Why Is This Omega Stalking Me…?

Chapter 86

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"I’m sorry, Mr. Shen, but the surveillance cameras were taken offline for several minutes around the time the incident occurred."

The police officer’s voice was careful, almost hesitant, as though he already knew Shen Yu would not like what he was about to say.

They were sitting inside one of the investigation rooms at the police station, where the fluorescent lights cast a cold, pale glow over everything. The room smelled faintly of old paper, coffee, and disinfectant. Shen Yu had been sitting there for hours, barely moving, his dark eyes fixed on the documents spread across the desk in front of him.

The officer swallowed before continuing.

"Yunsheng Mall is one of the busiest shopping centers in the city, and according to the witnesses we’ve spoken to, the incident occurred in the parking area. We’re reviewing every available camera from the surrounding streets and buildings, but..." He hesitated again. "Are you certain the omega was kidnapped, sir?"

Shen Yu slowly lifted his eyes.

The look in them made the officer stop speaking.

There was no anger in Shen Yu’s expression anymore. At least, not the kind that could be easily recognized. His face was almost unnaturally still, but the tension in his jaw and the tightness around his eyes revealed how much effort it was taking for him to remain composed.

"He was taken," Shen Yu said.

His voice was low.

Certain.

The officer lowered his gaze.

"We understand that you’re worried."

"Worried?"

The word came out quietly, but the officer immediately looked up.

Shen Yu’s fingers tightened against his knees.

"You think I’m worried?"

The officer remained silent.

Shen Yu looked away from him and toward the dark window of the investigation room. His reflection stared back at him, and for a moment, he barely recognized the person looking back.

His hair was disheveled from the number of times he had dragged his fingers through it. The shadows beneath his eyes had deepened considerably, and his usually composed appearance had begun to show the exhaustion he had been refusing to acknowledge.

The officer sighed.

"We’ve done everything within our power at this stage, Mr. Shen. Officers are searching the area, and we’re reviewing every available piece of footage. We’ll also be checking traffic cameras and speaking to additional witnesses. We promise we won’t stop searching for him."

Shen Yu said nothing.

"You should go home and rest for a few hours," the officer added gently. "You’ll be of more help to us if you’re able to think clearly."

The words became distant.

Shen Yu stood without answering.

The chair scraped softly against the floor as he pushed it back, and he walked out of the room without another word.

The moment he stepped outside the station, the cold night air struck his face.

He stopped beside the building and leaned against the nearest wall.

His head lowered.

His eyes closed.

Eleven hours.

It had been eleven hours since Jiang Li had disappeared.

Eleven hours since Shen Yu had last seen him.

Eleven hours of not knowing where he was, who had taken him, what they wanted, or whether Jiang Li was frightened.

His chest tightened.

He tried to breathe slowly, but his lungs seemed incapable of following his instructions. Every breath felt too shallow, and his heartbeat had become painfully loud beneath his ribs.

What if Jiang Li was hurt?

What if he was calling for someone?

What if he was alone somewhere, waiting for Shen Yu to find him?

Shen Yu clenched his hands.

He had faced dangerous situations before. He had stood in front of people who wanted him dead without allowing his expression to change. He had spent years learning how to remain calm when everything around him was falling apart.

But this was different.

This time, the person he needed to protect was not someone he had been assigned to protect.

It was Jiang Li.

His omega.

His hands began to shake.

Shen Yu stared down at them, his brows drawing together as though he were irritated by his own weakness.

He needed a cigarette.

He reached into his coat pocket and searched through it, only to find his fingers closing around nothing.

His cigarettes were gone.

He let out a frustrated breath and leaned his head against the wall.

Then he smelled smoke.

The scent drifted through the cold air, faint at first, but unmistakable.

Shen Yu opened his eyes.

Someone was standing a short distance away, leaning against the same wall.

Dark hair fell loosely across his forehead, stirred occasionally by the wind. His posture was relaxed, almost careless, and a cigarette rested between his fingers.

Kim Teahyun.

The older Alpha didn’t look at him immediately. He simply stared toward the street, watching the headlights of passing cars blur into streaks of white against the darkness.

After a moment, Teahyun held out the cigarette.

Shen Yu stared at it.

He knew he shouldn’t take it.

He took it anyway.

Before Teahyun could offer him the lighter, Shen Yu snatched it from his hand. The abrupt movement earned a quiet, humorless chuckle from the other Alpha.

Shen Yu struggled to light the cigarette because his fingers were still trembling.

He hated that Teahyun could see it.

Eventually, the flame caught.

He inhaled deeply, holding the smoke for a moment before releasing it into the night.

"What do you want, Teahyun?"

His voice sounded exhausted.

