Baby's hand in his.
"Stay with me, Baby. We're almost there, I promise," he whispered.
Baby was silent, staring at the floor.
"I'll make this right, trust me. That shitty certificate means nothing, Kora means nothing... you mean everything to me, Baby. Stay, please," he begged.
Baby slowly moved, pressing his body into Saint's, his face buried in Saint's chest, "I'm sorry... I just hate this. I hate that you signed that paper, I hate that they seem to get at us, I hate that this hasn't ended—"
"It's okay, love..." Saint gently pulled Baby's bag off his shoulders, dropped it to the floor, and then wrapped his arms around Baby, pulling him in for a firm, soft hug.
"We'll be alright... just a few days more, we'll be fine, I swear it," Saint whispered, kissing the top of Baby's head.
Baby's hand clutched Saint's shirt, his head lifting, "You're never going to Kora," he stated.
Saint nodded, "I'm not going to Kora."
"You're never leaving me again," Baby murmured.
Saint gulped, his chest tightening. He gently cupped Baby's face, pressing their foreheads together, "I was a fool back then, Baby. I'm never leaving your side again, ever."
"Promise?" Baby whispered.
Saint leaned in and kissed Baby's lips softly, "I promise... on my life," he replied hoarsely.
Baby chuckled and hugged Saint again, inhaling shakily.
"Then... what are we going to do?" Baby asked quietly.
Saint smirked, "We wait for Kai to return," he said.
Baby frowned, "Kai? He betrayed us—"
"Did he?" Saint kissed Baby's forehead and picked the backpack up from the floor. "Come on upstairs; I don't think Kai is that stupid. We'll know when he returns," he smiled, leading Baby toward the stairs.
Kai sat in his car in the middle of the lonely road; the only sound in the car was the tap-tap-tap of his fingers drumming against his steering wheel.
He had left Anna's Villa three hours ago, but he wasn't returning home, not when he hadn't gotten to his location yet. The GPS showed the path, but right in front of him, he saw no way to cross the small lake.
He had to drive around to find another entrance into the towering, dense woods.
Before he drove off again, he pulled his phone from the secret compartment under his chair and went straight to the new recordings and videos.
They thought they had outsmarted the guys, but Kai had used Cassian's phone to capture everything. And the guy that had checked for copies? He had never seen anyone as dumb as that guy. What he did was the basics; perhaps if he tried harder, he could have found multiple copies of the evidence stored in everyone's phones and other flash drives.
He should send the new evidence to Saint right away, end everything immediately. But he didn't... he couldn't. Not when he had Rode admitting to owning the place in the recordings.
He was utterly torn, hating himself for letting his heart cling to a burning, sinking ship, desperately praying it would reach the shore before the flames reached him.
He shut his eyes and inhaled quietly, then he threw the phone to the passenger's seat; he needed to get to his location first. He glanced back at the bags behind him and sighed.
This was wrong; Saint and the guys would kill him for withholding evidence, but he was desperate, he was stupid, he needed to do this.
With his fingers clutched around the steering wheel, he sped away from the wrong path, searching for a real entrance into the woods.
The sun was setting and the sky was slowly getting darker and gloomy, low rumbles of thunder sounding inside the clouds like lions slowly stretching after a deep slumber.
If he did not find a way, soon, he would be lost in the middle of nowhere.
Kai drove for another twenty minutes before he finally found it. A narrow path stretched deep into the woods, his headlights revealing just how muddy and rocky the path was. But he wasn't quitting; his car was equal to the task.
"Let's go, baby," he gritted his teeth and stepped on it, speeding into the woods.
As he drove the rocky path, the clouds slowly started to release their showers, his glass slowly frosting over. But that didn't deter him; he kept going, taking the slow curves and driving over rocks.
The pitter-patter of the rain sounded heavily on his roof as the pour intensified. After a very long, and tiring drive, he finally emerged to the last point on the map—a long, narrow path that stretched forever.
Kai knew he just had to drive a little more and he'd finally get there.
He did just that; he kept driving, pushing through the storm, literally and figuratively. Soon, a wide, dark roof was highlighted by his headlight, and as he drove closer, the large modern cabin slowly came to view.
The modern cabin emerged like a sleek shadow carved from the storm itself—low-slung and angular, all dark timber, floor-to-ceiling glass, and sharp steel accents that gleamed coldly under the flash of lightning. Rain lashed against its wide roof, water cascading in silver sheets off the edges.
Warm amber light glowed faintly from within, spilling across the wide wooden deck and reflecting off the wet glass like distant fire in the heart of the woods. It looked both inviting and isolated, a hidden sanctuary tucked deep where no one was meant to find it.
Kai killed the engine, the headlights cutting off and plunging the scene back into stormy darkness. His heart hammered as he stared at the cabin, fingers still tight on the wheel.
This was it.
He took a deep breath and stepped out into the pouring rain, walking toward the front door, water soaking through his clothes in seconds.
Whatever waited inside… he was ready to face it. For Rode. For answers. For them.
He stepped onto the deck and moved closer to the door, knocking without hesitation.
He waited, water dripping from his curls and onto his face.
No one answered.
He lifted his hand to knock again, but the door suddenly opened and what met his face was a gun.
"You stalked me," Rode seethed, the veins in his hand visible from how hard he clutched the gun.
Kai stood there, looking past the gun and right at Rode.
