Chapter 9: “Look Elsewhere for Your Ghost”

Clara's POV.

The heavy glass VIP entrance doors of the state hospital slid open with a soft hiss. We stepped out of the angry storm and into the cold hospital. The sharp smell of bleach and antiseptic hit me the moment we walked inside.

The night-shift staff went quiet the moment Julian walked in. Conversations stopped. Heads turned. Even the receptionist sat up so fast her chair squeaked.

“Good evening, Mr. Cross,” she breathed. “Dr. Aris has been informed. He’s waiting for you on the private floor.”

Julian didn’t acknowledge her. He kept walking, his hand firm against the small of my back, guiding me through the lobby. Even through the cashmere coat, I could still feel his touch. It was a constant reminder that I wasn’t the one in control.

I pulled the coat tighter around myself. The white lace underneath did nothing to keep out the cold, and my feet already ached inside the cheap emergency slides he had made me wear before we left the penthouse.

When we got into the elevator, our reflections stared back at us through the mirror. Julian looked calm as always, like none of this had anything to do with him. I stood there next to him looking small and worn out, literally drowning in his oversized coat.

As the lift went up, the silence stretched between us until I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Do you come here often, Julian?” I asked.

“I do not frequent hospitals, fake wife,” he replied flatly. His attention stayed fixed on the glowing floor numbers. “Stop looking for monsters in every shadow, Clara.”

A soft chime echoed as the elevator doors slid open into a long, quiet hallway that stretched out in front of us.

At the far end of the corridor, Dr. Aris hurried toward us with a tablet in his hand.

“Mr. Cross,” the doctor said, going straight to Julian. “We weren’t expecting you, sir.”

“Which room is my wife’s father in?” Julian asked.

Dr. Aris finally looked at me. His eyes widened for a second.

“Of course, Mrs. Cross,” he said quickly. “Right this way. Your father’s vitals dropped sharply tonight.”

The moment the door to the private room opened, the steady beep of the heart monitor welcomed us into the room.

My eyes found him immediately.

My father lay still beneath crisp white sheets. An oxygen mask covered his mouth, and clear tubes disappeared beneath the blanket and into the machines beside his bed. The right side of his face sagged from the paralysis. His eyes stayed closed, and for a terrifying second, he looked like a stranger.

He looked so frail. Nothing like the powerful man who once lifted me onto his shoulders and promised me the world.

I hurried to his bedside and dropped to my knees. I reached for his hand and gently held it between both of mine.

“Dad…” My voice cracked. “It’s Clara. I’m here.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I searched his face for any sign that he could hear me.

Nothing.

From the other side of the bed, Dr. Aris cleared his throat.

“Miss Sterling, I’m sorry but there’s something you need to know.”

I let go of my father’s hand and slowly turned to face Dr. Aris.

“What is it?” I asked.

“We ran a full toxicology screen on Mr. Sterling earlier today,” Dr. Aris said. “The results came back earlier this evening, and they’re very concerning.”

“The substance we found isn’t in any standard database,” Dr. Aris explained. “It’s an unknown type of neural inhibitor that attacks the vascular system slowly, usually over several months.”

I stared at him, trying to make sense of what he had just said.

“So… someone did this to him on purpose?” I whispered.

Dr. Aris gave a slow nod.

“We only recognized the core chemical ingredients and the damage they caused inside your father’s body, but we’re certain it triggered the stroke and caused the paralysis.”

Several months….the words kept echoing in my head.

Six to eight months.

That was exactly when my father first got sick.

The same time I took the name Vivian Vance and walked into Cross Holdings.

Something inside me snapped.

I looked up at Dr. Aris.

“I want everything,” I said. “The chemical breakdown. Every ingredient you found. I want to know where they came from.”

Dr. Aris shifted uncomfortably as his eyes darted toward Julian.

“I’m so sorry, Miss Sterling, but corporate policy prevents us from releasing those records. We do not release patients’ files directly to family members. We can, however, run the investigation internally for you—”

“You will give my wife what she asked for,” Julian said.

Dr. Aris’s face drained of color.

“I’ll get the files right away, Mr. Cross.”

