Beneath His Skin

Episode 14: No Way Back

The wind howled against the glass as if trying to tear through the walls.

Serah stood in the hallway of Kael’s hidden estate, hands trembling as she clutched the thin folder in her hands. It had arrived in an unmarked envelope—no sender, just her name in neat, impersonal handwriting.

She shouldn’t have opened it.

Inside were photos. Dozens.

Kael. In boardrooms. At private parties. With her—Alys Vellez.

Alys. His fiancée before everything. The woman from the press. The heiress to a pharmaceutical dynasty. The girl Kael once swore he was done with.

But the photos told a different story.

They showed Kael holding closed-door meetings with Alys and both of their parents. They showed Kael at a gala only three months ago, the same week he told Serah he had "business in Madrid." Alys was by his side, wearing a ring Serah had never seen before.

Then came the documents—copies of emails. A merger agreement. Business deals between the Vellez and Alys’ family—negotiations that had continued after Kael promised Serah she was the only one.

And then the worst of all—

A letter. Dated a month ago. From Alys to Kael.

“I understand your duty, Kael. I understand your love for her. But the agreement between our families still stands. If she keeps the child, you lose everything.”

Serah dropped the folder.

Her chest heaved, her stomach roiled. She backed into the wall, unable to breathe.

All the nights Kael seemed distant. All the "business trips." The quick calls. The way he never talked about how they’d actually survive beyond hiding.

It wasn’t just family pressure. It was betrayal.

He’d been trying to protect her—but also protect everything else.

Kael walked into the hallway minutes later, dressed in black and fresh from a run, wiping sweat from his forehead. He froze when he saw her.

“Serah?”

She looked up, her eyes hollow.

“What is this?” she whispered, kicking the folder toward him.

He crouched, flipped it open—and paled.

“I can explain.”

“No,” she said, voice quiet but slicing. “No more explanations.”

Kael moved toward her, but she backed away.

“All this time—you said you chose me. But you were still working with her behind my back.”

“It wasn’t like that—”

“Then what was it, Kael? Were you just biding your time? Was I a phase you wanted to protect, then erase?”

His fists clenched. “I was trying to keep us alive. Keep you out of the chaos while I bought time to destroy the agreement—”

“But you didn’t tell me.” Her voice cracked. “You didn’t trust me. You kept me here like some… porcelain doll while you played empire games with my future.”

Kael’s face twisted in anguish. “I didn’t want to lose you.”

“You already did.”

She turned, heading for the bedroom.

“Serah, please don’t—”

But the door slammed. And when it opened again, she had a suitcase in hand.

“Where are you going?” he asked, panic creeping into his tone.

She handed him a note, eyes brimming.

“You want to fix this?” she whispered. “Then fix everything. The lies. The blood deals. The legacy. All of it.”

Kael’s throat dried. “I will. I swear—just don’t go—”

“I’m going abroad. Don’t ask where. Don’t try to find me.”

“Serah…”

Her lips quivered, but she didn’t cry.

“I’ll come back. If there’s anything left worth coming back to.”

Then she was gone.

—

Kael stood in the doorway for hours after she left, the note still clutched in his hand like a lifeline.

“I love you, Kael. But love without truth is just another prison. Free me from it—and maybe I’ll find my way back to you.”

He didn’t know where she’d gone. None of her cards were used. Her phone went dark. Every contact she had was a dead end.

Weeks passed.

Then months.

Kael turned the empire upside down. He cut off deals with the Vellez family. He dissolved joint ventures. He resigned from the board of his father’s company—publicly. He gave up the power he once thought he couldn’t live without.

He became a ghost in the tabloids—no parties, no headlines. Just one man, quietly building something new.

Something real.

But every night, he returned to the same house, to the room that still smelled like her. The drawer still held her last note. The balcony still echoed her voice.

Eight months.

And still, no word.

But Kael waited.

Because when you've burned down an empire for someone—you don’t just walk away from the ashes.

You build.

You begin again.

And you wait—for the woman who taught you how.

[To be continued in Chapter 15]