The war at the northern border had been brutal.
Relentless.
Bloody.
But none of it—
Not the battles, not the riots, not the endless nights of strategy and bloodshed—
Had pushed Caleb to the edge like this.
Nothing compared.
Nothing even came close.
Because now he was unhinged.
Completely.
He hadn’t slept properly.
Hadn’t eaten more than a few forced bites.
Hadn’t even tasted the expensive liquor that once came so easily to him, now sitting untouched as if it meant nothing.
Because nothing did.
Nothing except one thing.
Iva.
Her absence clawed at him like a living thing, tearing through his chest, suffocating his thoughts, poisoning every moment with a single, unbearable question.
“Where is she?”
His hands slammed against the desk in his penthouse with a violent crack, the
