Sweet Hatred Chapter 59: Unexpected

I couldn’t see.

The smoke stung my eyes, thick and bitter, curling around like a ghost with claws. My lungs burned. My ears rang with silence so loud, it was deafening. The n who had been holding monts ago... they were all gone. Dead. Their blood painted the floor, soaking into the cheap carpet. Limbs bent at wrong angles. Faces twisted in frozen fear.

But I was untouched. Sohow.

My wrists still ached from the chains. My knees trembled beneath , barely able to keep upright. I felt like a cracked porcelain doll, seconds away from shattering.

Then the door creaked open again.

Heavy footsteps echoed against the floor. Steady. Unhurried. Each one louder than the last, like thunder behind the smoke. A tall silhouette appeared through the haze—broad shoulders, sharp stride, purposeful.

My heart dropped.

Even before I saw his face, I knew.

Kael.

He stepped into the room like he owned it. Like it hadn’t just been a battlefield, like death didn’t still hang in the air. His presence sucked the oxygen out of the room, replacing it with sothing far more dangerous. He was dressed in black—slacks tailored to his fra, a crisp shirt that hugged his chest, sleeves rolled back just enough to show veined forearms. There was a holster on his shoulder, but he didn’t reach for it. He didn’t have to.

The smoke curled around him like It knew better than to touch.

And when his eyes found , sharp and dark and blazing with quiet fury, everything else fell away.

I didn’t know whether I wanted to cry or collapse.

Instead, I laughed. Inside.

His eyes didn’t leave mine. Not even once.

I should’ve looked away. I should’ve been angry. I should’ve scread or cried or broken down the way a normal person would after nearly dying. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. Because when Kael started walking toward , slow and purposeful, everything inside froze. My heart, my thoughts, my breath—stilled.

He didn’t rush. Of course he didn’t. That wasn’t his style. He walked through the smoke and blood like it was a damn red carpet.

A slight frown tugged at his brows. That was the first thing I noticed. The second was the fire beneath it—the sharp, quiet fury in his gaze. It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t showy. It simred, deadly and contained, like he could burn the world down if I gave him the word.

And then... he smirked.

"Not your best look, Firefly," he said, his voice low and calm, with a teasing edge that cut straight through my chest. He crouched in front of , one knee hitting the floor, and lifted a hand to my face. I flinched before I could stop myself, but his fingers were gentle—warm. He tilted my chin, brushing his thumb across a bruise on my cheek like it offended him personally.

His eyes scanned my face. Slowly. Intently. And for a second... I saw sothing flicker in them. A softness. A worry he couldn’t hide fast enough. Or maybe I simply imagined it.

Then his hand moved, sliding around my back to where the cold tal cuffs bit into my skin. He checked the chains, jaw tightening as he glanced behind him.

Without a word, he gave one of the masked n a sharp nod.

And then—

A chuckle. Just once. It escaped before I knew it, and Kael blinked, puzzled.

Then the chuckle turned into a laugh. A real one. Bitter and breathless, bubbling out of my throat like sothing cracked wide open inside . The sound of my laughter felt strange, unreal.

"What’s funny?" he asked, his head tilted, half-curious, half-concerned.

I laughed harder, shaking my head even as tears stung my eyes. "I just... I never imagined I’d be this happy to see your goddamn face."

The man behind him found the key, fumbling with the lock. I barely noticed. I was too busy laughing at the absurdity of it all—at the terrifying relief of Kael’s presence curling through my body like smoke.

Kael’s lips twitched again. That sa cocky little smirk. "Then I guess you’re welco," he said smoothly.

Then, without warning, he slipped his arms beneath and scooped up like I weighed nothing—

"Hey—!" I barely got the word out before he leaned in, his mouth close to my ear.

"No one is getting to you now firefly," he whispered, firm and deadly soft.

And God help , for a mont... I believed him.

I barely had ti to argue or breathe before Kael was striding toward the door with in his arms, like carrying out of hell was the most natural thing in the world. My cheek rested against his shoulder, and I could feel the tension in his body—the tight coil of fury that hadn’t left him since he walked in. His scent was the sa. Clean. Warm. Familiar in a way that ssed with my head.

I was still trying to make sense of everything when one of the masked n burst in through the thick fog lingering in the hallway. Only then did I realize they all had the sa uniforms on.

"Sir," the man panted, pausing for breath. "We lost the girl. The one from earlier—Mia. She slipped through during the gunfire, got into her car—"

Kael stopped walking.

My pulse dropped. Just like that.

"She escaped?" Kael asked, lifting his head, voice steady and smooth.

The man hesitated. "We were in pursuit, but... a truck hit her."

Silence.

"She drove into the highway. The driver didn’t see her in ti. She didn’t make it."

I didn’t hear the rest. Or maybe I did, but it just didn’t land.

Kael said sothing—his voice low and cold—but I couldn’t focus. All I heard was a slow, droning hum. Like the world was moving underwater. Distant. Muted. Unreal.

Mia was... gone?

"No," I whispered.

Kael looked down at , but I shoved at his chest, harder than I ant to. He didn’t resist this ti. He let go.