Chapter 32 Like You've Always Wanted
Elena stood frozen on the porch at that question.
A man's cologne. It was Francis’ cheap perfume.
“Julian, let go,” Elena whispered, her hazel eyes darting toward the driveway, wishing Mandy would miraculously reappear and whisk her away. “You’re acting crazy. I told you, it was a party.”
“Do not lie to me again,” Julian growled. “I smelled it the second you stepped on the porch. It’s on your neck and on your hair. Who touched you?”
Elena tried to jerk her face away, her heart hammering. “Nobody touched me! I tripped, okay? Someone caught me. It was a crowded room. And as for the jewelry, I told you, it was an accident. I must have been pickpocketed. It happens in the city, Julian!”
Julian finally released her chin, but he didn't move back. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, his thumb hovering over the screen. His eyes never left hers.
“I am going to give you exactly sixty seconds to tell me the truth, Elena,” he said, his voice eerily calm now. “If you don’t, I will use exactly six minutes to pull the GPS data from Mandy’s car, cross-reference it with every security camera in a five-mile radius of where you stopped, and find out whose scent is currently all over my wife. And when I find him, I will make sure he regrets the day he ever learned your name.”
“You can’t do that!” Elena cried, her voice rising in panic. “You’re a defense attorney, not a hitman! You can’t just go around tracking people and threatening them because of a smell! Stop trying to control every second of my life!”
“Fifty seconds,” Julian said, his eyes tracking the invisible clock in his head.
“Julian, stop it! This is why I wanted a divorce in the contract! You’re obsessive and you treat me like a piece of property!”
“Forty seconds.”
Elena knew Julian wasn't bluffing.
If he started digging, he wouldn't just find Francis; he’d find the hotel room, the fake money, and the fact that she had been played for a fool.
“Thirty seconds.”
“I’m going inside!” Elena turned to the door, but Julian’s arm shot out, slamming against the doorframe and blocking her path.
“Twenty seconds. If I have to find out on my own, Elena, the consequences for him will be much, much worse. Is that what you want? To have his blood on your hands?”
“It was Francis!” Elena finally screamed, the name coming out of her throat like a sob.
Julian froze and the countdown stopped.
His entire body went rigid. “Francis? Your ex-fiancé? The man who cheated on you with your sister?”
Elena leaned her forehead against the cold wood of the door, her eyes squeezed shut. “Yes. Francis.”
“The same man who tried to harass you at the cafe? The one I told you to stay away from?” Julian’s voice was dangerously low now.
Elena’s brain scrambled for a way to mitigate the damage. She couldn't tell him about the blackmail. She couldn't tell him about the sex tape. “I ran into him at the party, Julian. Like I said, it was a mutual friend. He was there, and he came up to me. He wanted to apologize for everything. He shook my hand, he hugged me and it was a brief, awkward encounter. That’s why his cologne is on me. And the jewelry, I was so flustered seeing him that I must have been careless. I took them off in the bathroom to wash my face and I forgot them on the counter. When I went back, they were gone.”
She looked up at him, hoping he believed her. “Are you happy now? I was embarrassed. I didn't want to tell you I saw him because I knew you’d react exactly like this. Like a possessive madman.”
Julian didn't move for a long time. But finally, the tension in his shoulders seemed to bleed away. “You’re telling me the truth? He didn't hurt you? He didn't force you to go anywhere?”
“No, Julian. We just talked. Briefly. I’m tired of you doubting every word that comes out of my mouth. I’m tired of being interrogated like a criminal in my own home!” She pushed past his arm, and this time, he let her.
She marched into the foyer, her heels echoing on the marble as her heart still raced. She didn't look back to see if he was following.
She just wanted to get to her room, lock the door, and bury herself under the covers until the world stopped spinning.
“Elena.”
She stopped at the foot of the grand staircase but didn't turn around. “What? Are you going to call the police now? Or maybe a private investigator to see if I’m lying about the bathroom counter?”
“No,” Julian said. “I told you once that I wanted to be the perfect husband for you. A perfect husband trusts his wife. If you say it was a chance encounter, I will believe you.”
Elena felt guilty. He was giving her his trust, and she was handing him a pack of lies to protect a man who was currently plotting their downfall.
“Good,” she snapped, trying to keep her voice hard. “Then I’m going to sleep. It’s been a long day.”
She started up the stairs, but she heard his heavy footsteps behind her.
She reached her bedroom door and turned, expecting him to give her that cold, polite nod and disappear into his study like he usually did.
Instead, Julian reached past her and pushed the door open. He stepped into her room, flicking on the bedside lamp.
Elena stood in the doorway, blinking in confusion. “What are you doing? Don’t you have briefs to read or something?”
Julian turned to face her. He began unbuttoning his shirt, the white fabric parting to reveal the smooth, tanned skin of his chest.
“Julian?” she asked, her voice hitching. “What is this?”
He tossed his shirt onto the armchair and sat on the edge of the bed, kicking off his shoes. He looked up at her and his eyes were fixed on her with a hunger he had spent weeks trying to hide.
“You’ve complained for weeks that I don't touch you, Elena,” he said, his voice a low vibration. “You’ve told your friends that this is a 'toxic' marriage, that you feel like a prisoner. You’ve even suggested that I must have mistresses because I don't sleep on your bed.”
Elena’s face flushed crimson. “I was just venting to Mandy. I didn't mean—”
“I don't care what you meant,” Julian interrupted. He stood up, walking toward her until she was backed against the closed door. He didn't touch her, but he was so close she could feel the heat radiating from his skin.
“Tonight,” He leaned down, his lips brushing against her ear, sending a shiver straight down her spine that made her knees weak.
“I’m sleeping with my wife,” he whispered. “Just like you’ve always wanted.”