Chapter 388

[ 1,476 words ]

Julian’s POV

Katia sat beside me on the sofa, her hand resting lightly on my knee, both of us watching Grandma Celeste pace in front of the fireplace, something in her posture I had never seen from her before, a kind of unsteadiness that did not fit the woman I had known my entire life.

“You are frightening me,” I said again, the same thing I had told her over the phone. “Just say it p>

She stopped pacing.

“Your father had a brother,” she said. “Elliot. Older than your father by six years p>

I stared at her.

“I do not have an uncle,” I said. “I would know p>

“You would not,” Grandma Celeste said. “Because I made certain of it. I kept his name out of every conversation in this house for over a decade. You and Gail have never met him. You have likely never even heard him mentioned p>

Katia’s hand tightened slightly on my knee.

“Why?” I asked.

“Your father was the younger brother,” Grandma Celeste said, “but he was the one with the mind for business. Elliot never had it, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself and everyone around him otherwise. When it came time to decide who would take over the company, your grandfather chose your father. Elliot never forgave either of them for it p>

“That still does not explain why I have never heard his name,” I said.

“When your father died,” Grandma Celeste said, “Elliot believed the company would finally come to him. He believed it was owed to him, that I would see reason and correct what he considered an old injustice.” She paused. “I gave everything to you instead. A small boy who lost his father, because I believed, even then, that you carried something Elliot never had. Vision. Patience. The ability to build rather than simply take p>

“And he resented that,” I said slowly.

“He has spent every year since then resenting it,” Grandma Celeste said. “I cut him out of this family’s life entirely, Julian, not only from the company but also from every gathering, every holiday, every story I ever told you and Gail about your father’s history. I told myself I was protecting you both from his bitterness p>

I felt something cold settling into my chest, the shape of understanding beginning to arrive before she had finished speaking.

“Meridian Crest,” I said.

“Belongs to him,” Grandma Celeste confirmed. “I had it confirmed three days ago. He has spent over a decade building a private network of holdings across four jurisdictions, watching this family from a distance none of us ever suspected. Jude Wolfe was not his first move against you. My investigator believes it was simply the first move that finally left a trail we could follow p>

Katia had gone very still beside me.

“Why now?” I asked. “If he has hated us for a decade, why wait this long to actually do something p>

Grandma hesitated, and something in that hesitation told me there was more coming, something she had been building toward this entire conversation.

“There is something else,” she said quietly. “Something I have never told anyone outside this family, and something I am only telling you now because I believe you deserve to understand exactly what kind of man you are dealing with p>

I waited.

“I do not believe your parents’ accident was an accident,” she said.

The room went completely silent.

“What?” I said.

“The car,” Grandma said. “The mechanical failure that killed your mother and father. I never believed it. I could never prove it, and I have carried that inability for over a decade, but I have always believed, in my heart, that the car was tampered with. That Elliot had a hand in it p>

I could not speak.

Katia’s hand found mine, gripping it tightly.

“You believed my father’s own brother murdered him,” I said finally, my voice barely above a whisper, “and you never told me p>

“I had no proof,” Grandma said, her composure finally cracking, tears gathering in her eyes for the first time since I had walked into this room. “What was I supposed to do, Julian? Accuse a man of murder with nothing but a grieving mother’s instinct to support the claim? I would have destroyed this family with a suspicion I could never confirm, and I would have handed Elliot exactly the chaos he seemed to want. I chose silence instead. I have questioned that choice every single day since p>

I stood up from the sofa, needing to move, needing my body to do something with the fury and grief rising in me all at once, a decade of unanswered questions about my parents’ deaths suddenly reframed into something far darker than a tragic accident.

“He is still out there,” I said. “Watching. Waiting. And now he has come for my wife. My son p>

“Yes,” Grandma said.

I looked at her, at this woman who had carried a decade of suspicion and guilt entirely alone, protecting a truth she had never known how to safely share, and felt something shift in my chest, anger tangled together with a grief I had never properly allowed myself to feel about my parents at all.

“We are going to find him,” I said. “And this time, he will not be able to hide behind shell companies and silence p>

Grandma Celeste nodded, and for the first time since I had walked into that room, some of the weight seemed to lift from her shoulders, the burden of a secret finally, after all these years, no longer hers to carry alone.

Katia had been quiet through most of the conversation, but she spoke now, her voice calm despite everything we had just heard.

“Why did he target me?” she asked. “If this has been about Julian, about the company, or about an old grievance with this family, why go through the trouble of hiring a man to pose as my husband? Why not simply come after Julian directly p>

Grandma considered the question for a moment.

“Because you are his weakness,” she said, looking at me rather than at Katia. “Elliot has spent a decade watching this family from the outside. He would have seen exactly how much you changed once Katia entered your life properly. A man like Elliot does not attack strength directly if he can find a softer target instead. He found you, Katia, and your son and used both of you to make Julian bleed in ways an attack on the company alone could never accomplish p>

I felt my jaw tighten.

“He nearly succeeded,” I said quietly. “Jude beat Katia in her own office. He threatened Aiden. He built an entire fiction elaborate enough to nearly convince her she needed to choose between me and a man who did not even exist p>

“I know,” Grandma said. “And I have carried the guilt of knowing I might have prevented some of it if I had simply told you the truth instead of protecting a silence I convinced myself was mercy p>

“It was not mercy,” I said, harder than I intended. “It was fear p>

Grandma did not argue with that.

“You are right,” she said. “It was fear. I was afraid of what accusing him without proof might do to this family and afraid of what the truth, once spoken aloud, might make real in a way I could no longer control. I chose the coward’s silence instead, and I have watched the cost of that choice land on people I love while I told myself I was protecting them p>

Katia reached over and took Grandma’s hand, the gesture surprising both of us, I think, in its gentleness given everything that had just been revealed.

“We are not here to punish you for what you could not prove,” Katia said. “We are here because we need to know what we are facing now. That is what matters tonight p>

Grandma looked at her for a long moment, something like gratitude passing behind her eyes.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

I looked between the two of them, my grandmother and my wife, both women who had spent years carrying secrets that were never entirely their own to carry, and felt something settle in my chest despite the fury still burning beneath it.

“We move forward from here,” I said. “Together. No more secrets, no more decisions made on anyone’s behalf about what they are or are not ready to hear. If Elliot wants a war, he will find that this family does not fight it separately anymore p>

Grandma nodded once, resolute despite the tears still gathered in her eyes.

“Where do we start?” she said.

“With everything your investigator found,” I said. “And with finding out exactly what Elliot intends to do next, before he decides to make his move without us seeing it coming p>

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