Catherine’s POV
I leaned back from the bed, ensuring Tessa was relatively calm for the mont, and stood up. My mind was already racing through a dozen different calculations. I looked at Julian, who was still hovering near the doorfra. Without saying a word to Ethan or Tessa, I marched toward him, grabbed his arm firmly, and led him out of the room. I didn’t stop until we reached a secluded corner of the hallway where no one could overhear our conversation.
Once we were alone, I folded my arms tightly across my chest. I started pacing the small area of the corridor with an aggressive rhythm. Julian didn’t move or speak. He stood there with his hands in his pockets, staring at with a look of genuine surprise.
After the fifth turn, I stopped abruptly and spun around to face him, my eyes narrowing. "Are you going to just stand there and mop at ?" I demanded, my voice low but vibrating with anger. "Are you just going to wait for to explode instead of asking what the problem is?"
Julian blinked, his posture shifting as he realized the level of fury I was currently sitting with. He took a small breath and nodded. "My bad. Sorry," he said, his expression hiding the tease in his tone. "What is it, Catherine? What’s the problem?"
I didn’t waste any ti on a preamble. I stared him straight in the eyes. "I don’t want Tessa to push through with the abortion."
Julian’s eyes widened instantly. The shock on his face was so obvious in the way his eyes stared wide open. Then he took a step toward , closing the distance between us until he was towering over . "Are you insane?" he asked, his voice a harsh whisper. "Did you not see the state Ethan is in? Did you not hear what this would do to his relationship with his uncle? He is an orphan, who’s been raised by that man. Keeping the baby will destroy their entire lives."
"I am not insane," I countered, refusing to back down. "I have a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling. Tessa is terrified. She is convinced she is going to die on that table. You cannot force a person to go through a procedure when their entire spirit is screaming against it. I won’t let her do it."
Julian let out a frustrated huff, running a hand through his hair. "Nothing will go wrong, Cat. I personally contacted the best doctor in the city to handle this. This isn’t so back-alley operation. It’s professional, and it’s safe. I made sure of that."
I ignored his reassurances completely, not caring about the quality of the doctor or the discretion of the clinic. "How old is the pregnancy?"
Julian stopped talking and scratched the back of his head, his brow furrowing as he tried to think. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then looked away, clearly trying to recall the details Ethan had given him.
"Julian," I said, my voice cold and ringing out with annoyance. "If you don’t know, go and ask Ethan right now. Don’t stand here guessing while soone’s life is on the line."
"One month," he snapped back, defending his reply imdiately. "It’s a month. I know because they only started dating three months ago. It hasn’t been that long."
I stared at him, my eyes searching his for any sign of uncertainty. He looked like he was sure of his reply, so I didn’t say anything else. I raised my phone and began pressing the screen rapidly, scrolling through a calendar and a basic dical site I had bookmarked.
"What are you doing?" Julian asked with confusion laced in his voice.
I ignored him for a full minute, my fingers flying across the screen as I mapped out the tiline in my head. Silence stretched between us. Finally, I looked him in the face, my expression set in a grim mask of determination.
"A pregnancy stomach doesn’t usually beco obvious until the sixth month," I revealed, holding the phone so he could see the text on the screen.
Julian stared at the phone and then back at . "And?"
"And the Spring Sester ends in early May," I said, my voice gaining strength as the plan solidified in my mind. "Because of the national elections, everything is being moved up. That ans we have exactly five months left of the sester. Do you understand what that ans, Julian? It ans that before Tessa’s pregnancy becos revealing to anyone at school, we will be finished for the year."
Julian rolled his eyes, a look of disbelief crossing his face. "Catherine, don’t be crazy. You’re talking about a five-month window like it’s an eternity. Anything could happen in that ti."
I reached out and grabbed his hand, my grip tight as I tried to force him to see reason. I wasn’t asking him; I was trying to convince him that there was another way out of this that didn’t involve Tessa losing her mind from fear. "Listen to . The sumr break takes two months. If you add that to the five months of the sester, that’s a total of seven, nearly eight months. Tessa only needs to make it to the end of the year."
Julian didn’t pull his hand away, but he didn’t agree either. He just stood there, his eyes fixed on our joined hands.
"I’ve thought it through," I continued, speaking faster now. "Tessa can request a two-month leave of absence when the next sester starts in the fall. She can claim it’s for a family ergency or a dical issue. That way, she can give birth, have so ti to recover, and then return to school. No one has to know she was even pregnant."
Julian finally looked up. He didn’t reply imdiately. I could see the gears turning in his head as he weighed my words against the plan he had already set in motion. He looked toward the room where Ethan and Tessa were, then back at .
"And what about Ethan’s uncle?" he asked after a long pause. "Even if she hides the stomach, soone has to pay for the dical bills. Soone has to provide for the baby once it’s here. Babies aren’t cheap, Catherine. Ethan is a dropout working for his uncle. He has nothing. How are they supposed to survive without his uncle finding out?"
I stepped closer to him, my voice dropping to a low, determined whisper. "No one has to know, Julian. We don’t need his uncle. Ethan and Tessa have the two of them, and more importantly, they have the two of us. We will help them. We will provide for them. We can take care of the baby together."
Julian stared at as if he were seeing for the first ti. The arrogance that usually defined his expression was gone, replaced by a contemplative look. He looked down at my hand again, his fingers twitching as if he wanted to squeeze back.
"You’re serious," he muttered.
"I am dead serious," I said. "I would rather pay for every diaper and every doctor’s visit myself than watch Tessa go into that room and never be the sa again. We have the resources, Julian. Between the two of us, we can make this work. We can give them a choice they didn’t think they had."
Julian let out a long, slow breath. He leaned his back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. I could see the conflict in his eyes—the part of him that wanted the easy, clean solution, and the part of him that was actually moved by the idea of doing sothing right for once.
"It would be a massive risk," he said quietly.
"Everything we do is a risk," I countered. "But this is a risk for soone we actually care about. For once, we wouldn’t be protecting a brand or a family na. We’d be protecting our friends."
Julian stayed silent for what felt like an eternity. I didn’t push him further; I had laid out the facts as clearly as I could. I watched the muscle in his jaw flex as he thought about it all.
Finally, he looked at , the tension in his shoulders seed to ease just a fraction. "If we do this, it has to be perfect. No one outside this circle can ever find out."
"Tell that to yourself. Hopefully you don’t let that witch of a girlfriend find out."
This was what I wanted to say to him but what ca was...
"I agree. So, are we doing it?"
Julian nodded slowly. "We’re taking them away from here. But you’re the one who has to explain this to Ethan. I’m not sure he’s going to believe we can pull this off."
"He’ll believe it because we’re going to make it happen," I said firmly.
I let go of his hand and turned back toward the room, my heart feeling lighter.
"Hey," I turned when I heard him call.
"Yes?"
"You amazed yet again, Wildcat."
Reviews
All reviews (0)