Chapter 182
Chapter 182:
Cole gave a short, mocking laugh. “You go through women faster than watches. What is it this time? Did some model fake a pregnancy p>
Julian shook his head and leaned in, dropping his voice. “I fell in love with someone,” he said, keeping the lie smooth. “But she’s married p>
Cole rolled his eyes. “So buy her out of the marriage. Or destroy her husband’s business. You know how the game works. Don’t act like a coward p>
Julian held Cole’s gaze and threw the bait. “What if she’s the wife of one of my closest friends p>
The air in the bar went still.
Cole’s hand, resting loosely on his glass, clamped down. His knuckles turned bone white against the crystal. Slowly, he turned his head. The exhaustion in his eyes evaporated, replaced by a cold, lethal sharpness — a wolf catching the scent of an intruder.
“Who are you talking about?” The words came out barely above a whisper, vibrating with controlled menace.
𝗥𝘰𝗺а𝘯𝗰𝖾 𝗻o𝘃elѕ 𝗈𝘯
Julian felt cold sweat break out across his back. The possessiveness rolling off Cole was suffocating and immediate. Whatever Cole told himself, he was still completely consumed by June.
Julian panicked. He had pushed too far.
“Relax,” he said, forcing a laugh and waving a hand. “Not you. I’m talking about Richard from Boston. You met him last year p>
The tension drained from Cole’s shoulders. He exhaled sharply and lifted his glass again. “Richard?” he sneered, arrogance flooding back in. “That idiot. His wife is a gold digger anyway. Do whatever you want p>
Julian took a careful breath and decided to push one final time.
“Sure,” he said. “But it got me thinking. What would you do if one of your friends went after June p>
Cole’s face turned to stone. He set his glass down on the bar with a crack that made the bartender flinch.
“June?” He said the name as though it tasted foul. “She is a manipulative, money-hungry parasite. Without the Compton name, she is nothing. She couldn’t even walk into this club without me.” He leaned toward Julian, eyes burning with toxic pride. “If someone wants to dig through my garbage, they can have her. I wouldn’t waste a single second p>
Julian looked at Cole’s white-knuckled grip on the glass. He looked at the vein pulsing in his neck.
Cole was lying. Every word of it.
“You’d better remember you said that,” Julian murmured.
Cole’s eyes narrowed. His instincts flared.
He studied Julian’s nervous sweat. The avoidance of eye contact. The careful, deliberate phrasing.
Cole’s mind began to move — and moved in entirely the wrong direction.
Why was Julian asking these particular questions? Why was he so unsettled?
His arrogance bent the facts into the shape that suited it most. Crawford is a public rival — he makes grand gestures at galas because his ego demands an audience. But Julian… Julian has always been in my shadow, watching and waiting. He’s exactly the type to slither in from behind, using Crawford as a distraction.
The idea that his own closest associate would dare to covet what was his felt like the deeper, more personal betrayal.