"You look drained—"
"You stalked me," Rode cut him off in a low growl, his eyes flashing with the storm behind Kai.
Kai sighed, "I had to; I need to speak to you."
"You dare invade my privacy? You're this stupid?" Rode chuckled darkly.
"I've respected your privacy long enough, and I'm tired of being left in the dark. We need to talk, Rode," Kai said, slowly taking a step forward.
"Don't take any steps—"
"Shoot me, then..." Kai murmured, stepping through the door and toward Rode's gun, "Prove to me that you're really the devil." He paused right in front of the gun, his forehead pressing into the muzzle.
Rode stepped back, his hand trembling visibly.
"Pull the trigger, Rode, or take that gun down and talk to me. Now," Kai ordered in slow-growing anger.
He was done playing nice and understanding. Rode was being stubborn, and he didn't have the time to play games. He needed all the answers he could get to make everything right in the short time he had.
"You're stupid, Kai. I'll give you sixty seconds; get the fuck out of here or I'll go through the stress of burying your body behind my cabin," Rode murmured in a dangerous tone.
Kai smirked, "Burying such a hot body? What a waste—fuck!" His ears rang and his lower lip throbbed deeply.
He could taste the blood on his tongue, his head aching painfully.
"Next time, it won't be my fist," Rode glared at Kai, jaws clenched.
Kai slowly lifted his hand to his lip, hissing as he touched his split lip, the blood staining his fingers.
He lifted his head and locked his gaze with Rode, eyes searching for any signs of regret or remorse.
None. He found nothing but anger in Rode's eyes.
"It hurts, Rode..." Kai murmured, "Here..." he pointed to his chest, eyes never wavering from Rode's.
Rode didn't reply; he simply held Kai's gaze with a cold, unfeeling stare, never once softening.
With a slight nod, Kai turned and walked away, quietly shutting the door.
The moment the door shut, Rode turned and strode toward his room. He headed to his table, dropped the gun, and walked to his bed. Instead of going under his covers and calling it a night, he lowered himself on the floor, leaning his back against his bed as he pulled his cigarette and lighter from his pocket.
His eyes caught the blood stains on his wrist as he lit his cigarette, his hand shaking as he took the cigarette to his lips.
He took a long, deep drag and threw his lighter far away on the wooden floor, his hands unable to steady even as he smoked. He was hoping the cigarette would numb him, but it did nothing but intensify the voices in his head.
"Fuck!" He snapped, leaving the cigarette between his lips to lift his hands in front of his face.
They were shaking unstoppably; the image of Kai's face just before he walked out that door haunted his mind.
"No..." He buried his shaky fingers into his hair, shaking his head, "I hit him... I hit him... I fucking hit him!" He screamed out to the empty room, his tears falling without restraint.
"Are you hungry?" Kai's voice sounded outside Rode's bedroom door.
Rode paused, his heart hammering in his chest as he stared at the door through teary eyes.
He had started to imagine things; there was no other explanation to the voice he heard.
"I got these takes a few hours ago; they're still hot but not for long... Will you join me?" Kai asked quietly.
This time, Rode sprang to his feet, scrambling toward the door in a blur. With sweaty hands, he held the door handle and yanked it open.
There, right in front of his bedroom, stood the man he thought he'd lost for good, soaked to the bone.
Rode stared at him, chest heaving, eyes red-rimmed and wild. The cigarette had long since fallen from his lips, forgotten on the floor. Kai stood there dripping wet, holding the bags like a peace offering, his split lip still bleeding slightly.
Kai gulped, unsure of what version of Rode he was going to meet at the moment.
“If you want to eat alone, I can drop yours here and—”
Rode didn’t let him finish.
He surged forward, slamming the door shut behind him with one hand while the other fisted in Kai’s soaked shirt. In the next breath, he crashed their mouths together in a bruising, desperate kiss—hard enough to sting, teeth clashing, tongues sliding hot and urgent. It wasn’t gentle. It was raw need, anger, fear, and love all tangled into one punishing press of lips.
Kai made a startled sound that Rode swallowed immediately, backing him up against the wall with surprising strength. Rainwater soaked into Rode’s clothes as their bodies pressed flush, Kai’s hands instinctively dropping the bags to grip Rode’s waist, pulling him impossibly closer.
Rode kissed him like he was drowning—deep, devouring, biting at Kai’s lower lip hard enough to draw a fresh bead of blood before soothing it with his tongue. A broken groan rumbled from Kai’s chest, his fingers digging into Rode’s back as the kiss turned fiercer, more possessive. The storm outside roared in time with the pounding of their hearts.
When Rode finally pulled back, both of them were panting, lips swollen and shining. Rode’s forehead rested against Kai’s, eyes squeezed shut, voice hoarse and trembling.
“Shut up,” he whispered fiercely. “Just… shut up and stay.”
Kai’s breath hitched, a shaky smile tugging at his bloody lip as he cupped the back of Rode’s neck. “I’m not going anywhere,” he murmured, voice rough with emotion. “Not without you.”
Rode let out a shaky exhale, "Kiss me," he whispered.
Kai obeyed; he leaned in and kissed him again—slow but intense.
Rode whimpered, kissing him back desperately, pouring every unsaid word, every fear, every apology into the slide of their mouths.
Outside, thunder rolled, but inside the cabin, for the first time in hours, the storm felt a little farther away.