Sydney’s thoughts moved sluggishly, a beat behind. For a moment, she assumed Julian was talking about Penelope’s allergic reaction.
“The wine wasn’t poisoned. Penelope just had an allergic-”
“I meant you,” Julian cut in lazily. “When did you become half mute?”
She blinked, the sarcasm landing at last. He wasn’t talking about the wine. He meant how cold she’d been to his girlfriend earlier.
Charlotte, oblivious to the tangle that was the Hampton family, offered a tentative smile. “Maybe Mr. Hampton rushed Ms. Monroe to the hospital?”
“Right.” The word had barely left Sydney’s mouth when a faint snort of laughter cut through the air.
Julian’s cool, distant voice followed. “All bark at home.”
“Mr. Sterling, not all of us can cut people down with a single sentence,” Sydney snapped, her voice tight and measured, each word biting through the tension.
What she hated most was how he always stood above it all, passing judgment as if the rest of them lived in. the dirt beneath his shoes.
However, she wasn’t like him. She couldn’t shake the ground just by stomping her foot. She was the one who’d been crushed–by the Hampton family, by the Sterlings, or maybe by both.
She wanted out. Out of the Hamptons. As far from the Sterlings as she could get. Even this divorce had taken everything she had to fight for.
And to Julian, it was nothing. Ridiculous. Beneath him.
The air tensed around them.
Charlotte picked up on the tension and tried to ease it. “Syd, your brother didn’t have it easy either. These past few years-‘
Julian’s voice sliced through hers. “Let her speak.”
“I’m done.”
“Then I stand by what I said. You’re all bark at home.” He looked down at her, same as always–distant, superior. “It was Caleb who wronged you. Why are you taking it out on me? Or do you think the whole world owes you something?”
Sydney couldn’t even remember the last time she cried. But his words struck like a slap. The tears came before she could stop them, streaming hot and fast down her cheeks.
She turned away, took a breath, and tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Then she said with a bitter smile, “Only others owe you, Mr. Sterling. You certainly don’t owe me.”
She flung the door open and stepped out, walking into the street without a backward glance.
Charlotte was startled. As she reached for the handle, Julian’s sharp voice cracked through the car. “Let her go.”
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Chapter 91
“Mr. Sterling…” Charlotte hesitated. “She looked like she was crying.”
She hadn’t expected a reaction. But the moment she spoke, she saw him freeze for a second.
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Sydney reached home cold to the bone, inside and out. And only then did she remember the last time she’d cried.
It had been the day Julian–who once treated her like the most precious thing in his life–sent her back to Eloise’s house without a word. Not long after that, he moved out of the main estate altogether.
He’d made it clear: he didn’t want her anymore.
Back then…
She couldn’t believe it and ran after him, grabbing his arm before he could leave. “Jules, tell me what I did wrong. Tell your Precious… Please don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me, okay?”
Her tears spilled freely, and her eyes shimmered, desperate and broken.
Normally, if her eyes even welled up, Julian would treat her like a princess and coax her gently until the tears disappeared.
But he only looked down at her coldly. “I was bored. I raised you for a few years, and you really thought you were my sister? Sydney, is your pride so cheap you’d throw it away just to cling to me?”
Her tears stopped right then.
After that, she never cried again.
The gossip swirling around the clinic hadn’t bothered Sydney at first, but it was getting worse.
The next morning, just as she slung her bag over her shoulder to leave, her phone rang. It was Marcus.
“Syd, maybe take a couple days off? Or better yet, head straight to Sterling Corp.’s research center. Focus on the project for now,” he suggested.
Chapter 92
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Chapter 92
