Chapter 456

[ 1,362 words ]

Katia’s POV

I woke to the sound of rain against the window and the low, even beep of a monitor.

For a few seconds I didn’t know where I was. Then the dull ache along my left side answered for me. Hospital. White ceiling. The faint smell of antiseptic. My hand moved on instinct to my stomach.

Still there.

The relief came so hard my eyes burned.

Julian was in the chair beside the bed. He looked like he hadn’t slept. Shirt wrinkled. Jaw tight. The second he saw my eyes open, he was on his feet.

“Katia p>

“The baby,” I said. My voice came out rough.

“The baby’s fine.” He took my hand carefully, like he was afraid I might break. “They checked more than once. Heart rate is strong. No distress. You’re both okay p>

I let that sit for a moment, breathing through the leftover panic in my chest. Then I looked at him properly.

“Tell me the rest p>

He didn’t pretend he didn’t understand. He sat on the edge of the bed, still holding my hand, and for a second he just watched me, as if measuring how much I could take.

“Say it,” I said.

“The car was tampered with.” His voice was low and even. “It wasn’t the rain. It wasn’t you losing control. Someone weakened the brake lines at a stress point and introduced a slow leak so the fluid would drop under pressure. They interfered with the steering just enough to delay response when you tried to correct. In heavy rain, it would look like hydroplaning. Like an accident. That was the point p>

I stared at him.

“Someone tried to kill me p>

“Yes p>

The word sat between us, ugly and plain.

“There’s more,” he said.

“Of course there is p>

“It was my car.” He swallowed once. “Yours was low on charge. You mentioned it yesterday. This morning you took mine. Whoever did this expected me to leave in that car. You were not the target. I was p>

I felt the meaning of it arrive in pieces. Breakfast. Aiden talking about lizards. Julian kissing me in the garage. Me picking up the wrong set of keys because it was raining and I was late and it seemed like nothing.

“I almost died in your seat,” I said.

“Yes p>

“Our child almost died in your seat p>

“Yes p>

I looked down at our joined hands, then at the small rise of my stomach under the hospital blanket. Fear came first. Sharp and cold. Then anger followed, hotter and cleaner.

“The same method,” I said.

Julian’s mouth tightened.

“The same method used on my parents. Weakened brakes. Delayed steering. Designed to fail under the right conditions, so the report would say weather and speed. Grandma confirmed it. Marcus confirmed the work on my car was done the same way p>

I let out a slow breath.

“So this isn’t new. This is unfinished p>

“Yes p>

Silence filled the room. Rain against the glass. The faint beep of the monitor. Years of an old crash sitting under a new one.

“Do they have a name?” I asked.

“Not yet. Marcus is pulling garage logs, cameras, and every person who had access. Noah thinks it may be Elliot. There’s no proof. Only motive, history, and the fact that the method matches p>

I closed my eyes for a second. “Elliot p>

“I can’t say it’s him yet,” Julian said. “I want to. God, I want to. But I will not move on a name until I can stand on it p>

I opened my eyes again.

“I don’t need a courtroom, Julian. I need you to hear me. Someone put their hands on a car I was going to drive with our baby in my body, and they wanted it to look like I just couldn’t handle a wet road. That is not a business rivalry. That is a message p>

“I hear you p>

“Do you?” I squeezed his hand harder than I meant to. “Because if this was meant for you, then the next time they may not miss. And I will not raise this child inside a house that keeps waiting for the next attempt like it’s weather we can’t control p>

He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to mine. For a moment neither of us spoke. I could feel the fear in him. I could feel the rage under it.

“I should have made you stay home,” he said.

“Don’t.” I pulled back enough to look at him. “Do not turn this into something you failed to prevent. I left for work. I drove a car I have driven a hundred times. Someone else put their hands on it. That is the only part that belongs to guilt, and it does not belong to you p>

“It was my car p>

“And it was my morning. My decision. My body in that seat. Stop trying to carry a crime that was never yours p>

His jaw flexed. Then he nodded once, like he was forcing himself to accept it.

A nurse came in to check the monitors. She asked about pain, about dizziness, about whether I needed anything. I answered on instinct. The second she left, the room folded back around the two of us.

“How is Aiden?” I asked.

“He doesn’t know the full truth yet. He thinks you slipped on a wet road. Grandma has him. He’s safe p>

“Good. Keep it that way for now p>

Julian studied my face.

“You’re already planning p>

“I’m already done being the woman who almost died because someone wanted my husband gone.” I shifted carefully against the pillows. Everything hurt. None of it mattered as much as the cold, clear fact in the center of my chest. “When I get out of this bed, we hunt. Not quietly. Not politely. We find out who touched that car, and we make sure they understand what they reached for p>

“Marcus is already on the access trail,” Julian said. “Security around you and Aiden tightens today. The old crash gets reopened with everything we have now, not what we had years ago. And if the trail leads to Elliot Vesper, I will not look away because his son is sitting in our waiting room p>

“Good p>

I reached up and touched his face, my thumb brushing the exhaustion under his eye.

“I need you here,” I said. “Not just angry. Present. I need you to look at me and remember that I am still here. That the baby is still here. That whoever did this failed p>

“I know you’re here.” His voice roughened. “I have been sitting in that chair replaying the moment I let you leave the garage. I keep seeing the rain. I keep seeing the phone ring. I keep thinking about what I would have walked into if that call had gone differently p>

“Then stop replaying it.” I pulled him closer until he had no choice but to sit properly on the bed beside me. “Stay in this room. Stay with what we still have p>

He kissed my forehead, then my mouth, careful of every bruise and still shaking under it.

When he pulled back, I held his gaze.

“Promise me something p>

“Anything p>

“Do not protect me by keeping me in the dark. If Marcus finds something, I hear it when you hear it. If Elliot so much as breathes in our direction, I know. I am not a problem you manage. I am your wife. Treat me like it p>

“I will.” No hesitation. “You get all of it. The moment I have it p>

I nodded, then let my head fall back against the pillow. Tiredness was starting to drag at the edges of my anger, but the anger stayed.

“They used the rain,” I said quietly. “They used your car. They used a morning that was supposed to be ordinary. I want them found, Julian. I want them afraid of the fact that I woke up p>

He lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles, eyes never leaving mine.

“They will be p>

Outside, the rain kept falling. Inside, the decision settled between us, hard and simple.

We had survived the first blow. We were not going to wait for the second.

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