Chapter 100: Sarah

Nobody moved for what felt like a whole minute after Lucien showed us the paper.

It was like the air in the room just turned to ice. I couldn’t get a good breath in, and my brain was completely short-circuiting. My eyes were glued to that ultrasound printout in his hand, even though everything was getting totally blurry from the tears welling up again.

That baby belongs to me.

The words didn't even feel real. They looked like some sick joke, or something from a twisted nightmare you wake up from sweating and shaking in the middle of the night. Except I wasn't waking up. I was standing right here in the living room, completely awake.

Lucien’s knuckles went totally white around the paper, his jaw clenching so hard I thought his teeth might break.

Vincent was the first one to move. He stood up real slow, totally controlled, but you could see it in his eyes—that creepy, dangerous stillness that meant something inside his head had just snapped clean in half.

Zane didn't say a word. He just stared at the ink on the paper, then at me, then back at the message. And for the first time since I’d known him, I saw a look in Zane’s eyes that actually scared me. It wasn't anger, and it wasn't panic. It was just pure, cold intent.

Megan was the one who finally broke the silence, her voice real quiet like she was trying not to set off a bomb. "Okay... that is completely psycho."

I let out a shaky, ragged breath. "It’s Aaron."

Nobody tried to comfort me or tell me I was overreacting this time. Because there was nothing left to guess about. It was him.

Lucien finally looked up at me, his voice dangerously low and smooth. Too smooth. "You're sure it's his handwriting?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying to look closer at the sloppy marker. "I don't know. Maybe. But the message... it's exactly how he talks when he thinks he's winning."

Vincent let out a dark, angry laugh. "Of course it is."

I turned to him. "What?"

He took a couple steps closer to me. He wasn't mad at me, not really, but the pure tension radiating off him was so heavy it made it hard to breathe. "You know how he operates, Sarah. You know what he’s like. Don’t act like you don’t recognize this level of crazy obsession. He’s trying to mess with your head."

My throat tighted up because, deep down, I knew Vincent was right. And I hated it.

Zane finally spoke, his voice quiet and sharp as a knife. "He’s escalating."

That one word hit me right in the chest. Escalating. He wasn't just hiding in the shadows anymore or sending creepy texts. He was getting bold. He was moving in.

I stood up from the couch without even thinking about it, my panic turning into pure frustration. "No. No, this isn’t happening. He’s not doing this to me. He’s not—" My voice completely cracked, and I couldn't finish the sentence.

Lucien immediately reached out for me. "Sarah, sit down."

But I was already shaking my head, pacing back and forth on the rug. "He was locked up! He was supposed to be gone for good. Ethan handled the legal stuff. The cops handled him. He is not supposed to be anywhere near this house!"

Megan rubbed her temples, looking exhausted. "Well, clearly the legal system did a crappy job."

Nobody laughed at that. Not even her.

Vincent walked over and snatched the ultrasound from Lucien’s hand, staring down at the marker. His voice dropped an octave. "This wasn’t a random drop, guys."

My stomach did a miserable flip. "What do you mean?"

He looked up, his eyes totally deadpan. "He’s watching us in real time."

The room went dead silent again. The kind of heavy, suffocating silence that presses down on your lungs until you feel like you're drowning.

Lucien spun around and looked at the security guard who was still standing by the door. "Double the perimeter guards. Now. Nobody comes through those gates unless I personally say so." The guard nodded fast and practically ran out of the room.

Zane was already on his phone, his thumbs flying across the screen, making calls and pulling up files. He was doing whatever it was Zane did when things went from bad to life-or-death.

Megan sank back into the sofa cushions like her legs had totally given out on her. "This is getting way too close to home."

I let out a sharp laugh, but it sounded completely wrong. Broken and frantic. "Too close? Megan, he knows I’m pregnant. He knows where we live. He knows exactly what hospital I went to. He knows—"

I stopped talking right there because a realization hit me that was ten times worse than everything else. He knew the ultrasound existed. He knew I had the appointment last week. Which meant...

"Oh my God," I whispered, my hands starting to shake all over again.

Lucien stepped right into my space, grabbing my shoulders. "Sarah, what is it? Talk to me."

I looked up at him, my eyes wide. "The hospital. He knew I went there. That means he’s got someone on the inside, or he’s paying off someone in the records department. He literally stole my medical file, Lucien."

Zane looked up from his phone, his face darkening. "Getting into our private hospital network isn't easy."

"Yeah, well, it's not impossible if you throw enough cash at a crooked receptionist," I said, my voice rising.

