Chapter 119 It's All My Fault
Lucian's POV
The taxi dropped me off in front of Neon Nights at two in the morning. The street was empty except for broken glass glittering under the streetlights. I paid the driver and stepped out into the cold air, my breath forming clouds in the darkness.
The front windows were completely gone. Jagged shards still clung to the frames and the sidewalk was covered in glass that crunched under my boots as I approached the entrance. The door hung open at an angle, one hinge torn completely from the frame.
I stepped inside and had to pause to let my eyes adjust. The destruction was worse than I'd imagined. Every bottle behind the bar had been smashed, the shelves ripped from the wall and thrown across the room.
The bar itself had been overturned, its solid oak surface splintered and cracked. Hundreds of bottles worth of liquor mixed with something darker on the floor, creating pools of deep crimson that looked black in the dim light.
Blood. The metallic scent hit me as I moved deeper into the space and I followed the trail from the entrance toward the stairs. My hands clenched into fists at my sides and I felt my wolf surge forward, gold bleeding into my vision as Fenrir pushed against my control.
This was my fault. I'd let Ash talk me out of installing security cameras because he'd wanted Neon Nights to feel like a safe space, somewhere people could be themselves without worrying about being watched. I'd agreed because I understood that need for freedom.
But now Ash was in the hospital and I had no evidence, no footage, nothing that could prove who had done this.
I climbed the stairs carefully, avoiding the pools of spilled alcohol. The second floor was less destroyed but still thoroughly ransacked. Tables had been overturned, chairs broken, the small stage covered in shattered equipment.
The storage room at the back was relatively intact. I pushed open the door and found rows of wine bottles still standing on their racks, untouched. On the floor near the corner wine rack, I spotted something that made me go very still.
Empty bottles had been arranged in a neat circle around a half-full bottle of expensive whiskey, and pressed underneath the base of that bottle was a black onyx cufflink engraved with the Sterling family crest.
I pulled out my phone and took several photos before crouching down to pick up the cufflink with a handkerchief. This was one of Julian's custom pieces, commissioned from a jeweler in London who only made three pairs per year for select clients.
He wanted me to know it was him. He'd left this here deliberately.
I slipped the cufflink into an evidence bag and pulled out my phone to dial 911. The operator answered on the second ring and I gave her the address, requesting officers be sent to take a report.
I knew Julian's lawyers would find ways to block any investigation, but I needed the official report on file. Because when I dealt with Julian outside the bounds of the law, I wanted a paper trail showing I'd tried to handle things properly first.
I stood in the ruins of what Ash had built, surrounded by broken glass and the smell of blood and alcohol. All those years of stepping back, of letting Julian have what he wanted, of trying to avoid conflict with Dominic and the Pack. All of it had led here.
My phone buzzed with a text from Theo, the operative I'd assigned to shadow Briar. The message was brief: Target intercepted by Julian Sterling outside her apartment building. Physical altercation. She's unharmed but shaken. Sending audio file.
I opened the attachment and pressed play, listening to Briar's voice come through the speaker. The things she said to Julian made my chest tighten. Every word was calculated to wound, to push him away, to make him believe she was nothing more than a cold businesswoman using both of us.
But I could feel the truth through our bond. What I sensed was pain, deep and wrenching, that she was trying desperately to hide behind a mask of indifference.
She was protecting me. Protecting Ash. Trying to redirect Julian's rage back toward herself.
The audio file ended and I stood there in the darkness, surrounded by destruction, listening to the distant sound of sirens approaching. I pulled up my blocked contacts and found the number I'd buried years ago. After unblocking Dominic's contact, I hit dial.
---
Briar's POV
The taxi dropped me off at the hospital entrance at two forty in the morning. I'd tried calling Lucian three times during the drive but each call had gone straight to voicemail. My hands were still shaking from the confrontation with Julian and my knees throbbed where they'd hit the concrete.
The emergency room was quiet at this hour. I approached the front desk quickly, trying to keep my voice steady.
"I'm looking for Ash Kincaid. He was brought in tonight."
The nurse typed something into her computer. "Ash Kincaid is in the intensive care unit. He's not out of danger yet and we're not allowing visitors at this time."
My stomach dropped. "Are you sure you have the right patient?"
"Only one Kincaid admitted tonight, ma'am." The nurse's voice was gentle but firm. "You can wait in the ICU family area if you'd like, but you won't be able to see him until the doctors give clearance."
I nodded numbly and followed the signs to the intensive care unit on the third floor. The ICU was a maze of hallways and monitoring stations, everything painted in pale blues and whites. I found the observation window for Ash's room and pressed my hands against the glass.
He didn't look real. His head was wrapped in thick white bandages and his face was a mass of purple and black bruises. An oxygen mask covered his nose and mouth and tubes ran from his arms to various machines that beeped in the quiet room. He was so still, so completely lifeless, that for a horrible moment I thought I was too late.
Then I saw his chest rise and fall with a shallow breath and the tears I'd been holding back broke free. My legs gave out and I slid down the glass door until I was sitting on the floor, my forehead pressed against the cool surface.
This was my fault. Julian had done this because of me, because I'd chosen Lucian, because I'd dared to want something for myself.
Selene was howling inside me, a constant keening sound that made my head pound. My wolf wanted blood, wanted to hunt Julian down and tear him apart. And part of me wanted that too.
I pushed myself to my feet, my legs unsteady. If I left now, I could make it to the Sterling estate before dawn. Julian would be there, probably passed out drunk. It would be easy.
I stumbled down the hallway toward the elevator, my vision narrowing to a single point. Find Julian. Make him pay.
The automatic doors at the hospital entrance slid open and I burst through them into the cold night air. I'd made it three steps toward the parking lot when I collided with something solid and warm.
Arms closed around me and I looked up into Lucian's face. His golden eyes were glowing faintly in the darkness.
"Where are you going?" he asked quietly.
"To find Julian."
"And then what? You'll kill him?" Lucian's voice was calm but there was an edge to it. "What happens after that, Briar? Do you think Dominic will just let it go?"
The cold air was clearing my head and I realized how close I'd come to making a catastrophic mistake. Killing Julian would start a war that would destroy everything.
I sagged against Lucian's chest. "I can't just do nothing. Ash is in there because of me."
"This isn't your fault," Lucian said firmly.
But it was. I'd seen the look in Julian's eyes when he'd confessed to trashing Neon Nights, the satisfaction in his voice when he'd explained that he was going to destroy everyone I cared about.
I pulled back from Lucian's embrace, suddenly aware of how close we were standing. My hands had been reaching for him, seeking comfort, but I forced myself to lower them. What right did I have to lean on him when my presence in his life had brought nothing but destruction?
"I'm sorry," I said, my voice barely audible. "I'm so sorry, Lucian. This is all my fault. Everything that's happened, it's because of me."
The words kept coming, spilling out in a rush I couldn't control. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..."