Chapter 468 The Wrong Delivery
Noah’s POV
Father’s words stayed in the hallway after he left.
Tell Julian to watch his back.
I stood there with the door still open like the sentence might change if I gave it enough time. It didn’t. It sat in my mouth the way poison sits, waiting to be swallowed or spat out. If I delivered it without the rest, I was doing my father’s work. If I kept it, Julian would walk around unprotected. Both options felt like betrayal. Both options felt like the only ones I had.
I did not sleep well.
By morning I had talked myself into the smallest version of courage I could live with. I would go to Julian. I would pass the warning. I would not put my father’s name on the crash. I told myself that was still a line. I told myself a son could warn a man without handing his father over. I told myself a lot of things that sounded clean until I had to say them out loud.
I called Julian’s office and asked for ten minutes. He gave me twenty and told me to come now.
WEG felt colder than the last time I had been there. Or maybe I was the one who had gone cold. The assistant walked me in. Julian was already standing. He did not offer a chair at first. He looked at my face and knew this was not a social visit.
“Sit,” he said.
I sat.
“My father came to my house last night.”
Julian’s expression did not change much. That was worse than anger.
“And?”
“He told me to give you a message.” I kept my hands on my knees so they would not shake. “He said you should watch your back.”
The room went quiet.
Julian walked around the desk and sat on the edge of it, closer than I wanted him.
“Elliot Vesper sent his own son to deliver a threat.”
“Yes.”
“Why you?”
“Because he knew I would come.” The honesty of that burned. “He knew I would not let it sit.”
“What else did he say?”
There it was. The door I could not walk through.
“He said I was weak. He said I was playing house. He said a lot of things meant to cut.” I swallowed. “The part that matters is the warning. Take it seriously.”
Julian studied me like a contract with a missing page.
“You are leaving something out.”
“I am telling you what he asked me to tell you.”
“That is not the same thing.”
I looked at the floor, then back at him.
“He is angry. He wants a reaction. He wants you looking over your shoulder. I came because I would not be able to live with myself if I said nothing and something happened.”
“Something already happened,” Julian said. “My wife was in a hospital bed.”
The words hit the exact place I had been guarding all week.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.” My voice came out rough. “That is why I am here. Tighten security. Watch Katia. Watch Aiden. Do not treat this as talk.”
Julian stood and went back behind the desk. He did not sit. He picked up the phone, gave Marcus two short instructions, then hung up.
“I already have people in the house,” he said. “This makes it tighter. I will not ask Katia to pretend it is nothing.”
“Good.”
“Noah.” He said my name like a test. “If your father is coming for my family, I need more than a message he was proud to put in your mouth. I need to know what you are protecting.”
I felt the truth rise and shoved it back down.
“I am protecting the only parent I have ever had,” I said. “That does not mean I am on his side. It means I cannot be the one who burns him. Not yet. Maybe not ever. I don’t know. I only know I could not stay silent about the warning.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
“Then hear me. A warning without the rest is still useful to him. He sent you because it makes you look loyal and makes me look like I should doubt you. That is the game. You walked into it.”
“I know.”
“And you came anyway.”
“Yes.”
He nodded once, not kindly.
“Go home. If he contacts you again, you tell me the same day. Not after you decide what a good son would do.”
I stood.
“I will.”
“Will you?”
I did not answer that. I left before the rest of it tore out of me.
The drive home felt longer than the drive there. I kept hearing Julian’s voice. You walked into it. He was right. I had delivered my father’s threat and called it protection. I had given Julian smoke and kept the fire in my own chest. Katia had smiled at me over flowers yesterday. She had told me not to go back to Elliot. She had no idea I was still carrying him.
Delia was in the kitchen when I came in. She took one look at me and turned the tap off.
“You spoke to him.”
“To Julian. Yes.”
“And?”
“I told him my father wants him watching his back.”
She dried her hands, slower than she needed to. “That is all you told him?”
“Yes.”
“Noah.”
“I can’t.” The words came out tired. “He is still my father. I keep waiting for that to stop meaning something. It hasn’t.”
Delia came around the counter and stopped in front of me.
“You look worse than last night.”
“I feel worse than last night.”
“Because you think you did the right amount of good.”
“I think I did the only amount I can live with today.”
She touched my sleeve, then let go.
“Julian is not stupid. He knows you are holding back.”
“He said as much.”
“And you still came home with the secret.”
“Yes.”
She nodded, disappointed and not surprised.
“Then we are both living with a man who is splitting himself in half.”
I did not argue. I went to the bedroom, sat on the edge of the bed, and stared at my hands. The knuckle that had hit Elliot was still marked. I had punched him and still done what he wanted. That was the part that would not sit still.
I had not saved Katia and Julian.
I had not saved my father from himself.
I had only delayed the moment the truth came out, and I could already feel that moment walking toward me, whether I was ready or not.