Page 37 of The Strength Of A Woman

“Everybody knows you have a crush on the man.”

I close the space between us with a few steps.

“So? Why are you so smug if everyone knows I have a crush on him? They also know it’s not real. It’s all a silly joke, Julian.”

His smile freezes on his lips as his stare darkens.

“It didn’t look like a joke to me,” he says seriously, reading my eyes. “Are you two fucking or something?”

“I wish,” I say, the mockery blatant in my voice. “Maybe then you’d know to keep away from me. When did you arrive, anyway? I didn’t see you last night.”

“I’m not here for you,” he replies, no longer smiling.

“No kidding. Yet you’re following me around and questioning me. I’d know my place if I were you, Julian. And try some diplomacy for a change, instead of harassing me. It doesn’t do you any good.”

He stares at me in silence before I deem our conversation over, my warning to him more than fair, and I turn around and leave.

A few steps later, his voice tears into the air.

“Be in my room tonight at ten, or I’ll tell Giorgio and Sylvia that you kissed Callum O’Hara.”

“I didn’t––”

My voice breaks through the air like a broken arrow.

Fuming, I turn around to chastise him, but just as fast, I realize that he is provoking me on purpose to feed the beast in him.

I add something, though.

“Stay away from me, Julian, or you may end up dead like your father. And stop lying, for fuck’s sake. No one kissed Callum O’Hara. You’re delusional. No one will believe you.”

With that, I spin and dash away from him, not once looking back.

Half an hour later, I sneak into the house, run to Rory’s room, and frantically knock on her door.

After a few moments of silence, I try the door, push it open, and peek into her room. Everything is in order, and Rory is nowhere to be found.

As I pivot and head to my room, voices drift through the air.

I need to change before I join them. They’re eating dinner on the terrace.

Depending on how things go, I could say I had an indigestion, fell asleep––it wouldn’t be the first time––or visited town.

Yes. Why not?

No matter what Julian thinks, his word doesn’t bear more weight than mine or Callum’s.

There’s no way anyone will believe him.

Besides, he only used that information to blackmail me.

Sure, dickhead.As if I don’t know your ways.

And speaking of Callum.

This is not the first time the three of us have been part of a disgusting story featuring Julian.

Julian has been lurking in the shadows for a while.