“Finally,” he mutters. “I was about to start a riot.”
Elliot lifts his glass, eyes amused. “To the happy couple.”
Harper’s smile is gentle this time. “You two looked… good out there.”
Rowan says nothing, but his gaze meets mine briefly, and something like approval flickers there.
Caleb’s eyes move to Julian. Then to me. Then back.
Like he’s measuring whether this is real.
Julian pulls out my chair for me, and I breathe out slowly.
I sip my champagne.
Across the room, I catch a glimpse of Graham Whitaker.
He’s watching.
Not glaring.
Not angry.
Just… aware.
Like he’s taking notes.
Like he’s not done.
I feel Julian's hand rest casually on the back of my chair, his fingers settling under my hair.
And for the first time in a long time, fear doesn’t swallow me whole.
It just sits beside me.
Waiting.
Chapter 35 - Julian
I couldn’t sleep.
I lay on my back staring at the ceiling while my wife slept beside me.
My wife.
The words still felt unreal in my head, like something I hadn’t earned the right to think yet. Like if I said them too often, the reality might splinter under the weight of acknowledgment.
But I could not deny the sense of pride that overwhelmed me when I did say it out loud. Something I wasn't allowing myself to dwell on.
Lucy was turned slightly onto her side, one knee bent, hair fanned across the pillow in loose waves she hadn’t bothered to tame after the gala. The faint scent of her had already begun to replace the sterile neutrality my bedroom had always held.
Ourbedroom.
That thought sent a slow ripple of awareness through me.
The last two days crashed into me in fragments. The office. The signing. The way her hand had trembled just slightly before she steadied herself. The way she didn’t look at me when she said she’d do it, like she couldn’t afford to see my reaction.
The penthouse. The way she’d stood so still in the dressing room, surrounded by more wealth than most people see in alifetime, and somehow made it look like it weighed on her instead of elevating her.
