The Exile's reckoning

The Music Box

Kai turned away from Lila, his attention shifting back to Derek Sterling.

Derek was still standing there, trying to pull himself together, straightening his jacket, wiping sweat from his forehead, forcing his face into something that resembled authority, but his hands were shaking. His eyes kept darting toward the exit, toward Viktor Kane slumped against the pillar, toward the unconscious guards scattered across the floor.

He was terrified.

And trying desperately not to show it.

Kai took a single step toward him.

Derek flinched.

"You're Derek Sterling," Kai said. His voice dropped, cold and dangerous. Not a question but a statement.

Derek swallowed hard, lifted his chin. "That's right." His voice cracked slightly. He cleared his throat, tried again. "That's right. And you're about to be arrested for assault and—and destruction of property, and—"

"Ten years ago," Kai cut him off, "your family demolished my childhood home to build this monument."

Derek blinked. "What? I don't—"

"There was a music box." Kai's voice was quiet now and controlled. But something beneath it, something raw, made the words cut like a blade. "It played a lullaby. 'Moonlit Shores.' It was small, wooden and hand-carved. It belonged to my sister."

Derek's mouth opened and cosed. He looked genuinely confused. "I... I don't know what you're talking about—"

Kai took another step forward.

Derek stepped back, colliding with a chair. He stumbled and caught himself.

"When they tore down the house," Kai continued, "everything inside was supposed to be cleared out. Furniture, clothes, photographs, everything." His jaw tightened. "But the music box wasn't in storage. It wasn't in any of the boxes they gave us, it disappeared."

"I—I wasn't even there," Derek stammered. "I was—I was away at university, I didn't have anything to do with—"

"Find it."

Derek froze. "What?"

"The music box." Kai's eyes bored into him. "Find it. You have seventy-two hours."

"I don't—how am I supposed to—"

"I don't care how." Kai's voice was flat and final. "Ask your mother, ask your father. Go through every storage facility, every warehouse, every closet in every Sterling property. I want that music box."

Derek's face had gone pale. "Okay. Okay, I'll—I'll look into it. I promise. I'll find it."

"Seventy-two hours," Kai repeated. "After that, things get worse."

Derek nodded frantically. "I understand. I'll find it, I swear."

Kai held his gaze for another long moment. Then he turned, heading for the exit again.

But Lila stepped into his path.

"Wait," she said.

Kai stopped, his expression was unreadable.

Lila glanced back at Derek, who stood frozen, still trembling, then looked at Kai again. Her mind was racing, piecing things together.

"You said your home was here," she said quietly. "The Sterlings took it?"

Kai's jaw tightened. "This building, this hotel. It's standing where my family's house used to be. Where I grew up. Where my mother planted a garden. Where my sister had her eighth birthday."

Lila's eyes widened slightly. "They demolished your home?"

"Six months after my mother died. They razed it to the ground and built this." Kai's voice was cold, but underneath it, Lila could hear the pain and the grief. "A monument to their wealth. Built on my family's ashes."

Lila's expression shifted—sympathy, understanding, and something else. Her journalistic instincts kicking in. This wasn't just a violent intruder. This was someone with a legitimate grievance. A victim.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I didn't know."

"No one does." Kai's gaze drifted past her, toward the windows. "That's the point. The Sterlings erase people, erase history and pretend the damage they do never happened."

Lila stepped closer. "If you saved me five years ago..." She hesitated, searching his face. "I never forgot. I wanted to thank you, but you disappeared. I looked for you."

Kai's expression remained carefully neutral. "I told you, i don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do." Lila's voice was firm now. Certain. "I know it was you. Your voice, the way you move. I'm not wrong about this."

Kai's jaw tightened. For a moment, he said nothing.

Then, quietly: "Even if it was, you don't owe me anything."

"Yes, I do."

"No." Kai's eyes met hers, and for the first time, she saw something vulnerable in them. "You were in danger because of the world people like your father and the Sterlings created. I just did what anyone should've done."

Lila's throat tightened. "But you're the only one who did."

Kai didn't respond.

Lila took a breath, steadying herself. "Why are you here? Really? Is it just about the music box?"

Kai's gaze hardened again. The vulnerability vanished, replaced by cold determination.

"I'm here," he said quietly, "to take back what was stolen."

"The music box?"

"Everything." His voice was barely above a whisper, but it carried the weight of years, of loss, of rage held in check by sheer willpower. "My mother's name, my family's home, my sister's childhood. Everything the Sterlings took from us, I'm taking it back."