Chapter 752:

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Julian’s mouth twisted bitterly, though he said not a word.

Katherine never imagined reuniting under such bizarre conditions. Disoriented by everything, she offered an explanation.

“That man’s daughter was dead. He just snapped.”

Before she could continue, Julian tore open a cigarette pack and lit one, clearly uninterested in hearing her version of things.

She stopped talking and summarized instead.

“The hospital’s likely handled him by now. I appreciate your help. I’ll be going.”

She went for the handle, intending to exit, but found it wouldn’t move. It was locked.

Her instinct pulled her gaze to Julian, whose reflection in the mirror showed a refusal to let things end simply.

“Tell Colten to come fetch you,” Julian said, eyeing the stained fabric on her shoulder.

Katherine replied,

ոо𝗏𝘦𝘭s 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗿𝖾𝘯d 𝘰ո 𝗀а𝗹𝗻о𝗏el𝘀.co𝗺

“No need.”

“You expect me to let you walk out covered in blood? That’ll be hard to explain. Let’s clean this up—I don’t like hanging threads.” He scoffed. “What, is your new guy not doing so well? Think he’ll leave you hanging?”

Katherine, jaw clenched, reached for her belongings, then froze—her bag was still at the hospital.

“I left my phone behind. I’ll manage. The place has surveillance—they’ll prove you didn’t do anything.”

Julian, however, started the car.

Her stomach dropped.

“Julian, what are you doing?”

He chuckled at her alarm.

“What’s got you so scared? You think you matter that much?”

Looking ahead, his tone flat, he muttered,

“I’ve got things to handle. When I’m done, I’ll deal with your chaos.”

Julian’s posture alone made it clear he wasn’t entertaining any arguments. Katherine had just finished calming Jillian and didn’t want to stir up anything else that might drag her daughter into more chaos. For now, it was best to keep quiet and deal with whatever came next, one moment at a time.

She guessed maybe Julian just wanted to watch her unravel. And once that entertained him enough, he’d let her leave.

It was rush hour, and the roads were clogged. The car crawled forward, barely covering a few hundred yards at a time.

As Katherine’s breathing steadied, the dull throb from her wound finally crept back in. She pressed her fingers against the sore spot through the fabric of her clothes. Thankfully, it wasn’t deep, and the bleeding had already slowed.

A small wound. Nothing worth worrying about. She shifted Jillian gently in her arms, careful to angle the child away from the faint metallic scent of blood.

Julian watched the entire scene unfold from the rearview mirror.

When she switched arms to carry the baby, it was obvious she was in pain, but aside from a slight furrow of her brow, she didn’t say a word. Before long, her attention returned fully to Jillian. A quiet smile even touched her lips. She was still flushed and sweating, her hair tangled, blood blotching her clothes—yet none of that seemed to matter to her. She was utterly absorbed in her daughter.

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