Chapter 84 Trust carefully
Lina’s POV
I stayed standing for a moment, staring at the empty space where she’d been.
Kailen’s wife.
How's that possible?
How does a man like Kailen get married without the world knowing?
In this world, marriages weren’t love stories. They were alliances. Contracts. Power shifts. And power shifts leaked. Someone always talked.
If the underworld knew, Carlino would know. But he didn’t. Which meant one of two things.
Either Kailen had kept his marriage buried so deep even his enemies couldn’t sniff it out—
Or Pathy was far more dangerous than I thought.
I sat down slowly on the edge of the bed, the mattress dipping under my weight.
She’d offered me escape. Just like that.
No screaming. No threats. No theatrics. A bargain. A chance or perhaps a choice to trust.
But Ruciano I had trusted him once too but what did he do? Stab me in the back.
And I’d bled for believing him.
What if Pathy was the same? What if she smiled me out of this estate only to deliver me somewhere worse? What if she promised one destination and switched routes halfway?
My jaw tightened. I couldn’t afford blind trust again.
A soft knock broke through my thoughts.
Not a command. Not a slam.
A knock.
“Come in,” I said already knowing who it was.
Liander entered with a tray balanced carefully in her hands. Steam curled from the plate this time—real food. Not scraps. She set it down on the table beside the bed.
“You need to eat,” she said quietly.
“You said that earlier.”
“And you listened.”
I watched her face. There was something different about her tonight. Not colder. Quieter. She hesitated, fingers brushing the edge of the tray.
“I’m sorry,” she said suddenly.
“For what?”
Her eyes flickered to my stomach.
The air shifted.
“I’m sorry you lost your— your baby.”
Everything inside me went still.
My hands moved before I could stop them—pressing lightly against my abdomen.
Flat.
Empty.
The word echoed.
Lost.
I swallowed.
I hadn’t let myself think about it. Not properly. Not since the ice. Not since the burn. Survival had swallowed grief whole. And I let it, because I didn't want to process the pain
But now—
Now it surfaced.
I closed my eyes briefly.
I’m sorry, baby.
The words formed silently.
I know I wasn’t happy at first. I know I was scared when I found out you were inside me. But I was trying. I was trying to fight for you. To protect you. To keep you from your father's world of blood and guns.
But now you’re gone.
A tightness spread through my chest, sharp and suffocating.
I lowered my hands slowly.
Liander shifted awkwardly. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“No,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. “You should have.” It gave me the time to process my pain. Time to process the fact that I lost my baby. A part of me.
Silence lingered between us. Longer than I expected it to.
Then she stepped back. “You should eat before it gets cold.”
She turned toward the door.
“Wait,” The words slipped out fast.
Her hand paused on the handle.
“Why did you change?” I asked, brows furrowed.
She didn’t turn around nor did she answer.
“For two days,” I continued, “you were warm. You talked. You looked at me like I was human.”
She stiffened.
“And now you barely hold eye contact with me.”
Still nothing.
“Did your bosses say something to you?” I pressed.
That made her turn. Her expression wasn’t defensive. It was conflicted.
“Did Kailen threaten you?” I asked. “Or was it her?”
A beat.
Then—
“My boss asked me to keep my distance,” she said.
“Pathy.”
She nodded once.
“Why?”
“She said attachment creates mistakes.”
I let out a short, humorless laugh. “That’s convenient.”
“She wasn’t wrong,” Liander replied quietly.
“You were warming up to me,” I said. “And now you’re pretending I’m furniture.”
Her jaw tightened. “I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“That’s not an answer.”
She hesitated.
“Is she trustworthy?” I asked bluntly.
Liander’s gaze sharpened slightly. “Why?”
Because Pathy offered me freedom.
The words hovered at the edge of my tongue.
I shouldn’t tell her.
But something in me wanted an ally—just one voice in this place that wasn’t calculating.
“She offered me a deal,” I said.
Liander’s fingers curled slightly at her sides. “What kind of deal?”
“She said she could get me out,” I replied. “Out of the estate. Out of Kailen’s reach.”
Liander’s composure slipped—just for a second. Her eyes widened.
“And in return?” she asked.
“She wants me to influence a decision with Carlino.”
The silence that followed was different.
Heavier.
“Don’t,” Liander whispered.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t trust her.”
“Why?”
She looked toward the door as if expecting it to burst open.
Then she stepped closer to me. Lowering her voice. “This isn’t the first time,” she said.
My pulse quickened. “First time what?”
“That she’s offered escape.”
The room felt colder.
“There was a man,” Liander continued. “A year ago. A captive from one of Kailen’s rival ports. Pathy intervened then too. Stopped an interrogation.”
My fingers curled slowly.
“She spoke to him privately. Promised him release. Safe passage.”
“And?”
Liander swallowed.
“He agreed to something. I don’t know what. But the next morning he was gone.”
“That sounds like she kept her word.”
Liander shook her head faintly. “Three days later, his body was found near the docks.”
The words hit like a quiet gunshot.
“No signs of torture,” she added. “Just… gone.”
My throat tightened.
“You’re sure it was her?” I asked.
“I’m sure she knew.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“She plays long games,” Liander said. “She makes people believe they’re choosing freedom.”
“And they’re not?”
“They’re choosing her strategy.”
I stood slowly, ignoring the pull of my healing skin. “So what are you saying?” I asked. “That she’ll get me out just to dispose of me?”
“I’m saying,” Liander replied carefully, “that you’re valuable right now. But value doesn't stay same for long, it changes.”
“And if I stay?” I challenged. “You think that’s safer?”
Her silence answered that.
Exactly.
I moved closer to her.
“She said I’m central,” I murmured. “That I’m the nerve between Kailen and Carlino.”
“You are,” Liander said softly.
“Then I’m not disposable.”
“Not yet.”
The honesty in that almost made me smile.
Not yet.
“Did Pathy betray that man?” I asked again.
Liander hesitated. “She didn’t stop it.”
That was enough.
I turned away, pacing slowly.
Trust Pathy and risk walking into a trap.
Refuse and stay here until Kailen decides escalation is worth the loss.
Neither option was clean.
Neither was safe.
Liander’s voice broke through my thoughts. “If you do this… if you take her offer… don’t go blindly.”
I faced her.
“You think I’m reckless?”
“I think you’re desperate. Desperate enough to do anything to get out of this world.”
Fair.
“I’m not anyone’s pawn,” I said.
“No,” she replied. “But you’re on a board whether you like it or not.”
A faint sound echoed down the corridor—footsteps.
Heavy ones.
Not Liander’s.
Not Pathy’s.
Liander heard it too.
Her face paled slightly.
“You should eat,” she said quickly. “And don’t mention this conversation again.”
“Liander—”
“If she asks, I know nothing.”
The footsteps grew closer.
A pause outside the door.
My heart began to pound.
Liander grabbed the tray, adjusting it as if she’d just finished serving me.
A shadow moved beneath the crack of the door.
We both stared at it.
Waiting.
A knock followed.
Sharp.
Authoritative.
Liander looked at me once.
And in her eyes was a warning I couldn’t ignore.
“Trust carefully,” she mouthed.
The handle began to turn.