“You want to leave her right now?” Jackson demands, his voice low but sharp. “You want to walk out while she’s like this?”
Elijah finally looks at him properly.
“I’m not leaving her,” he says. “I’m making sure the man who did this to mywifenever gets another breath.”
“She’s not just your wife,” I cut in, the words coming out before I think them through, before I soften them. “You don’t get to act like this only happened to you.”
Elijah’s gaze shifts to me.
Sharp.
Measuring.
“She is my wife,” he says.
“And she’s ours,” I fire back immediately, my chest tightening as everything I’ve been holding in pushes up at once. “He didn’t just take her from you. He took her from all of us. He put her in that position. He...”
My voice catches.
I push through it.
“He risked her life,” I say, quieter now but no less intense. “He risked the life ofourchild.”
Lucian goes still.
Elijah’s eyes flick to him briefly.
“Is she pregnant?” Lucian asks.
Elijah’s jaw tightens.
“Yes.”
The word lands heavy.
“We didn’t know,” he adds, quieter now. “She’s about six weeks.”
Lucian swears under his breath.
Jackson drags a hand through his hair again, pacing once before stopping.
“I don’t want her waking up alone,” he says, his voice breaking slightly. “I don’t want her waking up and we’re not there...”
“She won’t be alone,” Lucian says, calm, steady. “Evelyn and I will stay. The warehouse is thirty minutes from here. If anything changes, we call you, you’re back before it matters.”
Elijah nods once.
“I’m going,” he says.
There’s no hesitation in it.
No doubt.
Jackson looks at him for a second.
Then exhales sharply.
“I’m coming too,” he says. “He doesn’t get to walk away from this. Not after—” his voice breaks, anger and grief colliding in it. “Elijah, she fucking died in my arms. I’m not letting that go.”
