Chapter 18
1/2
Chapter 18
After ending things with Tessa, Julian headed back to the office and cleared the decks.
He rattled off orders without sitting down. “Book me the next flight to Lambain! Put everything else on hold!”
His head pounded with one frantic thought. “Find Avery! Now!”
He couldn’t stand Jace hovering near Avery, and he refused to let her slip away for good.
The flight took more than ten hours, but Julian didn’t sleep. His mind kept looping through every possible scene waiting at the other end.
The anxious, panicked anticipation gnawed at him, keeping his nerves on edge the whole way.
As soon as the wheels touched down, Julian skipped the hotel. He gave the driver the address Daniel had found and told him to head straight there.
Dusk spilled warm gold across Lambain’s streets.
The car had barely stopped by the curb outside Avery’s apartment when Julian spotted a figure slouched against a streetlamp, familiar even in his defeat-Jace.
They spotted each other at the same time. Their eyes locked, the charge between them sparking like a live wire.
The air was thick with hostility and ready to explode.
Jace clearly hadn’t expected Julian to appear.
After a stunned pause, Jace sneered and mocked, “Well, look who’s here. Shouldn’t you be back home playing the doting boyfriend to Tessa?”
Julian walked straight to Jace. The tailored suit couldn’t hide the exhaustion of the flight or the anger burning in his eyes. He ignored the jab and said coldly, “Go home, Jace. This is none of your business.”
“None of my business?” Jace sneered, pushed off the pole, and met Julian’s stare without flinching. The same obsession and frenzy flickered in his eyes. “Who are you to say that? Her ex? Or my rival?”
“Jace!” Julian warned, something stormy gathering behind his eyes. “Don’t make me put my hands on you!”
“Oh, you want to put your hands on me?” Jace exploded like a lit fuse, yanking Julian by the collar, his bloodshot eyes blazing. “On what grounds? You’re the one who didn’t want her! You shoved her at me! Now that I want her, you’re flying in to snatch her back? It doesn’t work like
Chapter 18
that!”
“Let go!” Julian snapped, wrenching Jace’s wrist in a grip that bit bone.
2/2
They clashed like two enraged lions on foreign ground, shoving and grappling over a woman they had both wronged.
“Go back home!”
“You’re the one who should go!”
Their furious shouts and the brawl made people stop to stare.
Julian finally threw Jace off with a violent shove.
Jace stumbled against the streetlamp, panting. His glare was fixed on Julian like a wolf about to lunge.
Julian straightened his collar, shot Jace a cold, cutting look, and walked toward the entrance.
From that moment on, Avery’s already suffocating life tipped into a nightmare. Two men with identical faces and the same obsession took turns haunting every corner of her life.
Julian tried to make up for his mistakes and show that he truly regretted them.
Day after day, he showed up outside her apartment or at the campus gates with rare flowers and expensive jewelry. He seemed to believe he could buy his way back with gifts and the pull of their shared past.
“Avery, I was wrong. I was blind. I treated you terribly.” Julian let go of all his pride, his voice sounding softer and more sincere than she had ever heard. “Just give me one more chance. Let me make it right. I’ll do anything.”
Avery walked past him as if he didn’t exist. When he stepped in too close, she reached into her bag, pulled out a can of pepper spray, and aimed it at him.
