Zara's POV
The hospital room that had felt small before now felt impossibly tiny with five people crammed inside it, all of them arguing like I wasn't even there.
"You planned this." Jason's voice shook with rage as he jabbed a finger at Cassian. "You've always wanted to destroy me, and now you've found the perfect way to do it."
"Don't flatter yourself." Cassian's tone was bored, which only seemed to enrage Jason further. "I didn't seduce anyone. Your wife came to me, Jason. Threw herself at me, actually. Quite desperately."
"Liar!"
"Am I? Ask her." Cassian gestured toward me without looking away from his brother. "Tell him, Zara. Tell him how you begged me to touch you, to make you forget him."
"I don't, I can't remember.." My voice came out weak, broken.
"Convenient amnesia," one of Jason's lawyers muttered, making notes on a legal pad.
"This is rape," Jason snarled. "She was emotionally compromised, possibly drugged. I'll have you arrested, Cassian. I'll destroy you."
"With what evidence?" Cassian crossed his arms, looking completely unbothered. "We're both adults. She came to my room willingly. No one forced her."
"She thought you were me!"
"Did she? Or is that just the story you want to believe?" Cassian's smile was cruel. "Face it, brother. She wanted me. Maybe she always did. Maybe that's why your marriage was so cold. She was waiting for someone who could actually satisfy her."
"You son of a.."
Jason lunged forward, but his lawyers grabbed him, holding him back.
"Mr. Hartley, please," the older lawyer said urgently. "Violence won't help your case."
"Case?" I found my voice, shrill and desperate. "What case? What are you talking about?"
The lawyer turned to me with cold, professional eyes. "Mrs. Hartley, my client intends to file for full custody of the child. Given your recent behavior, unstable living situation, and apparent infidelity, we believe the court will find in his favor."
The words knocked the air from my lungs.
"You can't take my baby."
"It's my baby too," Jason said, his voice dropping to something almost gentle. Almost. "And I won't let you raise it with him. I won't let Cassian poison my child against me."
"Your child?" Cassian laughed, the sound harsh and mocking. "That baby shares my DNA, not yours. How does that feel, Jason? Knowing your wife chose me over you? Knowing that I'll have something of hers that you never will?"
"Stop it!" I shouted, my voice cracking. "Both of you, just stop!"
They ignored me.
"This is exactly what you wanted, isn't it?" Jason's face was red, a vein pulsing in his forehead. "You couldn't beat me in business, couldn't beat me in father's eyes, so you went after my wife. My marriage."
"Your marriage is already dead. I just gave her a proper burial."
"I'll kill you."
"You're welcome to try."
The two brothers stared at each other, years of hatred burning in the space between them. I could feel it, thick and toxic, suffocating everything else in the room.
Dr. Morrison appeared in the doorway, looking alarmed. "Gentlemen, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. This is a hospital, and you're disturbing other patients."
"We're leaving," the younger lawyer said quickly, tugging Jason's arm. "But this isn't over. We'll be filing paperwork first thing Monday morning."
Jason yanked his arm free but allowed himself to be led toward the door. At the threshold, he turned back to me.
"Come home, Zara. Before this gets ugly. I'll forgive everything. We can raise the baby together, tell people it's ours. No one has to know about him." His voice softened, taking on that manipulative tone I'd learned to recognize too late. "We can be a family again. Isn't that what you always wanted?"
For just a moment, I almost believed him. Almost fell for the promise of normalcy, of a life that made sense. Then I remembered Tessa in our bed. The years of insults and isolation. The way he'd looked at me with such disgust.
"No," I whispered. "We can't."
Something flickered in Jason's eyes. Hurt, maybe. Or just anger at being rejected.
"You'll regret this. Both of you."
He left, his lawyers trailing behind like well-dressed vultures. Tessa had been standing in the corner the whole time, silent but watching everything with glittering eyes. Now she stepped forward, her phone in her hand.
