My Stepbrother Wants Me-Chapter 189: She Deserves What’s Coming For Her.

Catherine’s POV

Julian was driving like a madman, his hands gripped so tightly on the steering wheel that his veins looked like they might burst out of his skin. He didn’t care about traffic lights or the speed limit. His eyes were fixed on the road ahead, his jaw locked in a permanent clench that made him look older, and more dangerous than I had ever seen him.

I wasn’t in the front seat. I was in the back, huddled with Tessa. She was tucked under my arm and her body was trembling violently, that I could even feel the vibrations in my own bones.

She remained silent like she was in shock, her eyes staring at nothing, and her breath coming in shallow, hitching gasps.

Every time the car hit a pothole or Julian took a corner too sharply, Tessa would wince and let out a small, stifled whimper. Each time she did, my mind went straight to the baby. The thought of that tiny, fragile life being snuffed out because of a petty, vengeful girl like Lucy made my blood run cold. I held Tessa tighter, whispering nonsense into her hair, trying to be a shield she clearly didn’t have the moment she was almost attacked.

"I’m going to kill her," Julian growled from the front. He wasn’t looking at us. He was staring at the tail lights of the car in front of him. "I’m going to the mansion right now. I’m going to drag that bitch out of her bed and make her regret the day she was born."

"No!" I screamed, my voice cracking. "Use your head for once. Can’t you see Tessa’s condition? Look at her! Look at her state! We can’t go to the mansion. We have to get to the hospital."

"She needs to pay for this," Julian snapped, his voice rising. "If I don’t handle this now, she’ll think she got away with it. She’ll do it again."

"You have all day to do that. We need to check on Tessa’s health!" I yelled back, gesturing to the scrape on Tessa’s arm where the dirt had mixed with raw skin. "Her face is white as a sheet and she’s pregnant! Do you understand? If we go to that house and start a war, the stress alone will finish what those men started. Turn this car around and go to the hospital. Now!"

Julian glanced into the rearview mirror. He saw the blood on Tessa’s arm. He saw the way she was curled into a ball, looking like a broken doll. For a second, the rage in his eyes got replaced by a grim realization. He didn’t say another word. He just yanked the steering wheel to the left, the tires protesting as he pulled a sharp U-turn toward a private hospital.

The moment we pulled into the emergency bay, I was out of the car, shouting for a nurse. They brought a wheelchair out, and I had to pry Tessa’s fingers off my sweater so they could take her inside. I wanted to follow her, but the administrative staff blocked my path, asking for insurance, names, and contact information.

Julian handled the paperwork while I paced the hallway. I couldn’t sit down. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and in its place was an anger that felt like it was cutting me from the inside out. I looked at Julian, who was leaning against the white wall, his eyes fixed on the double doors where they had taken Tessa.

"Have you informed Ethan about this?" I asked, my voice was hollow in the quiet corridor.

Julian nodded once. "Yeah. I texted him the second we got in the car. He said he’s on his way."

"Good," I muttered and began to pace again, my heels clicking on the linoleum. "If anything happens to that baby, Julian... I mean it. I don’t care about Richard. I don’t care about the family name or the stupid campaign. If this leads to a miscarriage, I am going to make sure Lucy loses a lot of blood. I will tear her apart myself."

Julian didn’t tell me to calm down. He didn’t tell me I was being dramatic. He just looked at me with those dark, hollow eyes and nodded. "I will take delight in watching you do that."

We stood there for what felt like hours, though it was probably only twenty minutes. The hospital smells were making me nauseous. Every time the doors opened, I jumped, expecting a doctor to come out with bad news. Finally, a man in a white coat emerged, looking down at a clipboard.

"Family of Miss Tessa?" he asked.

Julian and I both stepped forward at once.

"Yes. We are her friends," I said, my heart in my throat. "Is she okay? The baby?"

The doctor sighed and adjusted his glasses. "She has some significant bruising on her arms and shoulders, and she’s in a state of acute shock. We’ve cleaned the abrasions. Physically, she will recover from the external injuries."

