THE DEVIL’s MISSING PIECE

Caspian’s POV

I learned a long time ago that silence could say more than words ever could.

Especially in a room full of men who were afraid to speak.

Twenty people sat around the long table inside the Knight Holdings conference room, their attention fixed on me.

Nobody moved.

Nobody whispered.

Nobody even dared to shuffle the papers in front of them.

I leaned back in my chair.

“Continue.”

The man standing beside the screen swallowed before continuing his presentation.

Numbers appeared across the screen.

Shipping routes.

Quarterly profits.

Expansion proposals.

Nothing I hadn’t seen before.

Knight Holdings had grown considerably over the past four years.

Four years ago, people had looked at me and seen a twenty-one-year-old who was too young to handle an empire.

They had expected me to fail.

They had been wrong.

I hadn’t inherited weakness.

I had inherited responsibility.

And I had spent the last four years making sure nobody ever questioned my ability to carry it again.

“Mr. Knight.”

I looked up.

Alexander Dominic, one of the oldest men on the board, cleared his throat.

“I believe the proposed expansion is too aggressive.”

The room went quiet again.

I glanced at the document in front of me.

“Explain.”

He straightened in his chair.

“We’re expanding into three new markets simultaneously. It creates unnecessary risk.”

“Risk is part of business.”

“Not when the consequences could affect the company as a whole.”

I studied him for a moment.

“You’re confusing risk with hesitation.”

His expression tightened.

“You think we should proceed?”

“I think we’ve already wasted enough time discussing it.”

Nobody spoke.

I closed the file.

“Proceed with the expansion.”

Alexander looked like he wanted to argue.

He didn’t.

“Meeting adjourned.”

Chairs scraped against the floor.

Within minutes, the room began to empty.

I remained seated, scanning through the documents one last time.

The door opened.

I didn’t look up.

“You know, most people would at least pretend to be surprised to see their best friend walking into their office.”

I looked up.

Luca Bennett stood in the doorway, wearing the same irritating grin he seemed to wake up with every morning.

“I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Exactly. And yet here I am.”

I looked at him.

“So what do you want?”

Luca blinked innocently.

“Nothing.”

“Then why are you here?”

He leaned back in the chair, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

“I stopped by to annoy my old man.”

I stared at him.

“Your old man?”

“You.”

“I’m twenty-five.”

“And already grumpy enough to qualify.”

I shook my head.

“You came all the way here just to make me angry?”

“Pretty much.”

“You need a hobby.”

“This is my hobby.”

I looked at him for a moment.

“Get out.”

He laughed.

“See? It worked.”

He walked in and dropped into the chair across from me.

“You’re welcome.”

“For what?”

“Brightening your incredibly miserable existence.”

I returned my attention to the documents.

“You’ve been here for thirty seconds and I’m already reconsidering my decision to let you live.”

Luca placed a hand over his chest.

“That’s hurtful.”

“You’ll survive.”

He laughed.

That was Luca.

Most people entered my office carefully.

Luca entered as though he owned the building.

He had known me long enough to understand that beneath the reputation, I was still the same person he’d grown up with.

Unfortunately, that knowledge had also made him immune to intimidation.

“You ignored my calls,” he said.

“I was in a meeting.”

“You could have called back.”

“I didn’t want to.”

He stared at me.

“You know, sometimes I wonder why we’re friends.”

“You’re still trying to figure that out?”

“Every day.”

A small smile almost touched my mouth.

Almost.

Luca immediately pointed at me.

“There.”

I frowned.

“There what?”

“That.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You almost smiled.”

“I didn’t.”

“You did.”

“You imagined it.”

He shook his head.

“One day, Caspian Knight, I will make you admit that you actually enjoy my company.”

“Don’t make plans around that.”

Before Luca could answer, a voice came from behind him.

“Luca.”

He turned.

Adrian Vale stood near the doorway.

He had remained behind after the meeting, speaking briefly with one of the board members before returning to the office.

At forty-five, Adrian carried himself with quiet authority.

He had worked for my father long before I ever took over Knight Holdings.

When my father died, Adrian stayed.

He could have walked away.

He didn’t.

For the last four years, he had stood beside me through every difficult decision, every expansion, every setback.

He was one of the few people I trusted completely.

And he knew me well enough to know when I was pushing myself too far.

His eyes moved to the untouched glass of water on my desk.

Then to the clock.

