Chapter 6 - The ConfessionElise closed her eyes, the fight finally draining completely out of her exhausted body.
“It was your uncle,” she whispered into the quiet room, the words falling like lead weights onto the pristine medical floor.
Julian froze, the hand holding hers suddenly going perfectly, terrifyingly still.
“Elias?” he asked, his voice dangerously soft, barely more than a breath.
She nodded weakly, tears finally escaping her tightly shut eyelids and rolling down her pale cheeks.
“Eight months ago, I overheard him talking in the study when you were out of town.”
“He was planning a hostile takeover of the syndicate, and he said the only way to break your focus was to eliminate your weak point.”
Julian’s face drained of all color, his expression transforming into a mask of pure, murderous intent.
“He said I was an unacceptable liability,” Elise continued, her voice trembling as the traumatic memory resurfaced.
“He had already hired the men, Julian.”
“I realized I was pregnant that very morning, and I knew if I stayed, Elias would kill both me and your child to get to you.”
Julian slowly stood up from the edge of the bed, dropping her hand.
The air in the room suddenly felt twenty degrees colder, chilling Elise to her very bones.
He didn't yell, he didn't throw anything, but the absolute silence radiating from him was far more terrifying than any violent outburst.
“You thought I couldn't protect you,” Julian stated, stating it as a hollow, painful fact rather than a question.
“I thought you wouldn't believe me,” she countered desperately, opening her eyes to look at him.
“He is your blood, the man who raised you after your father died.”
“I was just the wife you married to secure the shipping ports, Julian.”
Julian looked at her as if she had just physically stabbed him in the chest.
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“You think you were just a strategic asset to me?” he asked, his voice cracking with a vulnerability she had never witnessed before.
Before she could answer, the heavy doors to the medical wing swung open, and Marcus stepped inside, his gun already drawn.
