Chapter 11: Aren't You Afraid I'd Actually Kill Her?

Derek blinked, genuinely caught off guard that Grant had spared a single thought for his wife in the middle of all this.

That's new.

The station wasn't far from the hospital twenty minutes, at most.

Grant strode in, adjusting his cuffs without breaking stride, and crossed the lobby with the kind of presence that made people notice him before he said a word.

An officer approached. "Sir, are you here to file a report, or is this something else?"

Grant planted himself in the center of the room. "I'm here to post bail for Nora Ashford."

He'd been the one who told the staff to call the police in the first place. What she'd done was reckless enough to demand consequences.

And he still owed Vivian a real answer. This was the cleanest way to give her one.

He'd assumed a night in custody would be exactly the wake-up call Nora needed, a clear lesson in where the line sat.

He could spoil her, indulge her, give her nearly anything. But some lines didn't move. He wasn't about to let the pregnancy turn into a shield she could hide behind for the rest of her life.

The officer looked confused. "The Nora Ashford you're referring to was already bailed out yesterday. By her attorney. She's not in custody anymore."

Grant's expression hardened. "Say that again?"

"Already released, sir. Attorney Cortland came in personally."

She reached out to Miles Cortland herself. That explains the nerve she had going after Vivian like that in front of everyone she'd already covered every angle before she walked in the door.

With Cortland's name behind her, bail would've taken him five minutes.

This woman.

Grant's jaw tightened, and it took him a long moment to shake himself back into motion.

He turned and walked out into the sunlight, his profile sharp and cold despite the warmth on his face. Something dark had settled behind his eyes.

He climbed into the car and told Derek to head straight for Cloudspire Manor.

The whole drive there, he ran through exactly how he planned to deal with Nora once he got home.

Ever since she found out she was pregnant, something's shifted in her completely. Was all that softness before just a performance? Is she really what the Ashfords always said she was, cold, calculating, dangerous underneath it all?

He drew a slow breath, color draining from his face.

She needs a real warning. Something that sticks. She doesn't get to hide behind that baby forever.

His jaw tightened further. "Derek. Faster."

"Yes, sir."

By the time they reached the manor, the afternoon light had turned gold.

He climbed the stairs, pushed open the bedroom door, and found her sitting quietly on the balcony.

A pale curtain shifted in the breeze, her silhouette blurring and sharpening behind the fabric.

Grant thought, unexpectedly, of the phrase calm waters.

He didn't love her. But he hadn't wanted to disturb the quiet, steady rhythm they'd built together, it had been enough, for a long time, just to have that.

Nora didn't move when she heard him approach.

She wasn't the woman anymore who used to light up at the sound of his footsteps, who used to count the hours until he came home.

When love finally burns all the way down, all that's left is regret.

Grant crossed the balcony and lowered himself into the chair beside her. "I underestimated you, Mrs. Pierce. Turns out that was a mistake."

Bathed in warm light, her face gave away nothing, no anger, no sadness. "Shouldn't you be at the hospital with Vivian? Did you come all this way just to confront me? Or is this another attempt to drag me back for round two? Aren't you worried I might actually finish the job next time?"

Grant's eyes flared with fury. "Nora, do you honestly think being pregnant makes you untouchable? That I wouldn't dare do anything about this?"

She straightened, gaze flat and cold. "You're overthinking this, Grant. I have no interest in climbing anywhere on the back of this child."

He couldn't make sense of her anymore. Three years of steady, predictable devotion, and now this. Something had shifted, and he couldn't name what.

Is she planning to leave me?

He dismissed the thought almost as fast as it surfaced.

Three years together. She loves me too much to ever actually walk away. And she's carrying my child. There's no version of this where she has some other plan in mind.

I probably just went too far these last couple of days. This is just her being upset. It'll pass.

His eyes dropped to her stomach. Remembering Marcus's warnings, he gentled his tone.

He reached for her hand, softening. "I was wrong to hit you, there's no excuse for that. But you shouldn't have gone after Vivian like that either. I know you don't love her, that you feel like she took something from you, the family, Julian. But she's the real Ashford daughter, Nora. It's natural that people love her. Julian choosing her over you just means he never loved you enough to begin with. None of this is Vivian's fault."

How did I never notice before how good he is at this? Twisting every knife until it somehow feels like my fault.

The two of them could lie for a living.

Something inside Nora tore open fresh, bleeding out slow and numbing.

Fine. If that's the game, neither of us gets to walk away from this clean.

She stared straight ahead. "I don't hold anything against Vivian. But it's true, I do still love Julian. Do you have any idea how much, Grant? I fell for him the day he pulled me out of that lake when I was eight years old. If it weren't for the accident, we'd still be together right now."

Grant didn't love her. But hearing his own wife talk about loving another man still landed somewhere raw and unwelcome.

His face darkened exactly as she expected. His throat worked before he finally managed, "You still love him?"

Love him?

How could I possibly still love him?

The moment he chose Vivian, whatever I felt for him curdled into something else entirely.

But compared to the man sitting across from her now, Julian at least felt clean. Uncomplicated. Honest, in his own small, cowardly way.

"I don't think he loves her anymore," she said instead, deliberately vague.

The ambiguity lit something furious behind Grant's eyes, his breathing turning ragged. He forced the anger down. "Am I really that inadequate to you?"

Before she could answer, he'd already leaned in, cupping her face, and kissed her.

It was rougher than anything he'd shown her before, more demanding, almost desperate to prove something to himself. She went rigid beneath him, resisting, and the resistance only seemed to unsettle him further.

Breathing hard, eyes dark with something he didn't examine too closely, he murmured against her mouth, "It's been days, Nora. Come to bed with me."

After everything I know now, I can never let him touch me again.

Every part of her recoiled, physical and otherwise. "Grant. I don't want to."

His jaw tightened, something stubborn and wounded flickering across his face. He braced both hands on the arms of her chair, leaning down until his presence filled the space around her entirely. "Still angry with me?"

He slid his arms around her waist and lifted her without waiting for an answer. "Don't fight me on this, Nora. I know what I'm doing. I won't hurt the baby, I promise”