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We reach the ground level below, and Julian yanks me behind a hedge. As soon as we’re hidden, he sends another text.

“Why, Julian?!” I scream over the gunfire.

“First of all, my name is Julius,” he snarls, his eyes wild and unhinged.

How can someone flip this much?

Maybe this is what Leo was always capable of seeing.

The reason why he couldn’t stand Julian, while my love-starved, stupid brain decided to skip all the red flags just to have another friend.

I am such an idiot…

“And as for the ‘why?’...” Julian, or whatever the fuck, continues. “Well, because you stole everything from me.”

“So you’re the stalker.”

“Stalker?” Julian hisses, slapping me across the face. “You really love humiliating me. But not anymore.”

“I’ve never done anything wrong to you.”

“You lived my life!” Julian screams, his fingers tangling painfully in my hair as he yanks my head back. “You stole my inheritance, my family, my rightful place!”

“You are insane.”

“No,” he laughs, and it sounds manic. “I’m your cousin.”

My breath catches. “That’s impossible.”

“It’s not. And our DNA proves it.”

DNA?

So that’s the DNA Knox mentioned…

Julian wanted to prove he was my cousin.

“You know…” He leans closer, grinning. “For someone who claims to love his family, you really don’t know a damn thing about them.”

“I only know what matters. And since I never knew about you…” I let the sentence hang so he understands exactly what I mean.

And he does.

His face crunches in anger, and he lifts his hand to punch me.

I close my eyes and brace for the impact… but it never comes.

Instead, a pair of hands in black gloves grabs me by the wrist and yanks me up.

“Ouch!” I complain, and the shady, mercenary-looking man shoves me forward.

“Shut up, brat. We are leaving.”

“Fuck you!” I glare at the man, but then something heavy slams into the back of my head.

My eyesight blurs, and before I can react, everything goes black as I collapse onto the ground.

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