The usual authority behind it had weakened beneath eleven hours of fear and sleeplessness.

Teahyun glanced at him.

"You know, smoking and standing here isn’t going to help you find him."

Shen Yu looked at him.

Teahyun took another drag from his cigarette before dropping it onto the pavement. He crushed it beneath his shoe.

"How do you know that?"

Shen Yu’s voice had changed.

The exhaustion remained, but something colder had entered it.

"How do you know what will or won’t help me find Jiang Li, Kim Teahyun?"

Teahyun smiled faintly.

"Ah, Yu-ah."

He turned his head fully toward him.

"You still don’t understand, do you?"

Shen Yu pushed himself away from the wall.

"I understand enough."

"No," Teahyun replied calmly. "You don’t."

Shen Yu walked toward him.

"What do you want?"

Teahyun didn’t move.

"I know everything."

The words stopped Shen Yu for half a second.

Then something inside him snapped.

He grabbed Teahyun by the collar and slammed him against the wall.

The impact echoed through the otherwise quiet street.

"Did you kidnap my omega?"

Teahyun’s head struck the wall lightly, but his expression barely changed.

"Answer me!"

Shen Yu’s hands were shaking violently now.

"Did you take him?"

Teahyun stared into his eyes.

"No."

The answer came quietly.

"I didn’t."

Shen Yu held his collar for another moment before abruptly releasing him and stepping back.

He dragged both hands through his already disheveled black hair.

"What do you want from me?"

Teahyun remained silent.

Shen Yu’s breathing became uneven.

"What more do you want to take from me?"

His voice cracked.

Teahyun’s expression changed slightly.

Shen Yu lowered his head, trying to regain control, but the effort was futile.

"You’ve already taken everything."

His voice became quieter.

"You took everything from me and left me with nothing."

Teahyun’s eyes narrowed slightly.

In five years, Shen Yu stopped crying.

Five years.

And in all that time, he had never seen him cry.

Not once.

Shen Yu had always been the same—cold, controlled, impossible to read. Even when something hurt him, he buried it beneath silence until no one could tell whether he had been affected at all.

But now his eyes were becoming glassy beneath the harsh streetlight.

"What more do you want from me, Teahyun?"

The first tear slipped down his cheek.

Teahyun froze.

"Why do you hate me so much?"

Another tear followed.

"What did I ever do to you?"

Shen Yu’s voice broke completely.

"Why?"

The question hung between them.

His shoulders trembled as the tears finally began falling freely.

For years, he had built walls around himself so carefully that even he had forgotten what existed behind them. Pride, anger, silence, indifference—he had used all of them to protect the wounds no one was allowed to touch.

But now those walls were collapsing.

His chest tightened painfully as memories rushed through his mind.

His father.

His mother.

The emptiness that followed.

He Lian.

Every person he had loved.

Every person he had trusted.

Every loss he had survived by convincing himself that he no longer needed anyone.

And then, suddenly, through all that darkness, he saw honey-brown eyes.

Blond hair.

A soft smile.

A voice calling his name.

"Shen Yu."

Jiang Li.

The memory hurt more than everything else.

Shen Yu pressed a trembling hand against his chest.

"Take everything," he whispered.

His voice was barely audible.

"Take all of it."

He looked at Teahyun through tear-filled eyes.

"But not him."

His voice rose.

"Not Jiang Li."

The desperation in his voice was impossible to hide.

"Kim Teahyun, bring back my omega."

Teahyun’s expression finally broke.

He closed his eyes and inhaled slowly before stepping forward.

Shen Yu didn’t stop him when Teahyun wrapped his arms around him.

At first, Shen Yu struggled.

His hands pushed weakly against Teahyun’s shoulders, but Teahyun didn’t release him.

The scent of the ocean surrounded him, strangely familiar and grounding, but it did nothing to stop the tears.

If anything, they became worse.

Because it wasn’t only Jiang Li that he was crying for anymore.

Jiang Li had simply been the final thread holding everything together.

The moment that thread had been pulled away, years of carefully buried grief had come rushing back.

Shen Yu’s body shook against Teahyun’s arms.

For the first time in five years, the mature prosecutor disappeared beneath the grief.

There was no cold Alpha.

No untouchable prosecutor.

No man who had convinced himself that he could survive without allowing anyone close enough to hurt him.

There was only the younger Shen Yu who had lost his first love.

The son who had spent years waiting for affection from parents who had left wounds instead.

The man who had learned far too early that loving someone meant giving them the power to destroy him.

And now Jiang Li had become the person holding the most fragile part of his heart.

That was why it hurt so much.

Shen Yu buried his face against Teahyun’s shoulder and finally allowed himself to cry.

He had spent years holding everything inside.

Tonight, there was nothing left to hold.