Chapter 42 Think Far Too Highly Of Yourself
Briar's POV
When Lucian finally pulled back, his eyes lingered on my collarbone with an expression that made my stomach twist. He was looking at the mark he'd left there like it was some kind of masterpiece, his breath still ghosting across my skin as he studied the deep red impression.
Then he smiled, slow and satisfied, and turned away without another word, disappearing into the shadows of the corridor.
I stood there frozen, my hand coming up to touch the spot where his mouth had been, and when my fingers made contact I felt my heart drop. The skin was raised and tender, already darkening into what I knew would be a vivid bruise.
Julian was going to lose his mind when he saw this, and there would be nothing I could say to convince him it wasn't exactly what it looked like. I cursed Lucian silently, viciously as I tried to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do.
My phone buzzed in my hand, Julian's name flashing across the screen, and I felt my heart stop. I answered on the third ring, my voice coming out higher than I wanted. "Hello?"
"Where are you?" Julian's voice was ice cold, clipped and precise. "Get to the front entrance. Now."
I couldn't show up with this mark visible. Unless I could give him a reason not to look too closely, something that would disgust him enough that he wouldn't want to examine me at all.
I said, keeping my voice deliberately frustrated. "I spilled wine all over my dress, it's completely ruined. I need to go back to the room and change first."
There was a long pause. Finally he made a sound of disgust. "Fine. Go back on your own. Clean yourself up properly."
I hurried back to my guest room and stripped off the ruined dress, shoving it into the trash. I pulled on a high-necked silk blouse and tailored black pants, the kind of outfit that covered everything from my collarbones to my ankles. The collar came up high enough to completely hide Lucian's mark.
I headed down to the parking area. Reginald's butler Thomas offered me a ride but I waved him off, saying my own driver was coming. I stood in the waiting area, my arms wrapped around myself against the evening chill, and kept touching the collar of my blouse to make sure it was still in place.
That's when I saw the headlights cutting through the darkness, Julian's black stretched sedan pulling into the circular drive. My heart started hammering. I'd been so focused on hiding the mark that I hadn't even stopped to wonder why Julian was still here, why he hadn't left already.
The car pulled to a stop directly in front of me and James leaned out, "Ms. Vance, please get in."
I climbed in quickly and settled into the seat across from Julian. He was staring down at his tablet, his face illuminated by the cold blue light, and he didn't look up as I fastened my seatbelt.
We sat in silence for what felt like an eternity, the only sound the quiet hum of the engine and the occasional tap of Julian's fingers against the tablet screen. I kept my eyes fixed on the window, watching the darkened landscape slide past.
"Did you shower?" Julian's voice cut through the silence like a knife, and I felt my entire body go rigid.
"What?" I turned to look at him, my mind scrambling.
"You changed clothes." He still wasn't looking at me. "Did you shower?"
"No, there wasn't time. I just changed and came straight down." I kept my voice steady, casual.
Julian's fingers stopped moving and he finally looked up at me, his eyes narrowing as he took in my outfit. "Why did you change into something with such a high collar? You were wearing a dress with an open back before."
My heart stuttered and I forced myself to meet his gaze without flinching. "It was the first thing I grabbed from my bag. I wasn't exactly thinking about fashion when I was covered in wine."
For a moment I thought he was going to press the issue, thought he was going to reach over and pull down my collar, but instead he made a gesture to James. James immediately produced a spray bottle and before I could react he was spraying me with disinfectant solution, the mist coating my clothes and hair and making my eyes water.
"What the hell—" I sputtered, but James kept spraying with methodical efficiency.
"We've been waiting in the parking lot for quite a while, Miss Vance," James said apologetically. "Mr. Sterling wanted to make sure you were properly sanitized before the drive home."
I wiped at my face with my sleeve and shot Julian a look that should have set him on fire, but he'd already returned his attention to the tablet.
We'd been driving for maybe ten minutes when Julian suddenly spoke again, his voice cutting through the silence with devastating precision. "Terminate the Apex bid. Immediately."
The words hit me like a physical blow and I felt something cold and terrible unfurl in my chest. This was it, the punishment I'd been dreading. "What?"
"You heard me." He still wasn't looking at me. "Pull Vance Botanicals out of the Apex bidding process. I want it done tonight."
"You can't—" I started, but he cut me off with a sharp gesture.
"I can do whatever I want. You work for me, remember? Your company exists because I allow it to exist."
The rage that flooded through me was white-hot and blinding, and before I could stop myself I was leaning forward, my voice shaking with fury. "This is because of tonight, isn't it? Because I talked to Reginald, because I dared to try and build something without your permission? You've been sabotaging me from the start, calling the banks, sending your people to intercept me before I could meet with Reginald—"
"I never called any banks," Julian interrupted, his voice flat and cold. "Whatever problems you're having with financing, they have nothing to do with me."
"Liar." The word came out harsh and bitter. "You've been blocking me at every turn, making sure I couldn't get the funding I needed, and now you're just going to kill the entire project because you can't stand the thought of me succeeding at something you didn't control."
Julian finally looked up from his tablet, his eyes meeting mine with an expression I couldn't read. "Believe what you want. The answer is still no."
I sat back in my seat and forced myself to take a deep breath, trying to think past the anger and panic. Getting emotional wouldn't help. I needed to approach this differently. "Fine," I said, making my voice deliberately flat and defeated. "Stop the project. It probably wouldn't have worked anyway."
I saw something flicker in Julian's expression, a brief moment of uncertainty, and I pressed on before he could respond. "There's just one problem. I already signed the collaboration agreement with Reginald. If we pull out now, Vance Botanicals will owe him seven hundred thousand dollars in breach of contract penalties."
Julian's fingers tightened slightly on the tablet but he didn't say anything.
"Seven hundred thousand dollars," I repeated. "That's more than the entire current valuation of Vance Botanicals. Even if I sold every asset the company has, it wouldn't be enough to cover the penalty."
I paused, watching his face carefully, and then delivered the final blow with deliberate casualness. "My father managed to get out of his gambling debts by using me as collateral, offering me up like I was just another asset to be traded. So I'm curious, what's his plan this time? Sell me to Devon Montgomery to cover the breach penalty? Or maybe Kieran Ashford would be interested?"
The reaction was immediate. Julian's hand shot out, gripping the leather armrest so hard it creaked, his knuckles white. His eyes had shifted—pupils narrowing into vertical slits gleaming with predatory rage. He was fighting for control, breathing shallow and rapid, jaw muscles working as he ground his teeth together.
"You think far too highly of yourself," he said finally, each word bitten off with barely restrained violence.