He turned and hurried out of the room.

The only sound left was the steady beep of the heart monitor.

I marched straight up to Julian and stopped just inches from his chest.

“You monster,” I spat. My voice shook with anger. “You cold-blooded, psychotic monster.”

He held my gaze, completely unfazed.

“Watch your tongue, Clara. You are speaking to your husband.”

“Do not dare use that word!” I screamed.

I slammed my fists against his solid chest. It barely moved him.

“You knew who I was from the first day I walked into your building! You watched my father rot in here while your company swallowed everything we owned! You poisoned him!”

Julian took every hit without moving.

Then his calm disappeared.

His hands shot forward and caught my wrists in a firm grip. He pinned them against his chest and stepped toward me until my back hit the wall.

His body trapped me where I stood. Even through the thin cashmere coat, I could feel the heat coming off him.

“Are you done?” he whispered.

His voice was so low I almost missed it. His warm breath brushed against my face.

“Let me go!” I cried, twisting against his grip. “I will kill you if you did this to my father!”

“Look at me, Clara.”

I forced my eyes up.

There was no panic in his expression. No guilt.

He just stood there looking back at me like he had absolutely nothing to hide.

“If I wanted your father dead,” Julian said, his voice calm, “he would already be in the ground. I do not use a coward’s weapon to destroy my enemies. Poison is for cowards. I am Julian Cross. I destroy my enemies in broad daylight, on trading floors, where the whole world can watch.”

He leaned closer until his chest pressed against mine. His grip stayed firm, but not enough to hurt.

“Your father made a bad investment deal with dangerous people. He left himself wide open. I took his empire because he was weak, and I used a sledgehammer to do it, not a needle.”

His words settled heavily in my chest. I searched his face again, looking for something... guilt, panic, anything that told me he was lying.

But there was nothing.

Julian slowly let go of my wrists, but he didn’t step back. Instead, his hand slid down and rested against my thigh through the cashmere coat, keeping me exactly where I was.

“Now pull yourself together,” he murmured. “The doctor is coming back. We have a marriage to maintain.”

The heavy wooden door clicked open, and Dr. Aris walked back into the room with a thick manila folder in his hands.

“I have the complete chemical analysis, Mrs. Cross.”

I reached for it, but before my fingers could touch the folder, Julian took it from the doctor’s hands. He flipped it open, scanned the first few pages, then closed it again and tucked it under his arm.

“Julian, give that to me,” I snapped. “That’s my father’s medical file.”

He ignored me and looked at Dr. Aris instead.

“From this moment on, Doctor, every record, every toxicology report, and every update regarding Arthur Sterling comes through me. You do not release anything to anyone without my approval.”

Dr. Aris swallowed hard.

“But hospital policy requires authorization from the next of kin—”

“I am his son-in-law,” Julian interrupted coldly. “And I own thirty percent of the debt this medical board is drowning in. Do you really want to stand there and discuss policy with me, Doctor?”

The doctor went still for a moment before lowering his head.

“Understood, sir.”

“Good,” Julian said. “See that he is monitored through the night.”

He tucked the folder under his arm.

I stepped right into his space, my chest rising and falling as I looked up into his ruthless face.

“You will not get away with this, Julian,” I whispered. My voice trembled with anger.

A faint smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Let’s go home, wife.”

Julian’s hand returned to the small of my back, guiding me toward the door.

I looked back one last time at my father’s bed.

The steady beep of the heart monitor followed me out of the room.

As we walked down the sterile corridor, a sick feeling settled in my stomach.

If Julian hadn’t poisoned my father… then who had?

The answer should have brought me some relief, but it didn’t. Instead, it only made me feel even more trapped.

The only thing that could lead me to whoever poisoned my father was now tucked under Julian’s arm.

If I wanted the secrets hidden inside that file, I couldn’t keep fighting Julian from the outside.

I needed to get close to him.

Much closer.

Close enough to earn his trust.

Close enough to make him lower his guard.

And somewhere along the way, I had to make sure I didn’t forget that he was still my enemy.

Because the most dangerous thing about Julian Cross wasn’t what he could do to me.

It was what he was starting to make me feel.