My relationship with Kai has also changed since coming back to Hawaii. The wall that had been keeping us separated finally crumbled. He now knew everything there was to know about me, and I now know he will be there to help me battle any demons I may have.

I silently lie here, looking out at the ocean, willing myself to sleep, but I can’t get over the feeling that something is going to happen. I know that something is brewing. I don’t know what it is, but the energy over the last few days has changed, and Kai is more anxious than before. But every time I bring it up, he explains that, when the time is right, he will share it with me.

“I need to go out for a couple of hours, love,” Kai says, coming into the room, where I have been lying down, trying to take a nap.

I turn my head on the pillow and take him in, noticing that he looks worried. “Do you want me to come with you?” I ask him.

He shakes his head, leans over me, and presses a kiss to my lips. When he pulls back, his fingers run down my cheek.

“I won’t be gone long,” he says, but the anxiety I see in his eyes has the worry in my chest expanding.

“Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine. You just rest.”

I study his face and take notice of the way his jaw seems to be harder. “I love you,” I tell him as I lift my hand to run my fingers down his jaw.

His eyes go soft and his face changes slightly. “I love you too. I’ll be back,” he tells me, and this time, I hear the conviction in his voice when the words leave his mouth.

“We’ll be here waiting for you,” I tell him instead of doing what I really want to do, which is attach myself to him, making it hard for him to leave without taking me with him.

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.