Chapter 9 Cracks in the quiet

The morning Juliet's world began to fall apart did not come with chaos or noise.

No alarms. No shouting. No dramatic warning.

It came quietly.

The soft glow of her phone lit up beside her pillow.

Juliet stirred slowly, her body heavy, her head aching. Her throat burned from crying too much the night before, the kind of crying that left you empty instead of relieved. For a moment, she just stared at the ceiling, trying to remember where she was, trying to remember how to breathe normally again.

Then instinct took over.

She reached for her phone.

A small, foolish part of her still hoped it would be Ryan.

It wasn't.

Her hospital portal notification stared back at her.

Unusual sign-ins detected.

Her heart dropped so hard it felt like it slammed against her ribs.

She sat up instantly.

Another notification followed. Then another.

Three different access points. Encrypted locations. Her private medical records.

Juliet's fingers tightened around the phone. Her hands were already shaking, but she barely noticed. Her mind was racing too fast.

"No," she whispered. "No, no, no..."

This wasn't a system error. This wasn't a glitch.

She knew that the same way you know when someone is standing behind you even before you turn around.

This was intentional.

Her chest tightened until breathing felt like work. The room seemed to tilt, the walls pressing in slightly, like the air itself was shrinking.

And before she could stop herself, a single name rose up in her mind.

Dominic LaRusso.

His warning at the club replayed in her head. The way his voice had been calm, controlled, almost polite. The way his eyes had said everything his mouth didn't.

You are a problem. And problems get removed.

Juliet stumbled out of bed and began pacing her small apartment. Back and forth. Back and forth. Her bare feet hit the floor too hard, too fast.

He warned me, she thought.

He told me I would ruin Ryan.

He told me I wasn't safe for him.

Dominic LaRusso didn't need to threaten loudly. Men like him didn't yell. They didn't beg. They didn't explain.

They acted.

And Juliet was painfully aware of how small her life was compared to his power.

She was just Juliet. An assistant in a company that barely noticed her. A woman who lived on schedules and budgets and routines because chaos terrified her. Someone who believed that if she kept her world neat enough, nothing bad could touch her.

Now that order was being stripped away piece by piece.

Her breathing sped up. Panic crept higher, scratching at her throat.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Juliet gasped, jumping so hard her phone nearly slipped from her hand.

"Jules! Open the door before I break it down!" a familiar voice yelled. "I know you're in there. You're pacing like a stressed hamster!"

Juliet froze for a second, then pressed her hand to her chest.

Liv.

Her best friend. Her anchor. Her emotional bulldozer.

Juliet rushed to the door and pulled it open.

Liv barged in immediately, hoodie hanging off one shoulder, messy bun clearly thrown together without a mirror. One look at Juliet and her playful expression vanished.

"What happened?" Liv asked.

Juliet tried to speak. Tried again. Nothing came out.

Instead, she held out her phone.

Liv took it, scrolling silently. Her face hardened with every line she read. The joking energy drained from her completely.

"Oh, Jules..." Liv whispered.

And just like that, something inside Juliet cracked.

Liv guided her gently to the couch and pushed her down. "Okay. Start from the beginning."

"It's him," Juliet said, her voice trembling. "It has to be him. Ryan's father. Dominic. He threatened me."

Liv frowned. "Did he threaten you... or did he threaten the situation?"

Juliet stared at her. "Is that really different?"

"With men like him?" Liv said quietly. "Yes."

Juliet covered her face with her hands. Liv sat beside her, waiting.

So Juliet told her everything. The night with Ryan. The emotional weight of it. The confrontation at the condo. How she had left because it felt like she was drowning in someone else's world.

Liv didn't interrupt. She didn't jump to conclusions.

She just listened.

When Juliet finished, Liv leaned back and sighed, tired and heavy.

"Juliet," she said, "this is exactly why I tell you to stay away from romantic disasters."

"He's not..."

"He is," Liv interrupted gently. "Not because he's cruel. But because his life is chaos."

Juliet winced.

"You know what happened to my brother," Liv added.

Juliet's heart sank.

Liv rarely spoke about him.

"Liv... you don't have to..."

"I do," Liv said firmly. "He loved someone blindly. Someone with a messy, dangerous life. He thought love could fix it."

Her voice softened, eyes shining. "He died in a car he shouldn't have been in, on a night he shouldn't have left home."

Juliet swallowed hard.

"Love made him reckless," Liv said. "And I lost him."

A pause.

"Do you want that kind of ending, Jules?"

Juliet couldn't answer.

"I'm not saying Ryan is bad," Liv said quickly. "But his family? Their power? That world can crush people."

"But he said he'd protect me," Juliet whispered.

Liv tilted her head. "Do you really believe he can stop his father?"

Juliet wanted to say yes.

She couldn't.

Liv squeezed her hands. "You deserve a life that doesn't destroy you."

Juliet's eyes burned. "I don't know what to do."

"You do," Liv said softly. "You just don't want to."

And deep down, Juliet knew she was right.

By afternoon, Dominic proved he wasn't finished.

An email arrived at Juliet's job, anonymous concerns about her mental stability.

Then her scholarship portal flagged her for review.

Then a voicemail from an unknown number.

"Stay away from him if you want this to stop."

Juliet felt sick.

Liv wrapped her in a hug while Juliet cried silently, feeling smaller than she ever had.

Outside, in a black car across the street, Dominic's man typed calmly:

Target distressed. Pressure effective.

The reply came immediately:

Good. Keep her away from my son.

Juliet spent the rest of the day pretending she was fine.

At work, she held her posture straight, smiled when spoken to, nodded when necessary. But whispers followed her. Looks lingered too long.

Another anonymous tip arrived. Then another.

By the time she shut down her computer, her hands were shaking.

Liv found her near the elevator.

"You look like you're about to faint," Liv said.

"I'm fine," Juliet lied.

"Sure," Liv muttered. "And I'm Beyoncé."

In the elevator, Juliet finally broke.

"I think someone's trying to ruin me."

Liv listened, her expression darkening.

"This is targeted," Liv said. "And if it started after Ryan... it's not coincidence."

Juliet felt cold.

When another notification arrived, accusing her of sleeping her way through her last job, Liv snapped.

"You're going home," she said. "Now."

Juliet laughed weakly through tears as Liv guided her out.

But inside, she knew the truth.

Dominic wasn't warning her anymore.

He was attacking.

And this was only the beginning.