Chapter 123

Chapter 123
Violet

"I'm not forcing myself, Julian." I gripped my phone tightly, my voice ringing clear in the quiet dorm room. "Niamh did come to me. She threatened to expose us, but she didn't scare me—she made me see everything clearly instead."

On the other end of the line, Julian's breathing caught for a moment.

He didn't interrupt, listening patiently.

"I hate that I've been hiding behind you this whole time. You've given me so much, yet I didn't even have the courage to acknowledge you." I drew a deep breath, my eyes stinging with heat, but my voice was more resolute than ever. "Julian, I don't want to keep retreating. I love you, and that's something to be proud of. No one—nothing—can turn it into some sordid scandal. I want everyone to know that you're mine."

Silence stretched across the line for a few seconds.

Then I heard a low sigh, laden with relief and tinged with laughter.

"Alright." Julian's voice was deeply hoarse, suffused with a tenderness and authority so intense it nearly spilled over. "As long as you're ready, leave the rest to me."

After hanging up, I opened my phone's photo album and found the silhouette shot Julian had taken today in the aquarium's underwater tunnel.

Against the backdrop of deep blue water, our two outlines overlapped so closely they were indistinguishable from each other.

I sent the photo to Julian, then opened Instagram.

I uploaded the picture, typed a simple red heart emoji as the caption, and tagged Julian Hall's private account directly.

Click. Post.

Almost the same second, a notification for my special alerts popped up at the top of my screen.

Julian had simultaneously posted the same photo on his account, with an identical red heart caption, tagging me.

Staring at the two posts displayed side by side on the screen, I exhaled a long breath.

The boulder that had weighed on my heart for months finally lifted, replaced by an exhilarating sense of broken shackles.

Lily shrieked beside me, grabbing me in an excited spin that went on for several turns.

That night, I slept deeply and peacefully.

The next morning, I was woken by the relentless buzzing of my phone.

Sunlight filtered through the blinds into the dorm. I rubbed my eyes and reached for my phone on the nightstand.

The screen was covered in missed calls and message notifications.

Beyond the explosion of astonishment and gossip in the orchestra group chat, dozens of missed calls all came from the same number.

No need to guess who that was.

I'd already blocked Ethan yesterday. He'd clearly switched to someone else's number, or was using an internet calling service, phoning me with manic persistence.

[Violet, pick up! What's that photo about?!]

[Julian Hall? Have you lost your mind?! Answer me!]

[Explain this to me right now!]

Looking at the screen filled with interrogative, commanding texts, I expressionlessly hit delete.

"What's wrong? Scowling first thing in the morning." Lily emerged from the bathroom yawning, toweling her hair as she glanced at me.

"Ethan called dozens of times." I tossed my phone back onto the bed and threw off the covers. "Forget him. Let's get breakfast. I'm craving a smoked salmon bagel from that corner place."

"Let's go! My treat today, celebrating our Manhattan School of Music's principal violinist officially becoming Wall Street royalty's legitimate girlfriend!" Lily laughed loudly, throwing an arm around my shoulders.

The early winter morning air was crisp and cold.

Lily and I bundled in our coats, left the dorm building, crossed the tree-lined path, and arrived at the café near campus.

We'd just bought our bagels and hot coffee and pushed through the glass door when a tall figure suddenly lunged from a side alley, blocking our path directly.

It was Ethan.

He looked absolutely wrecked.

The motorcycle jacket he usually kept impeccably pressed hung wrinkled on his frame. His hair was disheveled, his eyes bloodshot and rimmed with red.

He clearly hadn't slept all night—possibly had been staking out here for hours.

"Violet." Ethan stared at me fixedly, his voice hoarse and trembling with extreme emotion.

Lily immediately frowned, stepping forward to block me. "Ethan, what do you want now? Good dogs don't block the road."

"Get lost, Lily! This isn't your business!" Ethan snapped irritably, his gaze boring past Lily to lock onto my face. "Violet, tell me that photo on Instagram is fake, right? Someone's playing a prank, or... or you found someone to stage it just to spite me, right?"

His eyes held a kind of pathological hope, as if a single nod from me would let him maintain his ridiculous pride and delusions.

I patted Lily's shoulder gently, signaling I was fine. I stepped forward, meeting Ethan's bloodshot eyes directly.

"The photo is real." I looked at him, my voice calm and clear. "Julian and I are together. We're dating."

That sentence struck like a sledgehammer, shattering Ethan's last vestiges of self-deception.

His body swayed violently, his face turning deathly pale in an instant. "Julian Hall..." He muttered the name, his features contorting with extreme shock and disbelief. "My adoptive father."

"Yes." I nodded, watching his breakdown with complete indifference. "Ethan, I've started a new life. I hope you can accept reality. If possible, I hope you can wish us well, and then we can all move on peacefully."

"Wish you well? You want me to wish you well?!" Ethan suddenly roared like a beast whose tail had been stepped on.

He lunged forward, trying to grab my shoulders. I dodged nimbly.

"Violet, have you lost your mind!" Ethan's eyes were bloodshot, jabbing a finger at my nose, his voice loud enough to draw stares from passersby. "He's fourteen years older than you! Fourteen! You think he actually loves you? An old man who's been prowling around that filthy place called Wall Street—what woman hasn't he seen? He just wants your youth, he's just using you!"

"Shut up, Ethan!" My face went cold as I cut him off sharply.

But he'd already spiraled into obsessive madness, incapable of hearing anything.

"Break up with him immediately!" Ethan bellowed at me in a commanding tone. "He's a predator in a suit! He used money and status to seduce you into bed, and when he's tired of you, he'll toss you aside like garbage! You have no idea how dirty men like him operate! Call him right now and tell him you're done!"

One "predator" after another, one "dirty" after another—he slandered without restraint the man who had given me nothing but respect and devotion.

The fury in my chest erupted with a roar.

I summoned every ounce of strength and slapped Ethan hard across the face.

My palm stung and went numb. My chest heaved violently with rage.

The slap snapped Ethan's head to the side, a clear red mark blooming rapidly on his cheek.

He froze completely in place, eyes wide with disbelief, as if he didn't recognize the girl who dared strike him.

The surrounding air turned deathly silent. Even Lily, poised to explode, stood stunned.

"Sober now, Ethan?" I stared at him coldly, my gaze sharp as a blade. "If you're not, I don't mind giving you another one."

"You... you hit me?" Ethan clutched his face, voice shaking.

"I hit that filth-spewing mouth of yours." I glared at him unflinchingly, each word landing with force. "Ethan, put away that disgusting savior complex. Julian isn't a predator. He's more mature than you, more respectful than you, a thousand—ten thousand times better than you! We're in an equal, consensual relationship. No one's taking advantage of anyone, and certainly no one's being used!"