But this was sixty million dollars—enough to buy my freedom with such finality that even Grandpa Lionel would have to nod in respect. Did I need to know every detail? No. You don’t need to care why the sun rises, I told my reflection, as long as it gives you light.
When I left the restroom, I could hear Vivienne’s voice through a cracked door. I stopped—not meaning to eavesdrop, but doing it anyway.
“You’re hemorrhaging leverage,” Gerard said. “You already took five percent of my company. Now you want thirty million more, and you’re having my daughter demand LuxePartout work with her too, giving her another thirty? You’re bleeding me dry!” He punctuated his claim with a guttural snarl.
I peered through the sliver of space.
“Then your daughter should never have played such a dangerous game with my son.” Vivienne lifted her phone. “Now I’m the one with the leverage.”
The violent scrape of a chair was loud. Gerard moved toward Vivienne, his face contorted with rage. “You vicious bi—”
She didn’t even flinch. But my heart pounded like he was coming after me. My hand reached for the door—
A shadow cut past. Julian Senior.
His movement was shockingly fast for a man his size. The punch he threw had no dramatic wind-up; it was just a brutal, efficient thud as his fist buried itself in Gerard’s ribs. The soundwas sickening—a wet crunch followed by a whoosh of agonized breath. Gerard folded like a paper sack, collapsing to the rug with a moan.
Vivienne calmly smoothed her skirt. “As I was saying, Gerard. The contracts will be signed. This incident never happened. Or the next conversation is with the Swiss authorities about your daughter drugging—and nearly sexually assaulting—my son.”
I stumbled back from the door, my hand clamped over my mouth to stifle a gasp. I nearly ran away from it.
When I re-entered the dining room, my composure was shot. Julian’s eyes found me instantly. He was at my side in three strides.
“Elara?” His voice was low, a private blade of concern.
I looked past him to where Seraphine sat, then back at him. “You didn’t tell me,” I whispered, my voice scraping raw. “About Zurich. About what she tried to do to you.”
The shock on his face was fleeting. He turned defensive.
“And now,” I continued, bitterness burning my tongue, “the sixty-million-dollar contract being offered is tied to the woman who tried to violate you? That your family extorted as punishment?”
I leaned closer, my next words for him alone—a dagger wrapped in a whisper. “This is what my freedom is going to cost, Julian? And what else are you keeping from me to make me swallow the price?”
He didn’t answer. He just swallowed hard, the muscle in his jaw leaping.
Chapter 37
Julian
I caught her at the end of the hallway, just before she reached the front door.
“Elara—wait.”
She didn’t. She tore her arm out of my reach like my touch burned her. “I need to leave,” she hissed.
“No,” I said, sharper than I meant. “Not like this.”
She finally turned to face me—and the look in her eyes knocked the breath out of my lungs. It wasn't anger or annoyance. It was disappointment. I stepped closer, reaching for her; she stepped back.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “Don’t touch me right now.”
My stomach dropped. “Elara—”
She kept going, her voice shaking with fury. “Somebody tried to physically assault you, Julian, and your family is using it as leverage. Leverage. Like your trauma is a bargaining chip on a poker table.”
“Elara—” My voice cracked.
“I want to rip her fucking face off for what she did to you,” she threw out, her voice breaking. “While you sat there, calm, in the same room with her like it was nothing. Negotiating. Like she didn’t drug you. Like she didn’t try to—” She choked off the end.
