“Then let’s find out.” Dereck sets the empty bottle on a table and moves ahead of us. Have to say I like the guy.
We stride outside, through the side doors and toward the security post. Morris is talking with a few guards, but the moment he sees me, he stiffens. I nod once, sharply. “Morris. Come here.”
He jogs over immediately. “Sir.”
“Where’s Kennet?”
“He’s been dismissed, Sir. I brought in someone else to replace him,” Morris says, shoulders squared.
“Why?”
He draws in a deep breath. “I overheard a call. Between him and Julian McLeod. He was spying on Mrs. Isabel. Recording her, tracking her. I know it wasn’t my job to fire him, but I made sure those photos were erased—completely.”
My blood runs cold, then hot. I take a slow step forward, looming. “Did he say why he was doing it?”
“He said Julian hired him. Told him to snap those pictures and send them directly to you.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s all he gave me. But…” Morris glances away. “Julian’s got a thing for her.”
Sebastian and Derek echoes my thoughts. “Of course he does.”
Rage pulses behind my eyes. This piece of shit had the audacity to use my absence to spy on my wife—try to twist what we had.
Without a word, I pivot and march across the lawn to the security lot. Derek and Sebastian follow close behind, already cracking his knuckles.
Julian’s leaning against the hood of his car, puffing on a cigarette, laughing at something one of the rookies said. But the moment he spots me; his smirk starts to falter.
Too late.
My fist crashes into his face with a satisfying crack, knocking him back against the hood. The guards around him flinch and instinctively back off. None of them dares move. Good.
I loom over him, jaw clenched so tight it aches. “If you ever lay your eyes on my wife again—even by fucking mistake—I’ll put you six feet under. No questions. No warnings.”
He staggers back to his feet, holding his bleeding nose, trying to laugh it off. “It was a joke. Just an innocent one?—”
Sebastian’s fist connects with his gut, and Julian doubles over like a rag doll. “Fuck,” Sebastian says with a grin. “I missed this kind of action.”
“Nathan!” Alice’s voice carries from the patio. “You’re gonna miss the toast!”
I whip around and wave toward her. “I’m coming!”
I turn back to Morris, nod once. We’re good. The message has been delivered, loud and clear.
Sebastian and I head back inside.
“God, I missed our old days,” he chuckles, rubbing his knuckles. “Your kid’s gonna need someone to teach him the classics. I may apply.”
I pull him into a hug, the tension finally bleeding from my shoulders. “Uncle Sebastian it is.”
“You guys are hilarious,” Derek chuckles, shaking his head like he’s just witnessed peak madness. “If that’s how you deal with shit over here, I might move here too.”
Honestly, chaos is kind of our love language.
“So, who should be the next dress I design?” Derek asks, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
Without hesitation, I point straight at Sebastian. The man has swagger, sure—but the idea of him in a gown? Iconic.
