Beneath His Skin

Episode 15: I’ll Fix Everything

Eight months earlier…

Serah sat on the cold marble floor of an unfamiliar hotel bathroom in Geneva, her knees pulled to her chest as she stared at the second folder. The one she wasn’t supposed to find.

The one that Leo had buried in the archives of the Vellez estate before he vanished again—his final warning to her: “You deserve the whole truth. Not just Kael’s version.”

Her hands trembled as she flipped through the documents. Blood drained from her face.

There were surveillance logs.

Receipts.

Audio transcripts.

And one document that shattered what little was left of her heart.

A medical report.

Her name. Her pregnancy. The date she fainted from stress during her second trimester. And listed under "Notification Recipient"?

Not her.

Not Kael.

Alys Vellez.

Serah's mind reeled.

Why would Alys have access to her medical file?

The answer hit like a slap.

Alys knew. About the baby. About her. About everything. For a long time.

And then she saw it.

The email.

From Kael.

To Alys.

Subject: “She can’t know.”

“If she finds out how long we’ve been negotiating the merger behind her back, it’s over. She believes I’m working to break the agreement. If we go through with the full acquisition before the birth, I can secure her safety and keep the press quiet. Then I’ll find a way to cut Alys out of everything. But not yet. Let me handle her.”

The word her—like Serah was a problem to manage. A secret to protect. A shadow in his perfect empire.

She tore the folder apart with shaking hands, then screamed into her knees.

It wasn’t just betrayal anymore.

It was control.

It was manipulation.

He had chosen the timing, the script, the truths she was allowed to hear. And even when he claimed to love her—he was treating her like a liability.

That night, Serah disappeared.

She left a note on his desk in the private estate. No signature. No scent. No hint.

Just words that burned:

“I trusted you with everything. My body. My child. My soul.

And you decided how much truth I was allowed to live in.

You don’t get to protect me by lying. You don’t get to save me if it means owning me.

Fix everything.

And maybe—I’ll find the strength to come back.

But not for the man who broke me.

For the one who learns what it means to rebuild without control.”

She was gone before sunrise.

Now.

Kael read the letter every morning. And every night.

He didn’t know how many walls he punched the day she left. Didn’t know how many glasses shattered, how many nights he collapsed in her empty bed, calling a phone that would never ring again.

She was his beginning and end. And he’d broken her.

So he began to rebuild.

Without her.

Without lies.

Without the empire.

First, he cut ties with the Vellez family. Every merger—dissolved. Every share—sold. He held a press conference that shocked the business world, standing before cameras in a storm-grey suit and bloodshot eyes.

“I lied to someone I loved. I built power on silence. And I lost what mattered. Effective immediately, I resign from every position held under the Vellez Corporation.”

Then, quietly, he launched a new venture—small, clean, ethical. A foundation in her name.

The Serah Initiative: focused on maternal health, transparency in pharma, and protecting the rights of women caught in corporate crossfire.

He worked eighteen-hour days. Refused to return to his family estate. Burned every photo of his old life. He became a ghost—until all that remained of the man he was… was rubble.

And from that rubble, something else began to form.

Not for headlines.

Not for legacy.

But for the woman he still dreamed about.

Every. Single. Night.

He hired private investigators, but not to hunt her down.

He asked them to protect her, wherever she was.

And when they returned with updates?

They found… nothing.

Serah had vanished like wind through broken glass. New identity. New country. No trace.

She was free.

And he wouldn't chase her.

Because freedom was what she asked for.

In the eighth month, he bought a house on a quiet coastline. White walls. Empty rooms. The nursery was untouched. The guest room was filled with every book she ever mentioned. A piano sat in the corner—unplayed, but waiting.

And he waited too.

Not knowing if she’d ever return.

But hoping.

Because sometimes love isn’t about holding on.

It’s about letting go—until the person you broke decides whether they’ll walk back into the pieces you’ve rebuilt.

And Kael rebuilt everything.

Except his heart.

Because that still belonged to her.

Wherever she was.

[To be continued in Episode 16]