"This is going to be everywhere by morning," she said cheerfully. "Jason Hartley's wife, pregnant with his brother's baby. It's like something out of a soap opera. The media is going to love it."
"Tessa, please.."
"Please what? Keep your dirty little secret?" She laughed. "Why should I? You ruined my relationship with Jason. He wanted to leave you for me, but now he's obsessed with this baby, with winning against Cassian. You've made everything so complicated."
"I didn't ask for any of this!"
"No, you just fell into bed with the first man who showed you attention. Real classy, Zara." She typed something on her phone, her thumbs moving fast. "I'm posting this now. Let's see how you handle being famous."
"Don't," Cassian said quietly. Something in his voice made Tessa's fingers freeze.
"It's already done," she said, but her confidence had wavered.
"Then undo it."
"Or what?"
Cassian took a single step toward her. Just one. But Tessa's face went pale.
"You don't scare me," she said, backing toward the door.
"I should." He smiled, and it was the most frightening thing I'd ever seen. "Because unlike Jason, I don't play by rules. I don't care about reputation or image or what people think. Cross me, and I'll make you disappear in ways that can't be traced back to me. Do you understand?"
Tessa fled. The door slammed behind her, and silence fell over the room. Dr. Morrison cleared his throat. "Ms. Hartley, I think it would be best if we discharged you. You're physically fine, just dehydrated and stressed. I'll write you a prescription for prenatal vitamins and schedule a follow-up appointment for next week."
"Thank you," I managed.
He left quickly, clearly wanting to escape the drama.
I was alone with Cassian.
"You threatened her," I said.
"Yes."
"You can't just threaten people."
"I can and I did." He moved to the window, looking out at the parking lot below. "She would have posted that story, Zara. Within an hour, every news outlet in the city would be running it. Your face would be everywhere. Jason's lawyers would use it to paint you as unstable, attention-seeking. It would destroy any chance you have of keeping that baby."
"So you threatened to make her disappear?"
"I didn't say I would. I said I could." He glanced back at me. "There's a difference. But she doesn't need to know that."
"I don't understand you. One minute you're mocking me, the next you're protecting me. What do you want from me?"
"I told you. You're carrying my child. That makes you my responsibility."
"I'm not your responsibility. I'm not anyone's."
"Keep telling yourself that." He turned away from the window. "Get dressed. We're leaving."
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Yes, you are. Jason will come back, probably with more lawyers and a court order. The press might already be outside thanks to Tessa. You need to leave before this gets worse."
"I have a hotel room."
"That Jason knows about. That anyone can access. It's not safe."
"And going with you is?"
"Safer than the alternatives." He grabbed my bag from the corner, the one with my few belongings. "I have a place outside the city. Private, secure. No one knows about it except me."
Fear curled in my stomach. "You want to take me to some secret location where no one can find me?"
"I want to take you somewhere Jason can't reach you. There's a difference."
"How do I know you won't hurt me?"
The question hung in the air between us. Cassian set down my bag and moved closer to the bed. He didn't touch me, but I could feel the heat radiating off him.
"If I wanted to hurt you, Zara, I've had plenty of opportunities. That night three weeks ago. Every time I've found you alone since. I haven't." His gray eyes held mine. "I'm not a good man. I'm not going to pretend I am. But that baby you're carrying? That's mine. And I protect what's mine."
"The baby isn't a possession."
"No. It's my legacy. My blood. The one thing in this world that will be truly mine, not something I had to fight Jason for or steal from our father's shadow." His voice softened slightly. "Let me help you. Please."
The please surprised me. I don't think I'd ever heard him say it before.
A nurse appeared with discharge papers and the prescription. I signed everything in a daze, barely reading the words.
Cassian helped me into my clothes, his touch impersonal and efficient when my hands shook too badly to button my shirt. We walked through the hospital corridors, past curious stares and whispered conversations.
The parking lot was half-full in the late afternoon sun. Cassian's car was parked near the emergency entrance, that same sleek black vehicle from before. We'd almost reached it when I heard Jason's voice.
