Page 15 of Iced Up Love: Part Two
Killian exhales slowly, dragging a hand across his mouth.
“I’m not your enemy here.”
The words land wrong. I move again before I can stop it.
“What if it was Emma?”
That hits. I see it. Not on the surface. Deeper.
“What if you came back and she was gone?” I push, my voice tightening. “What if it was her that was taken?”
He goes completely still. For a moment, everything holds. Then, quieter, he whispers “I’d tear everyone apart.”
The honesty in it lands clean.
“Exactly.”
The word cuts between us.
“That’s where I am.”
For a second, it feels like the whole space locks around that.
Then Christian steps in properly, his grip firm enough to force distance this time.
“We’re not tearing each other apart,” he says sharply. “That doesn’t get her back.”
Lucian settles beside him, calm, contained.
“Channel it,” he adds quietly. “Or you waste time.”
Time.
That’s what pulls it back. Not calm. Not control. Focus.
I drag a breath in, forcing something back into place.
Killian straightens slowly, Emma still at his side.
“I didn’t let this happen,” he says. “But I’m going to help you fix it.”
Not enough. But enough to move.
We go inside.
The house is too still.
Killian moves straight to the security system without speaking, pulling up the footage from the driveway monitor mounted near the kitchen.
He presses play and everything in me locks.
Lia steps into frame.
Alive.
Unaware.
Walking toward the driveway, toward the flowers like there’s nothing wrong, like the world is still exactly what it was before she opened that door.
