Chapter 8 Waking In His Penthouse
The last thing Seraphina remembered was Julian’s hand tightening around her wrist, the shock in his eyes, the chaos of too many truths collapsing at the lounge entrance that was far too small to contain them all.
And then- darkness.
It wasn’t immediate. It crept up slowly, like the tide rising past a drowning woman's lips. Her knees gave first. Then her vision blurred in streaks of white. Then nothing.
~
The sound of rain tapping softly against glass stirred her. Then Seraphina felt the warmness of silk. Her lashes fluttered open.
Her eyes scanned the high, shadowy ceiling, then the grand chandelier lights. The faint scent of luxury and something masculine lingered in the space around her. The scent could hypnotize her if she wasn’t so alerted at the moment.
The sheets shifted with her bare legs, and she realized with slow horror- her dress was gone. Replaced by one of those expensive, oversized button-down shirts that could only belong to a man with too much money.
Then the memory came…Her baby daddy was Damien’s twin. Her heart spiked as she remembered. She sat up too fast and winced, her body crying out in protest. The pain in her abdomen flared sharply, forcing a cry from her throat.
In seconds, a door opened from across the room.
And there he was.
Julian Thorne.
Her heart leapt. He stood in the doorway, shirt now unbuttoned at the neck, sleeves rolled, a glass of something dark in his hand. Behind him, the hallway pulsed with the warm lighting of Julcrest Cove.
Seraphina’s throat tightened. “Where am I?”
“My estate.” His deep voice vibrated.
She glanced around. Floor-to-ceiling windows showed a sliver of moonlit water beyond. A fireplace glowed behind tinted glass. Everything around her looked impossibly expensive.
Her chest tightened. “Did I…pass out? Why did you bring me here and why…am I in your shirt and not my dress?”
Julian walked to her side, placed the drink on the marble table. “Because you fainted and got stained with blood. And because I didn’t want you waking up with cameras in your face”
“Oh my God.” She panicked.
“My female staff changed your outfit. If that would make you feel better. You still have to freshen up.” He stated.
That made her feel better. She sighed. “I…I didn’t expect my monthly…you know… to come today.” She lied. It wasn’t menstrual blood. It was the side effect of the miscarriage she had.
His intimidating eyes scanned hers, then he spoke, “I didn’t trust you with Talia, that’s why I brought you here. And maybe… because I was curious too.”
She scoffed. “About what?”
“About why the woman who vanished five years ago, after one night, now shows up bidding for a journal that could tear apart the most powerful families in the country.”
She went quiet.
He knelt beside the bed suddenly, one elbow resting on the mattress, his gaze pressing hers with startling force. “Who are you, Seraphina?”
She shifted away from him a little. He was intimidating. Everything about him was.
“You tell me, who are you?” She said back.
“I asked first.” His tone was serious.
She looked away, her jaw clenched. It was impossible to breath properly when she was within close proximity with the clear version of the face that had haunted her dream almost every night since five years.
“All you need to know about me is that I need that journal. It belongs to…” her voice ceased, but she had just piqued Julian’s interest the more.
“Your father?”
She shifted her gaze to meet his unflinching ones. “Yeah.”
Julian exhaled, leaning back slightly. “You are really a Moreau?”
Seraphina eyed him skeptically. “And you seem like you know a lot about the Moreaus.”
Julian stood up, then walked to the floor-to-ceiling window as if he needed some moment to think.
“Why do you need the journal?” She found herself asking. Without turning back, he replied to her, “Same reason every other bidder in your father’s hall needed it. Power.”
Seraphina looked away. She was still unwell. She shouldn’t even be here. He was Damien’s twin. And she had been with them both. That was not good in any way.
But she had to get her father’s posession. The journal wasn’t just a key to her father’s empire. It was the last piece of him she could claim. The only tangible thing left of the man whose had made her feel special all her life until his death.
She inhaled sharply. “I’ll pay you. Ten million now. More later. Whatever you want—”
He turned then, sharply. “It’s not about money. I told you that.”
That stopped her cold.
Her eyes darted to his, confusion written all over her face. “Then what do you want, Julian?”
A rare small smile she wasn’t expecting tugged at his lips. How could he be smilling amidst a serious discussion as this one?
“My name does sound well on your lips. I thought ‘Zeus’ sounded better.”
Seraphina almost rolled her eyes, but she didn’t have the strength. “You don’t get to...”
He walked toward her again, slower this time, like he was considering his next move even as he made it. When he reached the edge of the bed, he didn’t sit. He just looked at her like she was a strange statue he just discovered at the museum.
“That night…” he started but Seraphina quickly interrupted him.
“That was years ago. It was a silly night and I was drunk. We don’t have to talk about it. Please.”
Julian shook his head. “No way. I want to talk about it. You didn’t tell me you were a virgin and I just took you like that.”
“Was that why you left?”
“What?”
“When I woke up, you weren’t there. Was it because you felt guilty that I was a virgin?” Not like she had wanted him to stay after seeing what she saw on his phone that night. She had left the city also- to stay away from it all.
“Hell no. I wanted to stay, but…I had something to do.”
Seraphina nodded. She didn’t want to talk about this anymore. It was already at the tip of her tongue to mention that she had a son for him but she dared not. Telling him about Phoenix now would complicate things.
“Is it true you know Damien?” He asked and her body suddenly went colder.
“And that’s another reason why you should just let me have the journal and go. It’s not a good image if anyone finds out that I’m in your house at this late hour. And you are my ex’s twin.”
After she confirmed what Talia said to him, his expression shifted to a frown.
He wanted to ask a lot of questions but he decided to keep it for later. He had something else in mind.
Seraphina was already getting frustrated. “Will you give me the journal? Please?” She sounded desperate.
Julian leaned forward, eyes clear as if he just cooked up a decision in his mind. “Yes. I will give you.”
Seraphina almost couldn’t believe it. He was going to give it up that easy?
“What do you want in return?”
Without warning, he reached for her hand.
His fingers brushed her skin, and she gasped at the jolt that surged through her. It wasn’t just a touch. It was recognition. Like a thread being rewound to where it first began.
Julian’s thumb traced lightly over her knuckles, then paused.
His voice was a low whisper, but it felt deafening in the quiet room.
“Marry me, Seraphina.”
Her breath hitched. Her heart beat faster in her chest. She stared at him like he’d spoken a language she didn’t understand.
“What?”
“You want the journal?” he asked calmly. “Then marry me.”