I jumped up, grabbed my phone, and called Rowan back, unease blooming bright.
“Julian,” he said, voice low. “Where the fuck have you been? You need to come home.”
“Why?” I demanded. “What happened?”
There was a pause.
And then... “Your father went after Lucy. She left Julian; she's gone.”
The world tilted.
Everything that mattered snapped into terrifying focus.
And I finally understood that burying myself in work hadn’t protected her.
I had abandoned her and left her vulnerable.
Chapter 45 - Julian
“Your father went after Lucy. She left Julian; she's gone.”
For a second, my brain refuses to translate the words into meaning.
They land in my ear like a foreign language, as something said through glass. I stare at the wall of my hotel room, neutral art, neutral carpet, neutral everything, and my body doesn’t react the way it should. No panic. No movement.
Just… blank.
Then something in my chest caves in.
“What?” My voice is wrong. Too flat. Too quiet. Like my throat has forgotten how to work. “Julian... are you hearing me?”
A beat of silence crackles through the speaker.
“I’m hearing you,” I respond.
My lungs finally remember what they’re for and pull in a harsh breath.
“What the fuck happened?”
I’m already moving before the question finishes. My hands go to the dresser, the chair, the floor. I am gathering my things without much thought, but I know I need to move, I need to fix this.
I remember only one thing clearly, like it’s carved into my skull:
Lucy pressed close to me like I was all she ever needed.
Her voice was soft, exhausted, and real.
I love you, Julian.
And the way I tensed like she’d hit a nerve I didn’t know existed.
Rowan’s voice drags me back. “I came into your penthouse because Claire called me. Said you weren’t answering, said Lucy wasn’t responding, said something felt off.”
My fingers fumble with my belt. I yank it free. Drop it. I’m stripping out of yesterday’s clothes like it’s contaminated.
Rowan continues, “When I got there, your father was in your home office.”
The wordhomemakes me sick.
