(Julian's POV)
I didn't look back when I left her room.
Didn't pause at the door.
Didn't flinch when I passed the nurse smiling like everything was okay.
Because it wasn't.
Not for me.
I walked down the hallway with measured steps, my phone already in my hand before I reached the elevator. The moment the doors closed, I hit call.
"Alex," I said, voice low but sharp. "There's a name. Rose just mentioned someone—Bullet. Find out everything you can about him. I want to know who the hell he is and where he breathes."
Alex didn't waste time. "Got it. I'll pull every street tag, gang affiliation, and local intel. That name sounds familiar… I'll dig."
"And the guy we captured," I added, pacing now as I stepped out onto the private floor of the hospital and made my way toward the exit. "The one we spared for questioning—has he said anything yet?"
"Nothing useful," Alex muttered. I could hear frustration in his voice. "Bastard's been playing dumb since we got him. Said he was just the driver. He's too scared to lie well, but too scared to tell the truth too."
"Then make him more scared of us than them," I snapped, my tone sharp as glass. "I don't care what you have to do. Break him if you must—but I want answers."
Alex exhaled. "Understood. I'll push harder. We'll get something out of him."
I hung up without another word.
This wasn't over.
Not by a long shot.
As I stepped into the cold night air, my car already waiting at the curb, I stared up at the hospital's glowing windows. Somewhere up there, Rose was resting. Safe. Breathing.
But inside me?
Everything burned.
I didn't understand it—this pull, this rage, this… need. It wasn't just concern. It was deeper. Uglier. Possessive. Like some wired instinct screaming at me to protect her. Not because she asked for it. Not because she needed me. But because I couldn't stand the thought of something touching her again. Not a bruise. Not a scratch. Not a memory.
And I hated that.
Hated feeling so out of control.
Hated how angry I was—at the people who took her, at the world that failed her, at myself for not stopping it.
I didn't know what this was.
I just knew… it was too damn late to walk away from it.