Chapter 594
Chapter 594
The news of Louisa's kidnapping reached Julian fast.
He was in the middle of a meeting when Noah's call came through. The color drained from his face.
"What did you say? Louisa was kidnapped?"
His voice was ice.
"Yes, Mr. Tudor. They came prepared. We couldn't stop them."
Noah's voice carried a thread of urgency. "But Ms. Forbes stayed calm. She tracked the route from inside the car. We're in pursuit."
"Send me the location."
Julian was already on his feet, his expression carved from stone. "I'm on my way."
He hung up, grabbed his jacket, and strode out.
"Mr. Tudor, the meeting—"
His assistant moved to stop him. One look from Julian, and the words died in their throat.
Julian drove like hell.
One thought hammered through everything else — Louisa had to be okay.
Her and the baby. Both of them.
---
On the edge of the city, Louisa had been brought to an abandoned warehouse.
She sat bound to a chair, wrists and ankles tied.
The masked men weren't the only ones there.
Angelina was.
She stood in front of Louisa, her face twisted, her eyes wild.
"Louisa. Didn't see this coming, did you? Look at you now."
Louisa held her gaze, her voice steady.
"Angelina. You planned this?"
"So what if I did?"
Angelina laughed, cold and sharp. "Louisa, I've loved Julian for years. And you just took him. If you're gone, he'll come back to me."
"You think killing me will make him love you?"
Louisa looked at her, something close to pity in her eyes. "Angelina, you're fooling yourself. Julian chose me. Even if I were gone, that wouldn't change."
"Shut up!"
Angelina snapped, her voice cracking into a scream. "You're wrong! Julian will love me — he has to! Once you're out of the picture, he'll finally see what's been right in front of him!"
Louisa said nothing.
There was no point reasoning with someone this far gone. All she could do now was stall. Buy time. Wait for Julian.
"Angelina." Her tone stayed even. "You know this is a crime. Kidnapping carries serious charges. Let me go now and you can still walk away from this."
"Walk away?" Angelina let out a shrill laugh. "Louisa, you think I'd turn back now? I'm done turning back. Today, you die."
She picked up a knife.
She walked toward Louisa.
---
The warehouse door exploded inward.
Julian came through it like a force of nature.
"Louisa!"
He took one look at her — bound, pale, upright — and his face went dark.
"Julian!"
Angelina spun toward him, her eyes lighting up. "You came. You came for me, didn't you?"
"Angelina." His gaze cut straight through her. "You have no idea what you've just done."
He moved toward her, slow and deliberate, something terrifying radiating off him with every step.
"Julian — stop. Don't come any closer!"
Panic broke across Angelina's face. She lunged for Louisa, yanked her back, and pressed the blade to her throat. "One more step and I'll kill her!"
Julian stopped.
His eyes were cold enough to burn.
"Let her go."
"No." Angelina's hand was shaking. "You leave with me. That's the deal. Otherwise, we both go down."
Julian didn't answer.
He was waiting. Watching for the moment.
---
The second door crashed open.
Nicholas and Noah charged in.
"Angelina — let go of my sister!"
Nicholas flew straight at her.
Angelina flinched. Her hand jerked.
The knife found Louisa.
"Louisa!"
Julian moved before the word was out of his mouth — but Nicholas was already there, throwing himself between the blade and his sister.
The knife sank into his shoulder.
"Nicholas!"
Louisa's cry tore out of her. Tears spilled down her face before she could stop them.
"Nicholas!"
Julian's eyes went red. He shoved Angelina aside and dropped to his knees in front of Louisa, working the ropes loose with quick, rough hands.
"Are you hurt?" His eyes swept over her, urgent, searching.
"I'm okay." She shook her head, but the tears kept coming. "But Nicholas — he got hurt trying to protect me—"
Julian glanced at Nicholas's shoulder. Blood was soaking through fast.
"Noah — call 911!"
He barked it across the room, then turned to Angelina.
She had collapsed to the floor, staring at the knife in her hand, then at Nicholas bleeding on the ground, as if her brain refused to process what she'd done.
"I didn't mean to," she whispered. "I just — I just wanted to scare her—"
"Scare her."
Julian crossed the distance between them, and the look in his eyes was something beyond anger.
"You kidnapped Louisa. You put a knife in Nicholas. And you think you're walking out of here?"
Angelina looked up at him. Tears ran down her face.
"Julian, I — I just loved you so much—"
"That's not love."
His voice was flat. Final. "That's obsession. That's cruelty. And you're going to answer for every bit of it."
---
In the distance, sirens wailed.
The sound reached Angelina, and something inside her collapsed.
It was over.
All of it — the fixation, the fury, the desperate twisted thing she'd called love.
Over.
The police came fast. They took Angelina and her men out in cuffs.
As they led her away, Angelina looked back at Julian one last time.
Hatred. Defiance. And beneath both — a flicker of something else. Fear.
Not of Julian.
Of Lorelei.
Because Angelina knew too much. Too many of Lorelei's secrets. And Lorelei didn't forgive that — not even in a daughter.
---
The ambulance arrived minutes later. Nicholas was loaded in, and Louisa climbed in beside him, clutching his hand, unable to stop crying.
"Nicholas. Stay with me."
He turned his head toward her, weak but steady. A thin smile crossed his face.
"Hey. Don't cry. I'm fine."
"This is my fault. You wouldn't be hurt if it weren't for me."
"Don't say that." He squeezed her hand. "You're my little sister. Who else am I supposed to protect?"
That broke her open completely.
Julian stood at the edge of the ambulance, watching the two of them. Something tight and aching moved through his chest.
He stepped forward and pulled Louisa close, one arm wrapping around her.
"It's okay," he said quietly, close to her ear. "It's over now."
She leaned into him. Her crying slowed, then softened.
She knew he was right. This particular storm had passed.
But the war wasn't over.
Lorelei was still out there.