Chapter 6 - The Barrier
Julian didn't hit the brakes. He shifted into a lower gear, his knuckles steady on the leather steering wheel.
""Julian,"" Christian said calmly, his hand still resting over Clara’s frozen fingers. ""Clear the line.""
""Understood, sir.""
Instead of ramming the blocking sedan, Julian expertly wrenched the wheel, jumping the concrete curb of the service lane and smashing cleanly through the reinforced fiberglass barrier into the adjoining commercial loading dock. Sparks showered against the reinforced undercarriage as the SUV blasted through the delivery bay doors, bursting onto 57th Street into the midday traffic.
Behind them, two men in dark suits scrambled out of the blocking sedan, shouting into radios, but the gridlock of Manhattan traffic swallowed them instantly.
Clara gasped, pulling Lily closer, her chest tight with adrenaline. ""They were waiting for us. They knew we were leaving!""
""Marcus anticipated I'd move you,"" Christian said, not letting go of her hand. His thumb drew small, calming circles against her skin—an instinctual gesture that felt startlingly intimate for a man who had barely spoken ten words to her that morning. ""He didn't anticipate how fast. Julian, reroute to the private municipal annex in Queens. Judge Mercer is expecting us.""
Clara turned her head to look at him. ""A private judge?""
""An old friend of my father,"" Christian replied, finally releasing her hand to check his encrypted tablet. ""He owes me a debt. The marriage license will be filed, sealed, and backdated by forty-eight hours to establish residency before Marcus's injunction was signed.""
""You planned this,"" Clara whispered, realization dawning on her. ""You didn't just come up with this when you saw me with that tie. You knew who I was before this morning.""
Christian paused, his fingers hovering over the screen. He turned his face toward the window, watching the blur of gray skyscrapers. ""I knew Marcus was hunting a former cleaner from Chicago. I didn't connect that woman to the quiet maid who cleaned my office at six in the morning until I saw Lily holding my tie.""
May you like
""And?"" Clara pressed, demanding the truth.
Christian turned back, his gaze unyielding and dark with an emotion she couldn't decipher. ""And then I realized you were the only leverage that could destroy my brother forever—or get us both killed.""
