CHAPTER SIX

Juliet’s POV

“You must be very disappointed that I woke up, huh?”

That was the first thing I heard the next morning as I stepped out of my room for breakfast.

The words hit me like a slap, freezing me in place. My legs locked, breath caught. Slowly, I leaned forward and peeked around the corner.

A tall, muscular man knelt on the marble floor, head bowed low, trembling like a prisoner awaiting execution.

And towering over him... without standing... sat Nickolas Ries, cold and silent in his black wheelchair.

His hand was tangled in the man’s hair, yanking his head back hard.

“N-No, boss,” the man stammered, face twisted in pain, eyes wide with terror.

Nickolas’s smile was like a blade. “You were behind me that night. I watched my car burst into flames. And while I screamed and bled, where were you?”

“I… I blacked out. I got hit too, I didn’t... ”

“You passed out?” Nickolas’s grip tightened. The man cried out. “You were trained to die before I did.”

He let go. The man collapsed, gasping.

“Josh,” Nickolas called.

Josh stepped forward, expression blank.

“If this worm ever shows his face here again,” Nickolas said, voice like venom, “break his legs.”

“Boss, please!” the man begged. “I didn’t know… I would never... ”

“You vanished. Changed your number. Hid like a rat. And now you want back in?” Nickolas turned his face away in disgust.

Josh seized the man by the collar and dragged him up effortlessly.

“He didn’t know the car was sabotaged,” Josh said. “But he ran. Didn’t try to save you. Didn’t call for help.”

“He left me to burn in a coffin,” Nickolas muttered. “And now he wants a job? He's lucky I'm strapped to this wheelchair.”

Nickolas’s voice was tight. “And the investigation?”

Josh stepped forward. “The crash wasn’t an accident. The car was tampered with, clean work, professional. Someone with access.”

Nickolas’s fingers curled into fists. “Inside job?”

Josh nodded. “Yes, sir. Someone close.”

Nickolas stared ahead, unmoving. “Two years… and no name?”

“We’re closing in. Just not there yet.”

His jaw twitched. “Not good enough.”

Josh stayed silent.

Nickolas’s eyes lifted, sharp and cold. “Someone tried to kill me, and they almost pulled it off. I want them found, Josh. I don’t care how long it takes.”

Josh gave a slight nod.

“If one of mine turned on me,” Nickolas said, voice dropping to a growl, “then we don’t prune branches, we burn the whole damn tree... ”

Buzz.

My phone vibrated in my hand like a scream, interrupting Nickolas.

My Stepmother.

No. No, no, no...

I fumbled to silence it, fingers trembling uncontrollably.

Too late.

All three men turned to look at me.

Sharp like broken glass.

I froze, like a deer in headlights. My heartbeat crashed in my ears, wild and loud.

I forced a smile with dried lips. “G-Good morning…”

Marie stepped in at that exact moment, saving me like a savior. “Breakfast is ready, Sir. Mrs. Ries.”

Josh kicked the man out of the living room immediately. Nickolas didn’t speak but shifted his cold gaze from me.

He turned his wheelchair with slow, heavy movements and rolled past me like a storm made of silence.

He didn’t look at me. But I felt him like a shadow on my back... dangerous, unreadable, and far too close.

I followed, legs weak, my spine stiff as a board. Every step felt like walking into a lion’s den.

At the table, I sat at the far end... far away from him, but not far enough.

I tried again, voice barely a whisper. “Good morning…”

His glare hit me like a slap.

I forced myself to eat, even though every bite turned to ash in my mouth. My hands trembled so badly the silverware kept clicking against the plate.

Every time he moved... lifted his fork, wiped his mouth... I flinched.

This wasn’t a marriage. It was a sentence. And I hadn’t even done the crime.

Please leave. Just go. Please.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what I’d just seen. The man on his knees. The slap.

He used to be one of Nickolas’s men...

If he could treat someone who once protected him like that... what would he do to someone who had no such loyalty?

Someone like me.

And then came the real fear, the one lodged like glass under my ribs.

What if he knew my pregnancy?

Would he... kill it?

If he saw this child as a threat, would he erase it?

I didn’t know him. But I knew monsters wore suits too.

I swallowed hard, eyes burning. No. I couldn’t think like that. I had to protect this baby. Even if I had to run.

I wrapped my arms around myself under the table, heart pounding. This life pulsed inside me like a second heartbeat... weak, fragile, but real.

Then he spoke.

“I heard you’re pregnant with my child?”

His voice was soft. Too soft.

I choked, coughing hard, gasping for breath.

But he didn’t care. His next words were ice.

“Are you going to abort it yourself… or should I strangle it out for you?”