Chapter 519 After The Hotel

Katia’s POV

I heard the front door open just after midnight. The house was quiet, with Aiden and Clara both asleep upstairs. I had stayed in the living room with the lights dimmed because I knew Julian would be coming home that night, and I did not want him walking into an empty room. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him without turning on the main light. Even from where I sat, I could see the dark stains on his shirt and the way he held his right hand slightly away from his body.

He looked at me but did not speak immediately. I stood up and crossed the room toward him. As I approached, I could clearly smell the blood. His knuckles were split, and dried blood had settled into the lines of his skin and along the cuff of his sleeve. I reached for his hand, and he let me take it.

“It is finished?” he asked and studied his face. There was no anger left in his expression, only the kind of exhaustion that settled in after something had already been done. “Are you hurt?” I asked.

“No,” he answered.

“Good,” I replied.

I did not ask what he meant because I already knew. Instead, I took his hand and led him down the hallway toward our bathroom. He followed without arguing. Once inside, I switched on the smaller light above the mirror and let the water run until it was warm. I took a clean cloth from the drawer, wet it, and held his hand over the sink as I began wiping away the blood. He stood still while I worked. At first, the water ran pink, but it gradually became clear. I was careful around the broken skin, while Julian watched my face in the mirror more than he watched what I was doing.

“He will not come near Gail again,” he said after a while, his voice low. “Or you. Or the children.”

“I know,” I replied.

I rinsed the cloth and continued cleaning his hand. There was more blood on his shirt than I had initially noticed, so I set the cloth aside and began unbuttoning it for him. He let me remove it without saying anything. Once the shirt was off, I dropped it into the laundry basket and examined him carefully. There were no marks on his chest or arms. Whatever had happened, Julian had been the one inflicting the injuries.

“You went alone?” I asked.

“Yes,” he confirmed.

“You could have taken Zane.”

“I did not want him there for this,” Julian replied.

I nodded because I understood. There were certain things Julian preferred to handle without an audience, even when that audience was someone he trusted. I wiped his knuckles one last time before setting the cloth aside and gently drying his hand with a clean towel. His skin was warm beneath my fingers, and the cuts were already beginning to sting, but he did not pull away.

“Come to bed,” I said.

He followed me into the bedroom. I pulled back the covers and waited while he changed into the clothes he kept in the drawer. When he lay down, I switched off the light and settled beside him. He did not reach for me as he usually did. Instead, he lay on his back with one arm behind his head and the other resting between us. I moved closer until my head rested on his shoulder, and his hand found my hair and remained there.

“Talk to me,” I whispered.

He was quiet for a moment. “He tried to speak when I walked in. I did not let him finish.”

“Did he say anything at all?” I asked.

“Nothing that mattered,” Julian answered.

I listened to the steady sound of his breathing. “Are you all right?”

“I will be.”

“That is not the same thing,” I pointed out.

His fingers moved slowly through my hair. “I am all right because it is done. Because he will not be sitting at Gail’s table again. Because you and the children are here and he is not. That is enough for tonight.”

I closed my eyes. The house was quiet, and I could hear Clara’s soft breathing through the baby monitor on the nightstand, along with the faint sound of air moving through the vents. Julian’s heartbeat was steady beneath my ear. I stayed awake longer than he did, listening to his breathing and thinking about the man who had walked into Gail’s house and the man who had walked out of that hotel room. Both of them were gone now, and one of them would never be coming back.

The following morning, I woke before Julian. I left him sleeping and went downstairs. Aiden was already sitting at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal, while Clara sat in her high chair, watching him with the serious attention she gave everything he did. I kissed the top of Aiden’s head and poured myself a cup of coffee. My phone rang while I was still standing at the counter. When I saw Gail’s name on the screen, I answered and stepped into the hallway so the children would not hear our conversation.

“He is gone,” Gail said quietly. “I do not want to know where.”

“You do not have to,” I assured her.

She remained silent for a moment. “Thank you.”

“You do not have to thank me either,” I replied.

“I know. But I am saying it anyway.”

We stayed on the line a little longer without saying much else. When I ended the call, I returned to the kitchen. Aiden was telling Clara something about the dinosaurs on his cereal box. She was too young to understand what he was saying, but she listened anyway. Julian came downstairs a few minutes later. He had showered, and there was no trace of blood left on him. He kissed my temple before leaning down to kiss Clara’s head. Aiden looked up at him and smiled.

“Morning,” Julian greeted him.

“Morning,” Aiden replied. “Clara keeps trying to steal my spoon.”

Julian sat at the table and poured himself some coffee as though it were any other morning. I stood at the counter and watched them. The threat that had been sitting at Gail’s table was smaller now, although it had not disappeared entirely. There were still other dangers waiting beyond the walls of our home. But for that morning, with the children eating breakfast and Julian sitting across from them with clean hands, those dangers felt far enough away that I could finally breathe.

I picked up my cup and joined them at the table. Clara reached for my finger while Aiden continued talking. Julian looked at me over the rim of his cup.

“Gail called,” I told him.

“I figured she would,” he replied.

“She does not want details.”

“Good,” Julian said.

I nodded. “Neither do I.”

He reached across the table and rested his hand over mine for a moment before letting go and returning to his coffee. Aiden asked him something about the dinosaurs, and Julian answered. Clara made a noise that might have been agreement. I sat with them, listening to the familiar sounds of an ordinary morning. For now, that was enough.