This chapter contains intense scenes, including threats to a child and high emotional distress. Please read with care.
POV Julian
The world was ending. I could hear it in the static on the phone, in the ragged sound of my own breathing.
"Leo," I choked out, the word tasting like vomit. "Leo, you have to help me. I messed up. I left her. Oh god, she's gone. The Mendozas... they have Jules."
The silence on the other end was worse than screaming. It was the sound of my brother's brilliant brain short-circuiting.
"What?" he finally said, his voice sharp and cold. "Where are you?"
"Kiara's. Just... get here. Please. And Leo... don't... don't call Elijah yet."
I hung up before he could answer. I couldn't hear him say no.
The next ten minutes were the longest of my life. I paced in front of the garage, running my hands through my hair so hard it hurt. Every second felt like an hour. Juliet was out there, with them, because of me.
Then I heard it. The roar of an engine, moving way too fast. A black SUV screeched to a halt so violent the tires smoked. The passenger door flew open before the car had even fully stopped.
Leo jumped out, his face pale, a tablet already in his hand. But I barely registered him, because Elijah was getting out of the driver's side.
He stood there, backlit by the headlights. He wasn't just angry. He was something else. His face was a mask of pure, frozen fury. The kind of calm that comes right before a volcano erupts. Leo was right behind him, his face pale, already scanning the room with a detective's eyes.
Elijah's gaze swept over the scene: the smashed guitar, the tied-up Kiara, me on the floor. It landed on the tiny jacket. The ice in his eyes cracked.
"Elijah, I—" I started, my voice cracking.
He didn't let me finish. In one lightning-fast move, he grabbed the front of my jacket and slammed me back against the side of the garage. The impact knocked the air out of my lungs.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" he roared, his voice so loud it felt like it shook the whole building. His face was inches from mine, his breath hot against my skin. Spit flew from his lips. "WHAT POSSIBLE THOUGHT WENT THROUGH YOUR HEAD THAT MADE YOU LEAVE HER? TELL ME!"
"I... I got a text... about Mom and Dad... I just went to—" I gasped, scrambling for an excuse that sounded hollow even to me.
His control was snapping. I saw his other hand, the one that wasn't clutching my shirt, curl into a fist. I braced for the hit. I deserved it.
"Elijah, stop!" Leo's voice was sharp, cutting through the rage. "This isn't helping!"
He froze. His whole body was trembling with the effort of not putting me through the damn wall. He shoved me back against the concrete, his chest heaving.
"The f**k Julian?" he snarled, his face inches from mine. "Did you use even one single brain cell in your head? I trusted you with her! The one thing that matters!"
"I'm sorry," I whispered, tears finally spilling over. "I'm so sorry, Elijah."
That's when my phone buzzed. A second later, Elijah's phone chimed from his pocket. Then Leo's tablet lit up.
We all looked at our screens. A single message from another unknown number.
Unknown: A life for a life. $42,000,000,000. And Elijah Fernandez, alone and unarmed, at the docks by midnight. You have 6 hours. Any cops, any tricks, and we send the baby back to you in a box.
The world stopped.
Forty-two billion dollars. And Elijah.
They didn't just want money. They wanted to end the Fernandez family for good.
Elijah looked up from his phone. All the anger was gone from his face. Replaced by something absolute. Something cold and final.
He just stared at me, through me.
"Leo," he said, his voice eerily flat. "Get the money ready."
Then his eyes locked on mine.
"And you," he said. "You are going to tell me everything. Every single word that bastard told you before this. This wasn't random. They knew. And you led them right to her."
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My blood ran cold. Elijah's voice wasn't loud anymore. It was quiet. Deadly. And that was so much worse.
"I... a guy," I stammered, my mind racing. "He texted me. He said he knew about Mom and Dad. That it was a lie."
Elijah's eyes narrowed to slits. "What lie?"
"That Dad was murdered!" I blurted out, the words tumbling over each other. "He said the Mendozas killed him the same night as Mom. That it wasn't a mugging. He said... he said you knew. That you lied to us to protect us."
The silence that followed was heavier than any punch. Leo looked like he'd been shot, his face completely blank with shock. He looked from me to Elijah, searching for a denial that didn't come.
Elijah just stood there, a statue of ice. He didn't deny it. He didn't confirm it. He just absorbed the information, his brain working a mile a minute.
"Describe him," Elijah commanded, his voice like cracking steel.
"Older. Nervous. He said his name was Marco. He said he was just the driver back then, that the Mendozas threatened his daughter... he was eaten up with guilt..."
"Marco Silvano," Leo whispered, his fingers already flying across his tablet. "Low-level Mendoza associate. Payroll records show he went off the grid six months ago. He has a daughter, age six."
Elijah's lip curled in a snarl. "It was a setup. They used a guilt-ridden old man as bait. They knew you'd take it. They knew you'd leave her unprotected." He took a step toward me, and I flinched. "You played right into their hands for a story you should have come to me about."
"I was going to!" I pleaded. "I was coming right back! I just... I had to know!"
"AND NOW YOU DO!" Elijah roared, the control snapping again for a split second. He pointed a trembling finger at the text message on my phone. "Was it worth it? Was the truth worth that?"
Before I could answer, my phone buzzed again. A second message. This one had a video attachment.
My hand shook so badly I almost dropped the phone. I tapped the screen.
The video was dark and grainy. It showed Juliet, sitting on a dirty floor, her face blotchy and red from crying. She was sucking her thumb, her whole little body shaking with silent sobs.
A hand reached into the frame and roughly pulled her thumb out of her mouth. She started to wail, a heartbreaking sound that tore right through me.
A distorted voice spoke over the video. "One hour, Fernandez. Don't be late. And come alone. Or the next video won't be so cute."
The video ended.
But Elijah was perfectly still. He was staring at the frozen image of his crying sister. When he looked up, his expression was no longer angry. It was something far more terrifying.
All the tension drained from his shoulders. The storm in his eyes cleared, replaced by a terrifying, absolute stillness. It was the calm of a predator that has finally sighted its prey.
He looked at me, and for the first time, there was no blame in his eyes. There was only a mission.
"They made one mistake," Elijah said, his voice low and calm. "They showed me she's still alive. And they think I'm coming to negotiate."
He turned to Leo. "Get the money. Get the cars. Get every piece of hardware we have. They want the monster?" A cold, dead smile touched his lips. "They're about to get him."