FAZER LOGINKatia’s POVThey discharged me just after nine.Julian signed every paper they put in front of him. Sam had already packed the small bag I hadn’t known she brought. Zane stood near the door like he didn’t trust hospital corridors on principle. Aiden waited in the car with Grandma’s driver, too restless to sit in the room and too scared to say so.“You can still change your mind,” the nurse said, glancing at my chart. “One more night is not a weakness.”“I’ve had enough of this room,” I said.Julian looked at me.“If you feel worse in the car, we turn around.”“I won’t.”Sam slung the bag over her shoulder.“Then let’s go before they find another form for him to sign.”Zane opened the door."The car is ready.”The ride home was quiet at first. The rain had stopped. The streets looked washed and ordinary, which made the whole morning feel like a lie. Aiden kept glancing at me, then at Julian, then back at me.“Does it still hurt?” he asked.“A little.”“The baby?”“The baby is fine.”He
Julian’s POVMarcus didn’t knock like a man bringing good news.He stood in the doorway of Katia’s hospital room with a folder under his arm and rain still on his coat. I knew that look. It was the same one he wore when a problem had stopped being theory and started having a face.Katia was awake. Sitting up. Pale, bruised along one side of her collarbone, but sharp-eyed in the way that meant she had already decided she was done being a patient.“Tell us,” she said before I could.Marcus glanced at me, and I nodded.He closed the door.“Someone was in the garage the night before the crash,” he said. “Not staff. Not a scheduled service. The main camera on the east bay was looped for eleven minutes. The secondary camera still caught a partial. A man in dark work clothes. He knew where the blind spots were. He went straight to your car, Julian. Not hers.”The room went very still.“Name,” I said.Marcus opened the folder and set a printed still on the table beside the bed. Grainy. Side a
Katia’s POVI 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.”“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.”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.”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 muc
Noah’s POVI didn’t go back to the hospital.After I left my father’s office, I drove without a real destination, the rain thinning into a fine mist that made the streets look polished and empty. His words kept turning over in my head, clean and sharp, the way he had always delivered the things that were meant to cut deepest. He had not confessed. He had not denied in any way that felt honest. He had simply rearranged the blame until it sat on my shoulders again, heavier than when I walked in.Someone wants you looking at me.The line refused to leave.By the time I pulled over, the sky had gone fully dark. I sat in the car with the engine off and stared at my phone for a long time before I finally made the call.Marcus answered on the second ring.“Noah.”“I need to talk to you,” I said. “Alone. Not at the hospital. Not with Julian in the room yet.”There was a short pause on his end.“Where?”I gave him the name of a quiet bar twenty minutes from the hospital, the kind of place that
Noah’s POVFather’s office sat on the top floor of a building that still carried his name in quiet, expensive lettering. The kind of place that smelled like old money and newer threats. I didn’t wait for the assistant to finish announcing me. I pushed the door open and walked straight in.He stood at the window with a glass in his hand, looking out at the wet city like it had been arranged for his viewing pleasure. He didn’t turn around right away. He never did when he wanted you to feel the weight of interrupting him.“I wondered how long it would take,” he said.“You almost killed a pregnant woman.”That made him turn. Slowly. The same calm expression he always wore when he already knew how he wanted the conversation to end. He looked me over the way a man looks at a disappointing investment.“Is that the story they’re telling you?” he asked. “How dramatic. Sit down, Noah. You look like you’re about to stain the carpet with all that righteousness.”“I’m not sitting.”“Of course you’
Noah’s POVThe hospital corridor smelled like antiseptic and rain-damp coats.Delia walked beside me, her hand loosely in mine. She hadn’t said much on the drive over. I hadn’t either. The message from Julian had been short and sharp: Katia was in an accident. Windsor Hospital. Come if you can. Nothing about how bad it was. Nothing about why the words "accident" felt like a lie even through a text.When we turned the corner into the private waiting area, the room was already full.Julian stood near the window with Marcus. Grandma Celeste sat in one of the chairs, composed in the way only she could manage when the ground was shifting. A few others I didn’t know well enough to name hovered near the edges. The air felt heavy, the kind of quiet that only exists when everyone is waiting for the same door to open.I stopped just inside and turned to Delia.“I’m sorry,” I said, keeping my voice low. “I know you and the Windsors have a history. I should have asked you first before bringing yo
KatiaI woke up to the sound of people singing badly.“Happy birthday to you...” I blinked hard against the sunlight filtering through the curtains, my brain slow to reboot. The voices were getting louder, and for a second, I thought I was dreaming. A really weird, off-key dream.“Happy birthday, d
~Katia~“Get out!” my mom screamed, her voice tearing through the hallway like a bomb going off in a small room.The sound hit the walls and bounced back so violently, like the house itself was flinching. Even the air felt startled, buzzing with the kind of tension that makes your skin crawl. My he
~Katia~I woke up to the sour taste of bile creeping up my throat, and my legs threw me out of bed before my brain could even catch up. The morning light seared into my eyes like punishment, and I stumbled across the cold floor, my feet slapping against the wood, straight into the bathroom. My knee
~Katia~"Do you know how hard I've been holding myself?" I didn't answer because all I wanted was to get laid. I could still feel the ache between my legs. He carried my bridal style and led me to his hotel room. "Now, I can fuck you however I want because you are now my wife, princess." The room







