Obligation (Underground Kings #2)(63)

His lips press against mine as his hand moves to my belly one last time before he leaves the room. It takes all of my strength to stay on the bed and not follow him out of the house.

Soon after he leaves, I get up and phone his mom to see if she knows anything about what’s going on. She tells me that Kai didn’t tell her anything and she is sure it is just the hormones that are making me feel like something is off. When I get off the phone with her, I go into the kitchen and start baking to help keep my mind busy until he comes home.


I look at the clock and then over at Pika, who has been hanging out with me since I got out of bed earlier. When I notice that he’s looking at the clock as well, I give up and go get the phone. I have never called Kai when he has told me that he’ll be working, but right now, I need to make sure he’s okay so the feeling in my stomach will hopefully go away.

I wrap one arm around my waist and then use the other to dial his number before putting the phone to my ear. My eyes stay locked on Pika’s, and I can see that he’s waiting to get some relief as well.

“Kai—”

My heart soars then crashes to the ground when I realize it’s only the message for his voicemail. “Hey, I…I just wanted to make sure you are okay.” I pause and let out a shaky breath as my head drops forward and tears fill my eyes. “Please come home,” I whisper and then hang up. “He didn’t answer,” I tell Pika, placing the phone on the counter.


“I’m sure he’s okay.”

“Me too,” I agree halfheartedly.

“He’s probably somewhere where he can’t answer,” he says, trying to convince both himself and me, but even as I nod, that pit in the bottom of my stomach gets bigger.

I pick the house phone up when it rings once, hoping that it’s Kai telling me that he’s okay and he’s on his way home.

“Hello?”

“Honey, Meka’s on her way to you now, and Bane and I are on our way,” Leia says.

“What happened?” I ask as tears begin to fill my eyes. I know that whatever she is going to say is going to rip me apart.

“I don’t know. No one knows exactly what happened. After you called me, I became concerned, so I asked Bane to look into what Kai was doing,” she whispers. “He found out that Kai was meeting someone and they were taking the person’s yacht out. Bane made Kai promise he would call in an hour, and when we didn’t hear back from him, Bane called the coastguard. They told him that a Mayday was sent out, and when the coastguard arrived at the location, only pieces of boat were left. They think there was some kind of explosion.”

“No.” I close my eyes and my stomach dips as I try to avoid getting sick.

“They’ve been searching, but as of yet, they haven’t found any survivors,” she cries, and I collapse onto the couch behind me. “We’re going to go over to the station and see if we can get any more information,” she says, but her words begin to sound garbled, like I’m underwater.

I feel the phone slip out of my palm and hear Aye ask for Bane, but after that, everything becomes a blur until I hear my name yelled.

“Myla!”

I stand from where I was sitting on the couch as Meka comes rushing into the living room.

“Oh, God,” she whimpers, rushing towards me with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“No,” I breathe even though I just spoke to Kai’s mom. I don’t want to believe that it’s true, but there is no denying the look in Meka’s eyes as she looks at me.

“I’m sorry.” She cries harder, and my chest compresses under the weight of devastation I feel.

My knees give out and I fall to the floor as a sob rips from my chest. I feel her wrap her slender arms around me, and her tears seep through the shirt I have on. I don’t know how long we stay there in the middle of the living room crying, but after some time, I feel Pika and Aye pull us away from each other.

Aye helps me get settled on the couch just as Kai’s mom and dad walk in, and a fresh wave of tears springs to my eyes.

“Honey,” Leia says, coming to sit next to me.

Her hands go around me, and I know she is not here to tell me good news. It takes everything in me to focus on breathing, to remind myself that I have to breathe for our son. I cannot even begin to think of how I will make it without Kai. I don’t know how I will live when I have to say goodbye to my soul.

“We didn’t even pick a name,” I whisper staring off into the ocean, which is turning orange as the sun begins to set.

“What, honey?” Kai’s mom asks, using her hand on my cheek to turn my face towards her.

“We didn’t even get a chance to pick a name.” I shake my head. “Kai said he wanted to wait until after he was born so he was sure to get a name that fit him, and now, he won’t be here to give him his name.”

“Oh, Myla,” she whispers. “Don’t think about that right now. Right now, just pray that they find him.” She chokes out the last part, and I can see it in her eyes that she doesn’t even believe they will.

“I’m going to be sick.” I get up, rush out of the room, and go to the toilet, the contents of my lunch coming up. I wait until the nausea passes before standing and going to the sink to splash some water on my face. The refection looking back at me when I look in the mirror is not one I have ever seen before, not even during the worst years of my life. No, the girl looking back at me looks lifeless.