All Chapters of THE COST OF SAVING HIM : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

47 Chapters

MR KANE IS BACK

Nadia's POVThe room was too quiet. That was the first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes.Not silence exactly — the house never seemed completely silent. Somewhere in the distance there was always movement I couldn't see. Doors opening, footsteps crossing polished floors, voices low enough to disappear before they reached me. But compared to my old apartment, this place felt unnaturally controlled. Like everything had been designed to behave.For a few seconds I stayed where I was and stared at the ceiling.Then I remembered. The phone call. Mara. Forty-eight hours.My stomach tightened immediately. I sat up and reached for my phone on instinct.No new messages.That should have made me feel better. Instead it made me more nervous. I unlocked the screen and opened our chat anyway. Nothing — not even one of her usual dramatic messages. I stared at it for a while before putting the phone down. Maybe she was asleep. Maybe she was in class. Maybe she was angry. Maybe—I stopped myself

NADIA'S POV

I stayed where I was for a second after Lev left. Not because I didn't hear him — because I'd suddenly become aware that I had reacted. That my pulse had done something unnecessary the moment he mentioned Kane's name. That was irritating. Kane coming back should not have meant anything to me. People left. People returned. That was normal. And yet hearing he was downstairs had made me stand straighter before I even realized I was doing it, which was embarrassing and would never be discussed again. I glanced once at the closed laptop before leaving the room. The walk downstairs felt longer than it needed to. Not because of the distance — because my brain had apparently decided now was the perfect time to spiral. Maybe he found out I used the laptop. Maybe Lev already told him. Maybe he didn't care. Maybe— I stopped myself. This was ridiculous. By the time I reached the main floor, the house looked different from earlier. More people moved quietly through the halls. Someone carrie

THEY ARE NOT AFTER THE GIRL ...

**Kane's POV** The study settled back into quiet after Nadia left. Not empty — quiet. There was a difference. The hallway outside remained active in the way this house always was, footsteps moving in and out, doors opening and closing somewhere in the distance, conversations kept deliberately low. But the room itself stilled. Kane stayed where he was. His attention held on the closed door for another moment before shifting back to the desk. The paper she'd left behind was still there. Student details. Portal information. Exam schedule. He looked at it once, then reached forward and slid it beneath another file. A minute later the door opened. Lev entered without knocking — nobody knocked — and crossed the room before stopping opposite the desk. "She settled?" Kane picked up a document. "Enough." Lev nodded once, then got to it. "Mara has been moved. The apartment is secure — security rotation already running, entry points checked twice." He pulled something from his pocke

IN TROUBLE

Nadia's POVThe room felt quieter than usual. Not because the house was empty — just because it felt distant, like the world outside was moving at a different speed from the one I was sitting in.I was cross-legged near the window with the laptop open in front of me, staring at absolutely nothing. For the last fifteen minutes I'd been pretending to read. Pretending to think. Pretending everything wasn't slowly becoming strange.Outside, the estate stretched endlessly. Trees, stone paths, security. People walking with purpose — nobody running, nobody panicking, nobody acting like someone's life had quietly complicated itself overnight. Meanwhile mine apparently had.I exhaled and looked back at the screen. School portal. Still inaccessible. Login failed. I stared at it, tried once more, got nothing, and closed it.I wasn't going to cry. Not over this. Not now.After a few seconds I opened another tab. If I couldn't study, maybe I could at least do something useful. Temporary jobs. Remo

A FADED PICTURE

My entire body went still.For one horrible second my brain connected the moving handle directly to the website — not logically, not reasonably, but fear rarely waited for either of those things. My eyes snapped to the closed laptop and suddenly all I could think about was that final question, those words loading one line at a time like whoever was typing them wanted to make sure I felt each one.*If the place you are staying is not far from a hospital…*My fingers tightened against the blanket.The door opened.A woman stepped inside carrying a tray. Dinner. Not danger. Not strangers. Not mysterious people appearing because I'd accidentally clicked something I shouldn't have.Just dinner.Relief hit so fast it almost embarrassed me.The woman paused when she saw my face. "Miss Nadia? Are you alright?"I forced myself upright. "Yeah. Sorry, I just wasn't expecting anyone."Her expression softened. She stepped further in and set the tray on the table, adjusting it slightly before glanc