"Stop right there!"
He was running toward us, Tessa jogging behind him. No lawyers this time, just raw fury on his face.
"Get in the car," Cassian said quietly, unlocking the doors with his key fob.
"Zara!" Jason's voice cracked. "Don't do this. Don't go with him."
I froze, my hand on the car door.
"He's dangerous," Jason continued, stopping a few feet away. He was breathing hard, his shirt untucked, his hair messy. "You don't know what he's capable of. The things he's done."
"And you're safe?" I found my voice. "You, who destroyed my credit, threatened to take my baby, told me I was worthless for five years?"
"I was angry. I didn't mean those things."
"Yes, you did."
"Zara, please. I love you. I've always loved you. I made mistakes, but we can fix this. We can be a family."
The words should have meant something. Should have tugged at my heart, made me reconsider.
They meant nothing.
"You don't love me, Jason. You love control. You love winning. And right now, you're losing to Cassian, and that's killing you." I opened the car door. "Goodbye."
"No!" Jason lunged forward, grabbing my arm and yanking me back. "You're not leaving with him! I won't allow it!"
Pain shot through my shoulder as he pulled harder. I stumbled, nearly falling. Cassian moved like lightning. One moment Jason was holding me, the next he was on the ground, Cassian's knee on his chest and his hand wrapped around Jason's throat.
"I warned you," Cassian's voice was deadly calm. "Touch her again, and I'll kill you. I meant it."
"Cassian, stop!" I grabbed his arm. "You'll hurt him!"
"That's the idea."
Jason's face was turning red, his hands clawing at Cassian's grip.
"Please," I begged. "He's not worth it. Let him go."
For a long moment, Cassian didn't move. His eyes were empty, dark, focused entirely on choking the life out of his brother.
Then he released Jason and stood in one fluid motion. Jason coughed and gasped, rolling onto his side.
"Stay away from her," Cassian said coldly. "Stay away from the baby. If I see you near her again, brother or not, I will put you in the ground. Are we clear?"
Jason couldn't answer, still struggling to breathe. Cassian turned to Tessa, who'd been filming the whole thing on her phone.
"Delete that footage."
"Or what?"
He plucked the phone from her hands so fast she didn't have time to react. He dropped it on the pavement and crushed it under his heel.
"Hey! That's expensive!"
"Send me the bill."
He took my arm, gentler this time, and guided me to the car. I was shaking, shock setting in from everything that had just happened.
Cassian opened the passenger door and helped me inside. He rounded the car and slid into the driver's seat, starting the engine.
Jason had struggled to his feet, leaning against Tessa for support. His eyes met mine through the window, and I saw something there that terrified me more than Cassian's violence.
Hatred. Pure, burning hatred.
"This isn't over, Zara!" he shouted hoarsely. "You're still my wife! That baby is still legally mine! I'll see you in court!"
Cassian shifted into gear and looked at me. His expression was unreadable, but his hand was steady on the wheel..
"You're coming with me," he said quietly. "I won't let anyone touch what's mine. Not Jason, not anyone. Do you understand?"
I should have been afraid. Should have demanded he take me back, let me go, give me a choice in my own life.
But as I looked back at Jason, still screaming threats in the parking lot, Tessa recording everything on someone else's phone now, and the hospital staff starting to gather, I realized something. I had no choices left.
Not really. Every path led to pain, to being used, to being a weapon in someone else's war.
At least with Cassian, I knew what I was getting. He didn't pretend to be good or kind or loving. He was honest about what he wanted.
Control. Revenge. Victory over his brother.
And maybe, in a twisted way, that honesty was safer than Jason's lies had ever been.
"Okay," I whispered.
Cassian's hand covered mine briefly, his skin warm.
Then he drove away from the hospital, away from Jason's threats and Tessa's camera and the ruins of my old life. Toward something new and terrifying and completely unknown. The war between brothers had just begun. And I was the prize neither of them would surrender..