Chapter 4 - The Truth Behind the CageClaire spun around, her breath catching in her throat. Julian stood at the top of the stairwell, gripping the wooden handrail. For the first time in months, he wasn't in his wheelchair. He was standing on his own two feet, though his left leg shook violently with the effort.
"You had me watched," Claire said, her voice shaking with a mixture of fear and white-hot fury. "You brought us into this fortress on purpose. Why?"
Julian closed his eyes for a second, exhaling a long, ragged breath. He limped down the first two steps, using the wall for support.
"Because of Ryan," Julian said quietly.
Claire froze. The name hit her like physical impact. "What did you say?"
"Your husband, Ryan Carter," Julian continued, his voice heavy with a grief he had hidden behind armor for years. "He wasn't just an electrician working on a commercial site. He was working for me, auditing the estate's electrical grid when the hit went down. The men who tried to kill me... they didn't just target my office. They rigged the wiring to blow up the entire wing. Ryan found the charge. He defused it with seconds to spare, but the structural platform gave way because the saboteur had cut the primary beams."
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Tears welled in Claire’s eyes, the ghost of her husband rising between them in the dark basement. "He died because of your war..."
"He died because he saved my life," Julian interrupted, his voice cracking. "When I found out he had a wife and a baby living above a tire shop while I sat paralyzed in this mausoleum, I couldn't just write a check. My enemies are still out there, Claire. They are hunting for anyone connected to the Moretti inner circle. In this house, behind these walls and my armed guards, you and Ellie were safer than anywhere else in Illinois."
