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Ash and Knox take notice of my sudden stiffness and look over, and they both go immediately tense when they see who has just walked in. Knox’s stance shifts into one that makes it clear he’s ready to throw down if it comes to that, and Ash moves like he’s going to back him up.
Julian also looks wary, which is interesting. That smug swagger isn’t present at the moment, and he walks slowly toward where we’re standing.
Knox and Ash move to meet him halfway, and I follow them, my heart racing out of control in my chest.
Natalie flicks a disdainful glance at Knox, looking at him like he’s worth less than the dirt beneath her shoes. He doesn’t even react to her, all his focus on Julian.
“You know,” Julian says, speaking first, and even though he’s not making any sudden moves, his tone is dripping with condescension. “You’re lucky I’m willing to let shit lie after what she did.” He jerks his chin in my direction. “Trying to run off with Hannah.”
I get even more tense just hearing him say that. Like he’s worthy of speaking Hannah’s fucking name after he murdered her. Everything in me is screaming to attack him right here and now. To launch myself at him and claw his fucking eyes out. Or tell him everything we’re doing. How we’re working to dismantle his business piece by piece and leave him with nothing and really rub his face in it. But I don’t. I hold myself back with a shaky breath.
I have to play the long game with this if I want it to work.
But that leaves me with nothing to say to Julian. If I open my mouth, all the hate and anger will come spilling out, and he’ll respond in some smarmy, jack ass way, and I’ll have to kill him in this fucking convenience store. Either that or I’ll just start screaming, venting all the pain I feel inside. So it’s better if I just say nothing, and I bite down on my tongue to keep myself in check.
Ash and Knox take over, letting their anger and distaste for the asshole show, but they don’t give anything away.
“I’d say you’re pretty lucky too,” Ash says dryly. “Considering you didn’t even care about what was lost that day.”
“I cared about the wedding,” Julian snaps back. “Which didn’t fucking happen.”
“That’s not on us,” Knox snaps. “And if you wanna make something of it, then you can try.” He cracks his knuckles ominously, and Julian just sneers at him.
“I’m not going to get into this here. We’re square, as far as I’m concerned. I lost something I wanted, and so did you.” Julian looks at me again. “We can leave it at that.”
Comparing losing Hannah to missing out on being able to marry his sister to Knox is a pretty shitty move, and I bite my tongue even harder to keep from going off on him.
I already knew he didn’t respect Hannah at all, so it’s not like this is new information. Losing her doesn’t even matter to him. He still has their son, and that was all he wanted in the first place.
“You could at least pretend to give a shit, you know,” Ash says. “That your wife is dead. That’s what people usually do. They mourn, show up to the funeral and make some touching speech. It’s good for the act at least, since we all know you didn’t really care.”
Julian snorts. “Why would I waste my time with that?” he asks, sounding genuinely curious.
“Which part?”
“Any of it. There won’t be a funeral. I got what I needed from her—my son. Cody has been sent away to be looked after, and maybe without her influence softening him up and making him weak, he’ll actually grow up to be an heir I can be proud of. He was the only one who cared about her death, and he’s gone. After her betrayal, why would I bother with a funeral? Who else would even mourn her?”
Somehow, knowing he doesn’t care and hearing him say it so easily are two different things, and the latter snaps something inside me.
“Who would mourn her?” I demand, pushing my way past Ash and Knox to stand in front of them. “Who the fuck do you think you are to talk about her like that? You aren’t worth a single fucking second of her time or energy, and you treated her like she was trash. I should fucking—”
Before I can make the threat, Knox puts a hand on my shoulder, squeezing hard.
Ash steps closer and touches my back, trailing his hand down lower.
“Breathe,” he whispers so only I can hear it.
It’s enough to steady me for the split second I need to get control of myself. I drag in a deep, shuddering breath that feels like glass in my lungs, and I let Knox pull me away from Julian and Natalie.
