Chapter 60
Nora's POV
It wasn't rational. It wasn't safe. Men in power knew how to manipulate, how to make themselves seem trustworthy right up until the moment they had you trapped. And Julian Sterling had more power than anyone I'd ever known.
What if this is just another kind of control? What if I'm falling into the kind of trap that destroys people who get too close?
Julian's expression softened slightly as he watched the conflict play across my face. When he spoke again, his voice had lost its sharp edge, replaced by something gentler, almost vulnerable.
"Nora." My name on his lips sent an involuntary shiver through me. "Do you believe me?"
The question hung between us, weighted with far more than the words implied. This wasn't about the hotel anymore. This was about whether I could trust him. Whether I could trust my own feelings around him.
I wanted to answer. Wanted to tell him yes, I believed him, that every instinct I had was screaming that he was being honest. But the words wouldn't come. My throat was too tight, my mind too tangled in fear and doubt and the terrifying awareness that I'd already crossed some invisible line I couldn't uncross.
Julian waited, his silver eyes searching mine with an intensity that made my heart race. The silence stretched, became unbearable. And still I couldn't speak.
His shoulders dropped slightly, disappointment flickering across his face before he masked it. But he didn't push. Didn't demand an answer. He just stood there, giving me space to think, to process, even though the confined elevator offered no actual escape.
I needed to know. Needed to understand why he'd done any of this. The words burst out before I could stop them.
"Why did you help develop Cold Creek?" I stared directly at him, my voice steadier than I felt. "Was it because of me?" The questions tumbled over each other. "Why did you keep pushing the project forward even after I said all those things that made you angry? Even after I—"
I couldn't finish. Even after I accused you of being a corrupt politician who trades favors for sex.
Julian's expression shifted, something flickering in his eyes that I couldn't quite read. For a long moment, he didn't answer, just studied my face as if weighing how much truth to give me.
Then his hand moved, almost unconsciously reaching toward me before he caught himself and stopped. His fingers curled into his palm, and he lowered his hand back to his side.
"Because it was the right thing to do," he said finally, his voice low and controlled. "Once I knew about Cold Creek, about the contamination and the people suffering, I would have found a way to fix it regardless." His eyes held mine. "Not just because of you. Because that's what this position requires. That's what the residents there deserve."
He paused, and something shifted in his expression—a hint of wry amusement breaking through the seriousness.
"You did disrupt my timeline a bit," he admitted. "But it wasn't anything I couldn't handle."
A bit. The understatement should have been reassuring, but it only made my chest tighten. I had affected his plans. I had mattered enough to change his approach, even if only slightly.
And that terrified me more than anything else.
Julian's expression softened further, his voice becoming gentler. "Are you still angry with me?"
"I was never angry," I said instinctively, my voice coming out too defensive.
One corner of his mouth twitched upward. "Really? That night your eyes were practically shooting sparks."
Heat flooded my face. He was right. I had been furious. And from his perspective, I must have seemed completely unhinged—storming out of a hotel room, cutting off all contact, refusing to work with him, all without any explanation he could understand.
The full weight of my behavior crashed down on me. I'd acted on assumptions, on fear, on that old familiar defensive instinct that saw predators everywhere. And in doing so, I'd... what? Hurt him? Made his job harder? Both?
"I'm sorry," I said quietly, staring at the elevator floor.
There was a pause. Then I felt his hand on top of my head, large and warm and unexpectedly gentle. He ruffled my hair with a kind of exasperated affection that made my breath catch.
"Consider it even," he said, his deep voice tinged with something that might have been amusement. "Your contributions to the investigation balance out your... creative interpretations of my intentions."
I was startled by the sudden physical contact and the unexpected lightness in his tone. "What contributions?"
A genuine smile crossed his face, brief but real. "Accompanying me to Cold Creek. Providing the evidence that cracked open the trafficking case. Being the only person in this entire system who actually gives a damn about the people suffering in forgotten corners." His hand slipped away from my hair. "Should I go on?"
The warmth in his voice made something flutter dangerously in my chest. I swallowed hard, trying to regain my equilibrium.
"That was just my job—"
"On your personal time," he corrected. "Which I'd intended to compensate you for when we returned to Silverton. But given recent events..." He shrugged slightly. "That opportunity has passed."
"Oh." I didn't know why that word came out so flat, so devoid of disappointment. Maybe because money had never been what I wanted from him anyway. Maybe because the real reward had been seeing Cold Creek's residents finally getting help, seeing justice served in those trafficking cases.
Julian's expression became more serious. "You're planning to leave DSW, aren't you?"
I nodded. There was no point denying it. He knew, of course. Federal Inspectors had access to everything. Information flowed to them like water downhill.
"I have a proposition for you," Julian said, his voice taking on a formal quality that made my pulse quicken. "Come work for my office. The Federal Inspector General's office. I can offer you a position where your skills would actually be valued, where your reports wouldn't be buried in bureaucratic red tape."
I stared at him, my mind going completely blank. Work for him? In the Federal Office?
"Why?" The word came out sharper than I intended.
"Because you're good at what you do," he said simply. "Because you actually care about the people you're supposed to serve. Because I need someone on my team who won't be intimidated into silence by political pressure."
The sincerity in his voice made my throat tight. But doubt still gnawed at me. People didn't just hand out prestigious federal positions to someone who'd spent the past week making their lives difficult. There had to be another reason. Had to be something he wasn't saying.
Julian's jaw tightened slightly as he watched the skepticism play across my face. He was silent for a long moment, his expression becoming almost... hesitant. Vulnerable in a way I'd never seen from him before.
"There's another reason," he said quietly, and something in his voice made my heart start to race. His silver eyes darkened, emotion swirling in their depths like storm clouds gathering over still water.