Chapter 8 - The Hidden TruthElena stared at me, her chest heaving, tears finally spilling over her green eyes. But instead of shrinking away, she stepped closer, right into my personal space, looking up with a fire that took my breath away.
"You think Julian seduced me? You think he planned this master scheme to steal your family?" Elena laughed bitterly, shaking her head. "You really think the world revolves around your paranoia, Tobias."
I frowned, caught off guard. "What are you talking about?"
Elena turned to Julian, who was straightening his tie and glaring at me with undisguised hatred.
"Tell him, Julian," she whispered.
Julian rubbed his bruised neck, sneered at me, and pulled a slim, heavily encrypted manila folder out of his briefcase. He tossed it onto the airport luggage cart between us.
"Three years ago, after you threw me out of your office," Elena began, her voice dropping to a trembling whisper, "I didn't just run away. I collapsed. I went to a clinic in Boston. And the doctors discovered something terrifying."
A cold dread pooled in my stomach. "What did they discover?"
"A congenital heart defect," Elena said softly. "The exact same one that killed my mother when I was ten years old. The pregnancy was high-risk. The doctors told me I had a fifty-fifty chance of not surviving the delivery."
The airport sounds around us seemed to fade into a distant hum. My knees felt hollow.
"You... you could have died?" I whispered, the words catching in my throat.
"Yes," Elena nodded, tears streaming freely down her cheeks now. "And do you know why I didn't tell you, Tobias? Because when I tried to talk to you about our future, you told me I thought love was enough, that I was just an inefficiency in your life plan. I couldn't bear the thought of dying while you looked at me like a problem to be solved."
I stared at her, the ground falling away beneath my feet. Every harsh word I had spoken three years ago replayed in my mind like a torture device. I had driven her away with my obsession with control.
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"And Julian?" I asked, my voice barely audible.
"Julian was in Boston handling our Northeast regional accounts," Elena explained, looking at him with genuine gratitude. "He found me unconscious outside the clinic. He paid my medical bills out of his own pocket when I refused to touch your money. He stood by me through the darkest year of my life. He didn't steal your family, Tobias—he saved them when you weren't there."