He wasn’t just stalking me from a car across the street anymore. He was infiltrating my actual life.

Lucien turned away from me for a second, running both hands through his hair. It was the very first sign that he was losing his temper, and that worried me more than anything. When Lucien starts looking stressed, it means things are way worse than they look on the surface. Much worse.

Vincent suddenly crumpled the ultrasound picture in his fist, his expression turning completely vicious. "That's it. No more waiting around for him to make a move."

Megan looked up at him, sounding nervous. "What does that mean?"

He didn't even look at her. Instead, he just looked at Lucien, and then over at Zane. And for the first time since this whole mess started, all three brothers looked completely aligned. They didn't even need to talk; they were totally on the same page. And looking at them, my stomach absolutely dropped. Whatever they were about to do... I knew I wasn't gonna like it.

Lucien spoke first, his voice dripping with ice. "Find him."

Zane nodded once. "On it."

Vincent let out a tiny smile, but it wasn't his usual charming, playful smirk. It was something way meaner. Something sharp. "I’ll handle the guy who dropped the note."

I stepped right between them, my anger flaring up through the fear. "No! Absolutely not."

All three of them froze and looked at me.

"I said no," I repeated, making my voice as firm as possible. "You are not turning this into some massive gang war. This isn't something you get to handle in the dark while I just sit up in my bedroom waiting to see who survives."

Vincent tilted his head, looking at me like I was being crazy. "Sarah, that is exactly what you're gonna do. It's safer."

I glared at him so hard he actually paused. "Excuse me?"

Zane stepped in, trying to sound reasonable but failing. "Sarah, this isn't up for debate. You're staying put."

That did it. Something inside me just snapped. "I am not fragile!" I shouted, the tears finally spilling over. "I am not some prize sitting in a glass box. I am not a target you get to just lock in a closet while you make all the decisions for me!"

The room went quiet again. Tense and heavy.

Lucien stared at me for a long time, studying my face like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. Then, surprisingly, his voice softened up a little bit. "What do you want us to do, then?"

The question completely caught me off guard. It shouldn't have, but it did. It meant he was actually listening to me instead of just treating me like a liability.

I took a deep, shaky breath to steady my voice. "I want to know everything. No more keeping secrets to 'protect my feelings.' No more half-truths. If Aaron is doing this, I want to know how he’s doing it and why. I want to be part of the plan. We decide what happens next together, not after you guys go out and burn the whole city down."

Vincent opened his mouth to argue, but he shut it real quick. Zane didn't say a word.

Lucien just nodded once, real slow. "Fine."

Just that one word changed the whole energy in the room.

Megan blinked, looking totally shocked. "Wow. That was actually kind of reasonable."

Vincent pointed a finger at her without looking. "Don't ruin it, Megs."

She threw her hands up. "Going to the kitchen now."

Lucien kept his eyes on me, his tone getting serious again. "But you follow our rules when it comes to security. No sneaking out, no arguing about the guards. Deal?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "That sounds exactly like what I just complained about."

"No," he said, his voice completely calm. "That’s the part that keeps you breathing."

I didn't like it, but I knew he was right. I couldn't argue with it. Deep down, I knew Aaron was dangerous enough that one wrong move would ruin everything.

Zane looked down at his phone again, then looked back up at me, his face grim. "There’s one more thing about that note, Sarah."

My heart sank into my shoes. "What now?"

He hesitated, which was incredibly rare for him. "The message wasn’t just a death threat to us."

Lucien looked over at him, his eyes narrowing. "Explain."

Zane sighed. "He’s making a claim. He doesn't just want to scare you. He genuinely believes that because of the past, he has a right to whatever happens to that child."

Vincent spat on the floor, looking disgusted. "So the psycho thinks he owns the situation."

Lucien’s voice dropped so low it sent shivers down my spine. "He thinks wrong. And he's about to find out exactly how wrong he is."

Megan stood up fast from the couch, shaking her head. "Okay, that's my cue. I need a massive plate of carbs, some wine, and probably a professional therapist. Good luck, you guys." Nobody stopped her from leaving because honestly, none of us had the energy to argue anymore.

I just stood there in the middle of the room, feeling the shift. Everything had changed in the span of five minutes. This wasn’t just about being scared or hiding out anymore. This was turning into something much darker. Something final.

Somewhere out there in the city, Aaron was probably sitting in some room, smiling like he’d already won the game. But what he didn't realize was that he had just made the absolute worst mistake of his life.

Because the Voss brothers weren’t just playing defense anymore. They were turning into the hunters.