Chapter 5 - Blood on the Mahogany
Dr. Thorne crashed into the glass presentation board, shattering it into a thousand crystalline fragments before crumpling to the floor. He groaned, spitting a mouthful of blood and broken teeth onto the plush gray carpet.
Julian didn't yell. He didn't curse. He stood over the bleeding doctor, his chest rising and falling in slow, measured rhythms that terrified Clara more than any explosion of rage could have.
"Reynolds," Julian said without turning his head.
The door opened instantly. Four guards stepped into the room, their hands resting loosely near their waistbands.
"Secure the clinic," Julian ordered, his voice eerie in its absolute calm. "Lock down every server, seize every physical file, and freeze Thorne’s personal and professional accounts. If anyone at Vanguard attempts to leave the city, break their legs."
"Yes, sir," Reynolds said, gesturing to two of the men who immediately hauled the sobbing, bleeding physician off the floor by his collar and dragged him out of the room.
When the heavy oak doors clicked shut, Julian finally turned to Clara.
She was shaking uncontrollably, her hands pressed against her mouth as she stared at the spot of blood on the carpet. The truth was too massive to fit inside her skull. The children in the stroller—the little boy who had kicked his feet, the girls with the amber eyes—were hers. Her biological children. Alive. Breathing. Living in a fortress while she had spent over a year mourning over an empty box of ultrasound sonograms.
"Clara," Julian said softly, taking a step toward her.
"Don't touch me," she gasped, backing away until she hit the edge of the conference table. Her eyes were wide, wild with trauma. "You... you bought them. You paid an agency to steal my babies and tell me they were dead!"
"I didn't know," Julian said, and for the first time, she saw a fracture in his granite composure. His hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides. "I swear to you on my life, Clara, I didn't know. Sarah handled the clinic. When the babies were born, Thorne presented them as our biological children from the original surrogate. I had no idea you existed until you walked up to that table today."
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"I want to see them," Clara choked out, tears streaming down her face, cutting clean tracks through the dust of her coffee shop shift. "Where are they? I want to see my babies right now!"
Julian looked at her for a long, heavy moment. Then he nodded once. "Follow me."