“You haven’t eaten.”

I looked at him.

“I’m fine.”

“That wasn’t what I said.”

Luca immediately pointed at Adrian.

“See? This is why I like him.”

Adrian ignored him.

“You’ve been in meetings since morning.”

“I had coffee.”

“That isn’t food.”

“It was enough.”

Adrian gave me a look.

The kind that reminded me he had been telling me the same thing since I was young.

“You need to eat.”

“I’ll eat later.”

“You said that yesterday.”

“I was busy yesterday.”

“You’re always busy.”

Luca leaned back in his chair.

“I think he’s winning this one.”

I looked at him.

“Whose side are you on?”

“His.”

“Traitor.”

“I’m concerned about your health.”

“You’re enjoying this.”

“Maybe a little.”

Adrian placed a small container of food on the desk.

“Eat.”

I stared at it.

Then at him.

“You’ve become very demanding.”

“I learned from your father.”

For a moment, something shifted inside me.

My father’s name always did that.

Adrian seemed to notice.

He said nothing.

He didn’t need to.

He had known my father.

He had known me before the company, before the reputation, before everyone started calling me the man who couldn’t be challenged.

To Adrian, I wasn’t the CEO of Knight Holdings.

I was still the boy he had watched grow up.

The thought almost made me smile.

Almost.

The door opened again.

This time, the atmosphere changed.

Dante stepped inside.

He didn’t belong to the corporate world.

Not entirely.

He worked for me, but his work rarely involved boardrooms, contracts, or shareholders.

Dante handled the things that required discretion.

Things that couldn’t be written into company reports.

Things that didn’t belong anywhere near Knight Holdings.

His eyes moved briefly around the room before settling on me.

“Boss.”

I nodded.

“Dante.”

Luca glanced between us.

“I’ll take that as my cue to leave.”

He stood.

“Try not to die of boredom without me.”

“I’ll manage.”

He pointed at Adrian.

“Make sure he eats.”

Adrian nodded.

Luca left, closing the door behind him.

Dante walked closer.

“There’s something you should know.”

I leaned back.

“Go on.”

He reached into his coat and placed his phone on the desk.

A message was open on the screen.

I looked at it.

There wasn’t much.

Just a few lines.

Four years ago.

One female survivor.

Estimated age at the time: nineteen.

Identity unknown.

My eyes narrowed.

I read it again.

“Where did this come from?”

“Someone passed the information through one of our contacts.”

“Reliable?”

“Not enough to say for certain.”

I looked up.

“What makes them think she survived?”

Dante’s expression remained serious.

“There was a witness who claimed to have seen a young girl leaving the area that night.”

“The night my parents died.”

“Yes.”

Silence settled over the room.

Four years.

I hadn’t heard anything new about that night in a long time.

Most of the information had led nowhere.

Dead ends.

Conflicting accounts.

Missing records.

People who suddenly stopped talking.

And now this.

A girl.

Nineteen at the time.

Alive.

Possibly.

“Does she have a name?”

“No.”

“Location?”

“Nothing confirmed.”

“Then what exactly do we have?”

Dante looked at the phone.

“A possibility.”

I stared at the message.

It wasn’t much.

But sometimes, a possibility was enough.

“Find out if it’s true.”

Dante nodded.

“And if it is?”

“Find her.”

He gave a short nod.

“Understood, boss.”

He lowered his head a little bit,stepped out leaving his phone behind.

The door closed behind him.

Adrian was still there.

He looked at me for a moment.

“You’re going to chase this.”

It wasn’t a question.

I looked down at the message again.

“I want answers.”

Adrian sighed quietly.

“Just don’t let the past consume everything you’ve built.”

I didn’t respond.

He knew better than to expect one.

After a moment, he picked up the untouched food from my desk and pushed it closer to me.

“At least eat while you decide how much trouble you’re going to cause.”

I looked at him.

“You’re still here?”

“Unfortunately for you.”

A faint smile pulled at my lips.

Adrian nodded toward the food.

“Eat.”

He turned and left.

I remained alone.

My eyes returned to the message on Dante’s phone.

One female survivor.

Nineteen years old.

Identity unknown.

I didn’t know her name.

I didn’t know what she had seen.

I didn’t even know if she was still alive.

But if the information was true, then someone had survived the night that had taken everything from me.

And perhaps…

She was carrying an answer I had spent four years trying to find.