Chapter 400
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Chapter 400:
When she mentioned the baby, a violent ache seized his chest. But he forced his face to remain an unreadable mask of stone. He did not look at the file on the table. He already knew every word written in it.
He crouched down, grabbed her wrists, and pulled her hands away from her face, forcing her to look at him.
“Do you think I care about a political scandal?” Justin asked, his voice vibrating with dark, intense fury. “Do you think I need a flawless mannequin to stand next to me at fundraisers p>
He leaned in closer. The scent of rain and cedarwood enveloped her.
𝗪𝖾 𝗎𝗉d𝗮t𝖾 e𝘷𝖾r𝗒 𝗐𝖾𝘦𝗸 𝗼𝗇
“I never viewed you as a PR contract, Carmen,” Justin confessed, his voice dropping to a raw, obsessive whisper.
Carmen stopped crying. She stared at him, her brain unable to process the words.
Justin reached up and wiped a mixture of rain and tears from her cheek with his thumb.
“I love you,” Justin stated. It was not a request — it was an absolute declaration. “Not because you are perfect. Because you are mine p>
He picked up the termination contract from the floor, ripped it in half, and tossed the pieces into the burning fireplace.
“The contract is dead,” Justin said. “I am not your fake boyfriend. I am the man who is going to spend the rest of his life with you p>
Carmen shook her head frantically, terrified by the intensity in his eyes. “You don’t understand the darkness I carry p>
Justin grabbed her waist and hauled her up against his chest, crushing her against him.
“Then I will step into the dark with you,” Justin whispered against her ear, his lips brushing her skin. “We will find your past. We will find your son. Together p>
Exhaustion and emotional devastation finally shattered Carmen’s resistance. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, crying until she had nothing left.
Justin held her tightly, staring over her shoulder at the rain lashing against the window.
A terrifying, possessive darkness flashed in his eyes.
We don’t need to find him, Justin thought. He is already here. And you are never leaving this cage again.
That night, Carmen developed a high fever from the rain. Justin carried her to his bed and stayed awake all night, pressing cold towels to her forehead.
While she slept, he quietly retrieved the unredacted medical file from the coffee table and fed it into the fireplace, watching the physical truth burn to ash. He knew it was only a temporary measure — a digital ghost remained. He pulled his encrypted phone from his pocket and sent a rapid, coded text to Leo, his Chief of Staff: Seize Carmen Golden’s personal laptop and encrypted USB drives from her apartment. Wipe the Wolfe Hotel server logs. Track down the dark web hacker she contacted and ensure they never touch a keyboard again.
He slipped the phone away, his eyes reflecting the dying embers of the fire.
The digital trail would be eradicated before sunrise.