CH.88

Serena decided to continue drowning herself in alcohol, trying to forget the last couple of minutes and the fact that Britney was dead.

"Sister-in-law..." Killian's gruff tone snapped her back to the present.

Serena glanced over to see him eyeing her. Although her vision was blurry due to drunkenness, she saw no remorse or desire in his piercing stare - only the cool calculation of a bodyguard assessing potential threats to his principal and determining the appropriate course of action.

Killian was many things: a skilled operative, an efficient killer when the brutal situation demanded it, and above all, fiercely loyal to Knox.

He was no lovesick fool prone to getting swept up in misguided romantic notions.

Serena was strictly off-limits in that regard. She was practically family.

He viewed her as a sister-in-law to be sheltered and protected at any cost, nothing more.

Killian watched the woman down one glass after another until she could barely register anything around her.

The next thing Serena knew, she was being half-carried, half-dragged out of the pulsing chaos of the club and into the relatively quiet back alley where their car was idling.

Hot, salty tears began streaking down her flushed cheeks, her carefully applied makeup leaving smudged trails of mascara as she sobbed openly against Killian's solid frame.

"I c-can't b-believe he would d-do this to me!" she hiccupped between ragged gasps, leaning heavily against him as he bundled her into the backseat of the sleek black car.

"My own h-husband, out there galavanting and f-fucking other w-women while I'm stuck here like a damn f-fool!"

Killian sighed deeply. He slid in beside her and pulled her close in a comforting embrace.

He murmured a few soothing words with his palm stroking her disheveled hair as she buried her face against the soft cotton of his shirt.

Her body shook with the force of her anguished sobs, every hitched breath seeming to rip through her very soul.

"Shh, shh...it's alright, sister-in-law. Just let it all out," Killian murmured.

Serena’s cries finally subsided into the occasional sniffle and hiccup.

Killian pulled back slightly to study her with a concerned frown creasing his brow. “And yet you deny being in love with him?”

Serena stared at him for a long moment, her brow furrowing deeply as she struggled to find the words to articulate the tangled mess of emotions roiling within her.

How could she even begin to describe the depth of hurt, anger, longing and confusion she felt whenever she thought about his name or handsome face?

"I...I don’t know," she finally admitted in a small voice. “It's just...everything is such a mess in my head and my heart right now. We barely even know each other, and yet the thought of him being with someone else…"

Killian regarded her with a look of pity. "Sounds to me like you've got a bad case of the love bug, whether you want to admit it or not," he said with a small smile. "Which, you've got to admit, is pretty damn impressive considering the unorthodox way you two got hitched in the first place."

Serena immediately bristled. "I will say this again, I am NOT in love with him!" she insisted vehemently, ignoring the way her heart seemed to stutter in her chest at the mere notion.

"How the hell could I be? We were practically strangers.” Her words dripped with venom and hurt. "I don't even know the real Knox! Just some superficial, polished facade he puts on for the world."

Her voice began to falter as she met Killian's steady, knowing gaze. Because if she was being truly honest with herself...she didn't know what the hell she felt anymore. These intense, overwhelming emotions that would overtake her at the mere thought of her husband's name or face - was that truly love blooming against all reason and logic? Or just some sort of deranged infatuation brought on by the bizarre circumstances surrounding their union?

Killian simply shook his head. He knew there was no point in pushing her any further tonight, not in her emotionally volatile state of anguish and inebriation.

She needed to come to terms with the truth of her feelings for Knox on her own terms when she was of sober mind and spirit.

"Alright, alright...let's just get your drunk ass home and into bed before you end up an even bigger mess, yeah?" he murmured against her tousled chestnut locks, stroking them away from her tear-stained face with a tenderness that seemed at odds with his rough exterior.

Serena could only nod mutely against his chest, utterly drained from the emotional fit and excess of the earlier events.

She felt herself being gently maneuvered until she was stretched out across the soft leather seats with her head cradled in Killian's lap as the car disappeared into the night.

Serena was already passed out by the time they arrived back at the sprawling villa.

Killian scooped up her limp form and carried her inside.

He took the curved staircase two steps at a time as he made his way up to the luxurious master bedroom suite that Serena shared with Knox.

He gently laid her down on the king-sized bed, taking care to tuck the silky sheets snugly around her.

She looked so peaceful when she slept, her delicate features relaxed and devoid of the anguish that had contorted them just a short while ago back at the club.

"Sleep tight, sister-in-law," Killian murmured under his breath before straightening up and checking his watch with a muttered curse.

Shit, he was already running seriously late for the rendezvous with Seven.

They had an extremely important operation to run tonight, one that couldn't afford any fuckups or delays, and the bastard was probably already there waiting to give him a scathing earful.

Killian immediately turned on his heel and strode from the room, pulling the heavy door shut behind him with a dull thud.

He made his way downstairs to where the hulking, monolithic form of Dimitri was waiting obediently by the entrance hall.

"Keep a close ear on our Luna upstairs, you got me?" Killian jerked his chin in the direction of the master suite then brushed past the imposing bodyguard without breaking stride. "I got to go run an errand with the boys for a bit, make sure she's safe while I'm gone."

Dimitri responded with a curt nod and a simple "Yes, Master!" Then he moved to take up his watchful post outside Serena's bedroom door with an unquestioning loyalty he was bred for.

With the reassurance that Serena would be looked after, Killian ducked out into the cool caress of the night air and was swallowed up by the darkness cloaking the grounds.

Meanwhile, back upstairs in the master bedroom, Serena began to stir restlessly amid the tangled sheets and plush bedding.

Her eyes fluttered open but instead of their usual brilliant emerald hue, they were glowing with an eerie, unnatural white light, as if illuminated by some otherworldly force from within.

She rose from the bed with jerky, mechanical movements like being operated by some unseen puppeteer pulling tight strings.

Serena shuffled across the room, soundlessly opened the door and walked the hallway until she reached a discreet panel in the wall, one that would have been all but invisible to anyone else.

Her slender fingers danced across the hidden keypad and a white light shot from her palms that caused the panel to slide open with a soft hiss.

An elevator car was revealed behind it, the kind of private lift only the ultra-wealthy elite could afford to install in their fortified sanctuaries.

The doors parted soundlessly, and Serena stepped inside with the same blank, glassy-eyed expression on her face as the elevator began its smooth descent down into the underground depths of the villa’s foundations.