My Accidental Billionaire Husband (Katia and Julian) novel Chapter 395

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Blood and Names

Julian’s POV

The car was quiet for a long time after we left the Grand Meridian.

Streetlights slid across the windows in broken lines. Grandma Celeste sat with her hands folded in her lap, staring straight ahead. Gail had her arms crossed, jaw tight. Katia’s fingers stayed laced with mine, her thumb moving once in a while across my

knuckles like she was checking I was still there.

No one spoke until the gates of the house opened and the tires hit the long driveway.

“Inside,” I said when the cars stopped. “Study.”

We went in through the side entrance to avoid staff. Zane was already at the door. One look at my face and he simply nodded, then disappeared to make sure Aiden stayed upstairs and asleep. The study door closed behind the four of us with a solid click.

Grandma Celeste walked to the window and stood there with her back to us for a full minute. When she turned, her face was set.

“He came back,” she said. “Under a different name, on a stage he built himself, with half the city watching.”

“I know,” I said.

Gail dropped into one of the chairs. “He used Delia to get close. Sent her into both of your offices. Married her to his son before the gala so the connection would already be public.”

“Yes.”

Katia stayed standing beside me, arms loosely crossed.

“He wanted a reaction,” she said. “He got one.‘

I nodded once.

“”

“He got a public apology forced out of him and a very clear view of the fact that this family does not sit quietly when he walks into a room. That will sting. Men like Elliot do not absorb humiliation without answering it.”

Grandma Celeste’s mouth tightened.

“He will come for the company. Or for the narrative. Or for something that hurts more than money.”

“He already used Delia,” I said. “He is not finished with her. She is still married to his son. That gives him access and optics if he decides to play the long game in public.“.

Katia’s voice was calm, but there was an edge under it.

“She chose to sign whatever papers they might have thrown at her. She chose the name. That does not mean she understood the full board she was standing on.”

“I do not care what she understood,” I said. “I care that he used her as a delivery system to get close to this family. That ends.”

Gail looked between us.

“What do you want to do?”

“First, we strip every quiet connection Vesper Group has tried to build toward WEG and toward Katia’s companies, Marcus is already pulling the filings. Second, we prepare for the media. The walk–out is already circulating. The word ‘cousin‘ is already out of the bag. We do not confirm. We do not deny. We let Elliot be the one who has to explain why he changed his name and why he hid for years. Third, I want every old file we still have on him reviewed again. If he wants to stand in the light, he can stand in all of it.”

Grandma Celeste held my gaze for a long moment, then gave a single nod.

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“I will have the boxes brought up from storage tomorrow.”

The room settled into a heavier quiet. Outside, the house ticked the way old houses do at night. Somewhere above us Aiden was asleep, unaware that the man who had smiled on that stage had just walked back into our lives under a new surname.

Katia rose and came to stand beside me. Her shoulder brushed mine.

“You’re going to war,” she said. It was not a question.

“He started it the moment he put Delia in my office and called it business. He continued it when he stood on that stage and used a new name like it would protect him. I am simply answering.”

Gail stood as well.

“I will call the lawyers first thing. And the communications team. No statements until we decide the exact language.”

“Do it.”

She touched Grandma Celeste’s arm gently, then left the study. Grandma Celeste looked at the two of us for a moment longer.

“Do not underestimate how patient he can be,” she said. “And do not underestimate how ugly he becomes when patience runs

out.”

“I have no intention of underestimating him.”

She nodded once more and left us alone.

The door closed.

Katia turned to face me fully. The silver dress still caught the low light from the desk lamp. Her eyes were clear and hard and completely with me.

“Talk to me,” she said.

“I want him gone from this city. I want the company he built under that stolen quiet to feel pressure from every side. I want the people who clapped for him tonight to regret the applause. And I want Delia Kensington, or Vesper, or whatever she is calling herself by morning, far enough away from this family that she cannot be used as a knife again.”

Katia studied me.

“You’re angry.”

“Yes.”

“You’re also calculating.”

“Yes.”

She stepped closer.

“Good,” she said. “Then do not let the anger outrun the calculation. Elliot already watched you force him to apologize in public. He will be looking for the emotional hit next. Do not give it to him.”

I lifted a hand and brushed my thumb once along her jaw.

“I have no intention of giving him anything he wants.”

Her mouth curved, not quite a smile.

“And Delia?”

“She made her choices. She can live with the consequences. I will not protect her from them. I will only make sure she cannot be

Blood and Harnes

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