Chapter 43 Faking Sleepover
Seraphina’s spine stiffened slightly, the plate in her hand forgotten.
She turned, eyes narrowed. “Are you being serious right now?”
Julian’s arms folded across his chest, his sharp gaze gluing her to a spot. “I’m saying if we’re going to fool the world, we might as well do it right. Joanne already suspects something’s off. You leaving right after showing up this late doesn’t exactly scream romantic devotion.”
She stepped away from the kitchen island, her slippers tapping softly on the wood. “I didn’t come here to impress your secretary.”
“No,” he said, watching her. “But you did come.”
Her breath hitched slightly. In truth, she came to here to feel safe in his arms, but she dared not let him know that. “I came to make sure you hadn’t ruined your life by breaking Damien’s face.”
“You know my life is mine to ruin. No one else gets that.”
She shot him a look, one part amused, the other part slightly confused by his choice of words. He could be so complicating atimes. “I think you must have a thing for scandal, Julian. What if someone is monitoring all these…She cooked in your kitchen like it’s in her place to do so. Tell me…”
“She’s a friend,” he said immediately. She didn’t like that Julian had been warm towards Joanne all night. It almost seemed like he respected Joanne.
That quiet pause after his words pulled something taut between them.
Seraphina didn’t want it to matter. She hated that it did.
She turned away again, running a hand through her hair. “I should go.”
“Stay.” He insisted, his voice calm. “The walls are already up. Why not stay behind them for one night and pretend?”
She met his gaze, guarded. “Pretend to be what exactly?”
“That you’re mine.” He said that without moving, his baritone voice too calm and unbothered. “Till she leaves.” He added.
Seconds ticked between them like falling glass.
She hated it more that, truly, she wanted to stay. There was a certain kind of feeling she got anytime he was around her. She thought she hated him, at the same time…wanted him to be there within sight.
She didn’t understand it, and it was disturbing.
His empty eyes unsettled her- The weight of Julian’s gaze when it wasn’t being filtered through the eyes of the public or clouded by the press. Here, he was just a man with blood on his knuckles and a complicated heart. And God help her, it made her ache.
He beat Damien for her.
Seraphina swallowed hard. “I will stay till she leaves. I will be in the room.” She was about to walk past him but paused. “No. She will leave now.” She met Julian’s confused gaze for a second then walked away before he could ask her what she meant.
Seraphina entered the living room with confident strides.
Joanne was curled into the corner of the couch, watching a muted Netflix drama with her elbow rested on the armrest, fingers absently stroking her temple like the scene on screen demanded deep intellectual processing.
“Julian and I are retiring for the night,” Seraphina said, tone breezy but loaded, every syllable a weapon wrapped in silk. She turned just slightly to glance over her shoulder toward him. “I’ve missed him so much. I don’t want to wait one more minute to be alone with him.”
Joanne’s hand froze mid-stroke. Her eyes finally darted up.
There was no mistaking what Seraphina meant. No room for polite misinterpretation.
Julian, standing just behind her, blinked slowly at the sheer performance. But he didn’t say a word. Not a single correction. If anything, he was amused at the possessive tone laced around Sera’s voice.
Joanne’s face tightened, but she was quick to recover, standing and brushing imaginary lint from her dress as she turned the television off. “Oh. Well…” she said, the sweetness in her voice drying like stale perfume. “I was actually just about to leave.”
Her eyes, however, lingered longer on Julian than the goodbye warranted.
She walked closer, angling toward him like they were in some private joke. “I’ll see you at the office tomorrow,” she said, her voice sugared again. “And… if you ever want more pasta—I’m just a text away. Boss.”
Her hand brushed lightly against his arm as she readied to turn and leave.
Seraphina’s smile threatened to dissapear but she maintained it. “I’m sure he doesn’t want more pasta, Joanne.” She didn’t know when the words leave her mouth. The so-called secretary’s audacity was starting to get overbearing and annoying.
Joanne turned to her next, the mask still in place. “It was lovely meeting you for the second time.”
“I wish I could say same.” Seraphina replied with a smooth blink, her voice smooth enough to glaze over any growing discomfort.
Joanne said nothing. Instead, her smile widened. Then she turned and left, the door closing gently behind her.
But the tension she left behind? That didn’t go anywhere.
Seraphina still had eyes on the door Joanne had just exited through as she said, “I don’t like her.”
Julian’s lips tilted an inch to the side in what seemed like a light smile. “I can sense that. Joanne is a good girl to me.”
“Oh, good girl? Tell me more.” Sera folded her arms around her chest, giving him her full focus.”
Julian released a slow breath then hesitantly, he said, “We dated in college.” He wasn’t one to try and justify his personal life to anyone, which was why he didn’t understand why he needed to explain anything to Seraphina at the moment.
Seraphina digested his words, swallowed, then responded, “It makes sense now. She wants you back.”
“I don’t think so. She’s just loyal to me.”
“You men are really insensitive.” She muttered as she began to walk past him.
He turned to her, seeing that she was moving towards the exit door. He followed. “Where are you heading to?”
She slowed her steps. “To Phoenix. You said I can stay overnight with him once a week- I choose today. Also, Joanne’s gone so what’s the point? Or do we still have to pretend for the ghosts here?”
Julian’s mouth parted slightly. As she started to walk again, he stopped her with his words.
“I’m not going up there tonight. And you know you are grounded. You are to sleep by my side every night.”
“Talking about ‘by your side’. You’ve only been around once since you gave that rule. I hadn’t been sleeping with you by my side for two days.”
Julian didn’t reply immediately. Then he took a couple of steps towards her. For some reason, it intimidated Seraphina, but she didn’t move.
“Do you want me to be more around so that you can get to sleep by my side, Phine?” His voice had lowered now, gaze pinned on her.
Seraphina swallowed. For a moment, she was at loss for words. “Don’t flatter yourself. I don’t want to worry that I will be your gun’s next victim while I’m asleep one day.”
Julian was now towering before her, their bodies almost touching. “Is that your only fear?”
She blinked. Because truly, that wasn’t her only fear. Though she craved his warmth which was undeniable, but… she quickly called herself back mentally. There was no way she wanted him.
“Just…let me stay with Phoenix tonight.” She insisted, her eyes not leaving him.
“Stay with me tonight, Phine.” He suddenly asserted, his words leaving no room for objection.
Seraphina felt her heart shift.