SOME QUESTIONS STAY UNANSWERED

— Nadia's POVFor a second after hearing his voice, I forgot what I was holding. Then reality returned all at once — the photograph, the folder, the fact that I was standing in what he had just called private archives.I slid the photograph back into the folder and pushed it toward the shelf. "I'm sorry." My voice came out faster than I intended. "I wasn't trying to go through your things."Kane didn't answer immediately. He stepped closer and stopped beside the shelf — not close enough to make me uncomfortable, just there. Quiet. His eyes moved once across the folders before returning to me, his expression unreadable as ever.Then, softly — "Find what you were looking for?""I wasn't looking for anything." That sounded weak even to me. I sighed quietly. "I got lost."Something moved briefly across his face. Not amusement, not disbelief — just acknowledgement. His gaze moved around the room. "The library is on the other side."I looked around. Right. That explained absolutely nothing

THEY WERE FOUND

Kane's POVKane had barely finished reviewing the last report after getting back to his study when the study door opened.Not loudly but with urgency, fast enough. And Lev never rushed — which meant that alone was enough.Kane looked up once and caught the phone in Lev's hand immediately. Lev crossed the room without sitting, without greeting, without explanation. His expression stayed controlled, but something in the way he moved shifted the atmosphere the moment he entered.Kane closed the file in front of him. "What happened?"Lev handed him the phone. "You need to watch this."Kane took it. Unknown source. No number, no metadata. Just a video file sitting there with no context around it. He pressed play.Static filled the screen, then movement — a dark room coming into focus. Then Mara. Tied to a chair, hands restrained behind her, legs bound, tape across her mouth. Alive. Her eyes found the camera immediately, and the fear in them was the real kind, the kind that didn't perform

THE REASON

Nadia's POVThe first sound didn't register immediately. I looked up from the bed, and then another came — sharp, heavy, the kind of sound that didn't belong inside a house. My body went still before my brain caught up.Gunshots.My stomach dropped. The room suddenly felt smaller. I stood, heard another one — not close, but inside the estate — and my heart started moving faster than I wanted it to.I went toward the door, then stopped. *Think. Stay.* Another sound. Fast footsteps in the hallway, voices, someone shouting somewhere below. I stepped out anyway.Bad idea, immediately.The hallway looked normal on the surface, but everyone in it was moving with the kind of quiet urgency that made everything worse. Security, staff — everybody suddenly had somewhere to be. I turned and almost walked straight into Lev.He stopped. His eyes landed on me. "Go back inside.""What happened?""Room."More footsteps passed. Someone spoke quietly into an earpiece. My chest tightened. "What happened?

IT KEEPS GETTING WORSE

Kane's POVNobody moved immediately after Lev spoke, and the room stayed quiet for several seconds — too quiet. Lev near the door, Nadia beside the bed, Kane where he was. His expression didn't change, but his attention did, and the room felt smaller suddenly, not because of the people in it but because of the possibilities.Lev looked at him. "The signal ended thirty seconds ago."Kane looked toward the laptop. "Internal?""Inside the perimeter, not outside."Nadia looked between them, her voice careful. "What does that mean?"Neither answered. Kane looked at Lev. "Show me."Lev pulled up his phone — security logs, movement records, timestamps. Kane looked through them, and one section was highlighted. His eyes stayed there. "When.""Twenty-three minutes ago."Kane looked at the laptop. Twenty-three minutes, the interview, the hospital question, the library, the gunshots — all of it sitting too close together to be coincidence."Where."Lev's answer came quietly. "East Wing."Nadia's

UNKNOWN STALKER

Kane looked at the phone for several more seconds before handing it back, his expression unchanged. If I hadn't been paying attention I would've thought the messages meant nothing, but I was paying attention, and his eyes moved once toward the window, then toward the door, then around the room like he wasn't seeing furniture at all, like he was calculating something the rest of us couldn't see."Did you touch anything?""What?""The window."I looked toward it, then shook my head. "Just the curtain."He nodded once. "The door.""I didn't open it.""Anyone enter?""No."He stayed quiet for a moment, then asked, "The messages, did they continue?"I unlocked my phone and handed it over. Nothing — no unknown number, no messages, no notifications, just empty. I stared at the screen, my chest tightening. "No." I took the phone back and opened messages anyway, as if looking twice might change something. Still nothing."It was here," I said, looking up.Kane looked at the screen once, then qu

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