Chapter 470 You Think He’s Dirty?
Julian’s POV
I told Katia the second I got home.
Aiden was already upstairs. The house had that extra quiet that only came when more men were posted outside and everyone inside was pretending not to notice. I found her in the bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed with her shoes off and one hand resting on the small swell of her stomach.
“Noah came to see me,” I said.
She looked up. “And?”
“He said Elliot told him to tell me to watch my back.”
Katia went still. “That’s all?”
“That’s all he would give me.”
She stood slowly. “You think he’s hiding the rest.”
“I know he is. He sat in my office like a man swallowing glass. He talked about being a son. He talked about not being able to burn the only parent he has ever had. He did not talk like a man who only had a warning to pass along.”
Katia walked to the window, then back. “He brought me flowers last week. Kissed my cheeks. Asked how I was. He looked sick then too.”
“He should look sick.” I pulled my tie loose. “You were in a hospital bed. Our child was in that car. And Elliot used his son like a postman.”
“Julian.”
“I am not waiting for Noah to decide what kind of man he wants to be.”
She stopped in front of me. “I like him. That does not mean I trust the silence around him.” Her voice stayed even. “What are you going to do?”
“Tighten everything. You don’t drive alone. Aiden doesn’t leave this house without two of ours. Marcus changes the school run in the morning. And I start squeezing Elliot where he actually feels it.”
“Business.”
“Business first. Then whatever else I need.”
Katia searched my face.
“You don’t have proof he ordered the crash.”
“I have a method that matches my parents. I have a contractor paid through a firm tied to him. I have his son standing in my office with a threat in his mouth and guilt written across every word he would not say. That is enough to protect this family. It is not enough for court. I am not building a court case tonight. I am keeping you alive.”
She nodded once.
“Good. Then don’t dress it up as patience. Call it what it is.”
“What is it?”
“War.” She put her hand on my chest. “Just don’t turn Noah into the enemy until he earns that place. Right now he looks like a man breaking, not a man hunting us.”
“A man breaking can still get my wife killed if he keeps the wrong secret.”
“Then watch him. Don’t waste time hating him. Hate is sloppy. Watching him is useful.”
I almost smiled. Almost.
“Stay home tomorrow.”
“I have work.”
“Then Sam drives. Zane follows. That is not a discussion.”
Her mouth twitched.
“I hate it when you’re right.”
“Get used to it.”
I kissed her forehead, then her mouth. She held my shirt for a second longer than the kiss needed.
“Tell Aiden as little as you can,” she said. “He already sees too much.”
“I know.”
I left her there and went down to the study.
Marcus answered on the first ring.
“Noah delivered a warning from Elliot,” I said. “No details. He is holding the rest. Treat the house like the next hit is already planned. Aiden’s route changes in the morning. Katia does not move without cover. I want eyes on Elliot’s offices and his usual cars. Quiet. I don’t want a scene. I want to know where he is before he knows I am looking.”
“Done,” Marcus said. “Renner still has not surfaced.”
“Keep looking. Pull the maintenance firm again. If anyone there grows a memory, I want it tonight.”
“And Noah?”
“Watch him too. If he becomes a hole in the fence, you tell me before it opens.”
“Understood.”
I hung up and stood in the dark with the city spread beyond the glass. Noah’s face kept coming back. The way he sat. The way he would not meet the last question. He had come to me with half a truth and called it enough.
It was not enough.
I poured a drink I did not finish. Then I called Zane.
“I need you on Katia tomorrow,” I said. “Not because I doubt Sam. Because I don’t want one car and one plan.”
“I’ll be there.”
“If Noah shows up at the office, you let him in and you stay in the room.”
“You think he’s dirty?”
“I think he’s torn. Torn men make mistakes. I won’t let my wife be the mistake.”
Zane was quiet for a second.
“All right. I’ll handle it.”
After that I went upstairs. Aiden’s door was half open. He was asleep on top of the covers with a book still in his hand. I took the book, set it on the table, and stood there longer than I meant to.