Chapter 108: Threats
"I am protecting my firm," Arthur corrected firmly, though his pulse was racing. "Clients do not usually turn a standard divorce proceeding into a federal investigation. You lied to me about the eye drops. You’ve backed us into a corner, and I will not drag my name down into the mud with you."
A small, faint smile touched the corner of Kian’s lips. It was a terrifying, empty expression that made Arthur’s stomach turn.
"So that’s what this is," Kian murmured, taking a slow step toward him. "You’re afraid."
"I am being practical," Arthur snapped, standing his ground. "Aaron Kazarov is involved now. He’s throwing tens of millions of dollars at this. He has resources we can’t match, and he’s looking for blood."
"You’re afraid," Kian repeated, his voice barely above a whisper as he closed the distance between them. "You think Aaron is the only man in this city who knows how to tear someone down?"
"Kian, listen to reason—"
"No, Arthur. You listen to me," Kian interrupted, his voice dropping into a raspy, lethal purr. He leaned in close, his pale face inches from the lawyer’s.
"You think you’re the only one who collects insurance policies? You think I hired you just because you were good in front of a jury?"
Arthur’s jaw tightened. "What are you talking about?"
Kian reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and tapped the screen a few times before holding it up.
"You worry about your reputation," Kian said softly. "You worry about your wife. She’s a sweet woman, Arthur. Still grieving the poor little baby you lost ten years ago, isn’t she? Still setting up that empty nursery every spring on the anniversary."
Arthur went dead white. Every drop of color drained from his face, leaving him looking like a corpse.
"How is little Henry doing?" Kian asked smoothly, his thumb sliding across the screen. "He’s eight now, right? Living in that quiet little villa outside Zurich with his mother? The former paralegal you paid off to stay quiet?"
"Shut up," Arthur whispered, his voice cracking with pure terror.
"I know you’ve spent a lot of money over the years keeping Henry’s existence very quiet, Arthur," Kian continued, his grey eyes shining with a dark, unhinged light.
"You’ve paid the school tuition. You’ve bought the house. You’ve made sure the press never picked up the trail. And I dug this up because I knew a day like today might come. I knew I might need a reminder for you about where your loyalties lie."
Arthur took a trembling step back, his hand slamming against the edge of his desk to keep himself upright. "You... you sick bastard..."
"Don’t sound so surprised," Kian murmured, lowering the phone and stepping closer again, towering over the older man. "You were worried I hadn’t prepared for Aaron. I didn’t need to prepare for Aaron. I prepared for you."
Arthur stared at Kian, realizing with a sickening wave of horror that the man standing before him was completely gone.
Kian wasn’t just a desperate husband trying to save his marriage.
He was a monster who had built a cage around everyone in his life, brick by brick, years before he ever needed to lock the door.
Aaron had threatened Arthur’s freedom. But Kian was threatening to destroy his family, his wife’s heart, and the hidden boy he loved more than life itself.
Arthur collapsed back into his leather chair, burying his face in his trembling hands.
"What do you want from me?" he choked out, his voice broken. "The judge is going to grant the divorce, Kian. There’s no stopping it now. The evidence is too strong."
"I don’t care about the evidence," Kian said coldly. "And I don’t care about winning the trial tomorrow. I need time."
Arthur looked up, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Time?"
"Keep delaying it," Kian ordered, leaning his hands on the desk once more. "Drag it out. File motions. Challenge the lab results. I don’t care what you have to do, but Isabella cannot sign those final papers. She cannot leave me."
Arthur tried to gather the scattered pieces of his legal mind, desperate to find a way out of the vice gripping him from both sides.
"The secondary toxicology report is the main problem," Arthur said, his voice raspy as he forced himself to think like a lawyer again.
"If we attack that, we can slow things down. We can challenge the chain of custody. We can claim the sample was contaminated, or that the lab Kazarov used didn’t follow state protocol when they tested the eye drops."
Kian listened, his expression unreadable.
"We can also demand an independent medical review for Isabella," Arthur continued rapidly, his fingers tapping nervously on the desk.
"We argue that while the drops might have contained the chemical, there’s no direct proof it caused her blindness. We demand a full panel of neutral doctors to examine her again. That alone will push the final hearing back by six months."
Kian’s eyes brightened slightly, a dark spark returning to his gaze. "Good. What else?"
"The baby," Arthur said softly, watching Kian closely.
"Now that the paternity test proves the child is yours, we can file for temporary parental rights. We can argue that as the father, you have a right to be involved in all medical decisions regarding the pregnancy. We ask the court to freeze any final divorce decree until the child is born so custody and support can be settled together."
It was a cold, ruthless strategy. It wouldn’t save Kian’s reputation, and it wouldn’t make Isabella love him again. It would simply tie her to him in court, wrapping her in endless legal tape until she was exhausted.
"Yes," Kian breathed, a twisted smile spreading across his face. "Yes, do that. File every single one of them today."
Arthur looked at Kian, seeing the hollow, obsessive gleam in the younger man’s eyes, and felt a sudden, profound chill.
"Kian," Arthur said quietly, unable to stop himself.
"Even if we delay this for a year... even if we stall every hearing... she isn’t coming back to you. She hates you. You’re confusing keeping her trapped with keeping her heart."
Kian stilled. He looked down at Arthur, his grey eyes flat, empty, and dark as a winter sky.
"Does it matter what I call it?" Kian whispered softly. "As long as she stays."