"And the baby?" I pressed, my voice trembling.

"The fetal heartbeat is steady for now," the doctor said, though his expression remained serious. "The baby is stable, but the mother’s stress levels are dangerously high. The trauma of the assault has put a lot of strain on her system. I have to be honest with you... high stress or another incident like this could easily trigger a miscarriage. She needs absolute rest and zero conflict. If she’s under pressure again, she’ll lose it."

A wave of relief, so strong, hit me and I almost fell over, but it was immediately followed by a cold terror. Zero conflict? She lived in the same world as that witch, Lucy. There was no such thing as zero conflict.

Just as the doctor finished speaking, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed down the hall. Ethan burst through the entrance, trying to catch his breath from running through the hall. He was sweating, his hair was a mess, and his eyes were wild with fear. He ignored the nurses and the front desk, heading straight for us.

"Where is she?" Ethan demanded, grabbing Julian by the front of his shirt. "Where is Tessa? What the hell happened? I got your text. What happened, man? Why is she in the hospital? How the hell did it happen and why?!"

Julian didn’t even try to push him off. He just stood there, letting Ethan shake him. "She’s in a room, bro. Calm down."

"Don’t tell me to be calm!" Ethan roared, his voice bouncing off the sterile walls. He let go of Julian and turned to me. "Catherine, tell me. How did she end up here? Who did this?"

I stepped between them, putting my hands on Ethan’s chest to keep him from charging into the restricted area. "Ethan, listen to me. Please. You have to stay calm for her sake. Tessa called me. She told me a car was following her. We got to her location just as two men were trying to pull her into a shack. We got there before they could do any serious physical harm, but she’s shaken up."

Ethan was fuming. I could see the muscles in his neck bulging, his face turning a deeper angry shade of red. He was normally a steady guy, but seeing him like this was terrifying. He looked capable of killing someone with his bare hands.

"Who?" Ethan hissed, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Who sent them? Men don’t just follow a girl like Tessa for no reason. She has no money and it is obviously not to shack her, because the day is still bright as hell," he paused, studying my face which may have given out what I was trying to hide. "Only someone paid them to. Who was it?"

I hesitated. I looked at Ethan’s rage and felt the need to keep him in control. If I told him the truth, he would go to the mansion. He would get himself arrested or killed by Richard’s security. He could also expose Tessa’s pregnancy. I couldn’t let any of that happen.

I opened my mouth to tell him we didn’t know for sure yet.

"It was Lucy," Julian beat me to it with a firm tone.

I snapped my head toward him, my eyes wide. I wanted to scream at him for being so blunt, for lighting the fuse on the bomb standing right in front of us. But he wasn’t even looking at me. He was looking at Ethan with a grim sort of solidarity.

"Lucy," Julian repeated, his voice cold and steady. "She’s the one who could be so insensitive and petty. Tessa confirmed she’s the one." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"What?" Ethan was shocked by the revelation.

"Yes. Apparently they had the usual girl’s disagreement and that red haired witch sent those men to ’teach her a lesson.’"

Ethan’s eyes turned cold. The frantic energy left him, replaced by a terrifying, focused stillness. He didn’t yell. He didn’t swear.

"Lucy," Ethan whispered, the name sounding like a curse on his lips. "That bitch really did this? Julian, why is that girl still in your house? It’s time we forcefully dragged her out of your life... our lives."

He was about to move but I immediately reached for his arm.

"Ethan, wait," he shot me a deadly stare that made me shut up for a second. "We need to be smart about this. Richard will protect her if you just show up there screaming. They will also find out about Tessa’s pregnancy"

"I don’t fucking care," Ethan said, pulling his arm away from me. He looked at Julian. "Juliaj, you live in that house. You are the one who let the bitch in. Are you going to stop me from getting back at her?"

Julian straightened up, his eyes meeting Ethan’s. "I’m the one who will open the door for you. She deserves every bit of flesh you want to take."