Chapter 126
The breathing on the other end of the line grew heavier.
"Juliana, you—"
"Just you wait."
Juliana hung up without another word.
Logan listened to the dial tone, all the playfulness and smugness draining from his face. Standing at the end of the club's hallway, phone clutched in his hand, his eyes turned dark and vicious.
Good.
He licked his lips, a twisted excitement churning in his eyes. Now this was getting interesting.
He turned and strode toward a private room. "Bring her to me."
……
Bianca was dragged out of that pitch-black room again.
After days in the dark, the opulent lighting in the private room stabbed at her eyes painfully.
Logan sat on the couch, playing with a thin riding crop in his hands. "Call me."
Bianca didn't understand but did as she was told.
Logan's phone rang. He answered and put it on speaker.
"Say 'just you wait,'" he ordered.
Bianca hesitated, then said, "Just you wait."
"Not right." Logan's brow furrowed. "Her voice is colder than yours, harder, full of hatred. What is this? You sound like a pathetic housewife whining."
Bianca's face went pale.
"Again!"
"Just you waitt."
"Wrong!"
"Just you wait!"
"Still wrong!"
Bianca was being pushed to the edge. She had no idea what she was doing wrong.
Logan lost his patience. He stood up and raised the riding crop, bringing it down hard across Bianca's back.
A sharp crack accompanied by a woman's stifled cry of pain.
"I told you to imitate a knife, not a puddle of mud!" Logan's voice was full of violence. "You're not worth a single hair on her head!"
The crop came down again and again. Bianca curled up on the floor, her pleas for mercy eventually turning to curses.
"Logan! You psycho! I hope you rot in hell!"
"That bitch Juliana! You both deserve to die!"
Logan finally tired of hitting her and stopped. "Drag her out. Lock her up."
As Bianca was dragged away, her venomous eyes stayed locked on Logan, curses still spilling from her lips.
She hated Juliana. Hated Lucas. And now, she hated Logan even more.
……
After hanging up, Juliana actually felt calmer.
The declaration of war was made. What remained was systematically driving her enemy into a corner.
She remembered something else and called her cousin Joshua.
"How's the clinical trial for the specialized medication going?"
"Pretty smooth, actually." Joshua's voice sounded tired. "But there's been an issue with one of the key ingredients—ink weed. We're having trouble with the purification process. The purity keeps falling short of requirements. I'm working on solutions."
Juliana's heart tightened. "Will it affect the treatment efficacy?"
"Of course it will." Joshua chuckled on his end. "What, so worried about Lucas? Looks like I'm losing my place in your heart."
Juliana's cheeks flushed.
"I'm just... as a doctor, I'm concerned about my patient's condition."
"Is that so?" Joshua drew out the last word, full of teasing.
"I'm not talking to you anymore. I'm hanging up!"
Juliana tossed her phone aside. She covered her burning face, her heart beating a little too fast.
……
The private room fell quiet again.
Logan's right-hand man, Fist, walked in. He picked up the riding crop, wiped it clean, and returned it to its place. Throughout the entire process, he didn't make a single unnecessary sound.
Logan settled back onto the couch, poured himself a drink, and downed it in one gulp.
The burning liquid scorched his throat but couldn't suppress the twisted fire in his chest.
"Mr. Sharp." Fist stood at attention, hesitating before speaking. "There's something I don't know if I should say."
Logan didn't look at him, just poured himself another drink, swirling the amber liquid in the glass. "Then shut up."
But Fist didn't retreat. He'd followed Logan for years and knew when to stay quiet and when he had to speak up. "Our target is the Sharp family's business empire. But the amount of energy you're investing in Ms. Wells right now—isn't it too much?"
The glass stopped moving in Logan's hand.
He slowly raised his head, his gaze like a poisoned blade shooting straight at Fist.
A cold sweat broke out on Fist's back.
"Are you trying to tell me how to do my job?"
"I wouldn't dare." Fist lowered his head. "I just think getting distracted over a woman isn't worth derailing the main plan."
Logan stared at him for a long time—so long that Fist thought he'd be dragged out the next second.
Instead, Logan suddenly laughed and slammed his glass down on the table. "A woman? What do you know? Lucas is crazy about Juliana now. That woman is his weakness, his Achilles' heel. If I control Juliana, I've already won half the battle. I understand this game better than you do."
The justification sounded airtight, perfectly logical.
Fist said nothing more and bowed his way out.
The door closed. The smile on Logan's face slowly faded. He sank into the soft couch, tilting his head back to stare at the elaborate crystal chandelier on the ceiling. The light made his eyes sting.
His thoughts drifted uncontrollably back years ago.
That day, he'd gone to meet the girl who'd supposedly caught Lucas's attention online. He'd gone there planning to sabotage everything.
He sat by the window and watched a girl in a white dress push through the door.
She wore no makeup. Sunlight streaming through the glass windows bathed her in a golden glow, even her hair seemed to shimmer.
In that instant, Logan heard the sound of his own heartbeat.
He'd seen plenty of heavily made-up women scheming their way to the top, but he'd never seen someone this pure. Pure like fresh snow on a mountaintop.
He changed his mind almost immediately.
He walked up to her and used his specialty—that slightly irreverent, gentle tone—and said, "Hi, I'm the guy you've been chatting with online."
He gave her Lucas's username.