apter 7
Julian told me to hide in the room.
Cole Lawson showed up with a pack of men in black and surrounded the estate.
“My people say you took Nellie. Where is she?” he snapped.
Julian spread his hands. “Your people barging into a private home to demand things from me- does that sound appropriate to you?”
“You’re unlawfully detaining her, you know that?” Cole was furious.
“How do you know she didn’t come with me by choice?”
Cole didn’t buy it. “I watched her grow up. She’s never left the Lawsons‘ house.
She’s liked me since she was little–why would she go with someone else?”
Julian smiled.
“Is that so?
Either way, she’s not here. Might be better if you looked elsewhere, Cole.”
Cole clearly hated that answer. “Julian Parker, you’d better pray I don’t find out you took her. You
know the consequences.”
He left with his men.
I peeked my head out.
“Did I get you in trouble?”
“It’s fine. He’ll know sooner or later,” Julian said, rubbing my head.
He seemed to really like patting my head.
A few days later, Julian said he was taking me out.
He put me in a sparkly pink dress. It was very pretty.
The place was where Cole used to host his parties.
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He never chose to bring me here.
Inside, the lights were warm gold.
A lot of the people had laughed at me before.
I shrank behind Julian without thinking.
He tucked my arm into his.
“Stay with me. What are you scared of?”
I blinked, a little dazed. At formal events, Cole never let me stand close to him.
Voices rose in the crowd:
“Holy–Cole’s ‘little idiot‘ he’s been searching for half a month is with Julian Parker?”
“He said he wasn’t in the mood today. We gotta tell him.”
“You think they’ll throw hands over a dummy?”
“No way. Cole has a girlfriend, remember?”
I didn’t want to see Cole.
Julian saw that and steered me upstairs.
Wind slid across the terrace. Stars were bright. I toyed with the leaves of a fake tree.
Julian planted his hands on either side of me, said softly, “Nell Shaw, do you know how beautiful you are tonight…”
The stars seemed to sit in his eyes, as bright as the sky.
“You look good, too,” I said.
He let out a laugh, half amused, half exasperated.
I saw Cole storm up to the second floor, anger all over him.
Julian murmured, “Want me to help you?”
I clutched his shirt, nerves spiking–memories of the dark little room slamming back.
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Then his mouth pressed to the corner of mine–soft, like jelly.
I tried to pull away, but his fingers pinned the nape of my neck. I couldn’t move. His bite was
quick and rough.
I couldn’t breathe; my knees went weak.
My hands fisted in his collar.
Cole strode over, yanked Julian off me, and punched him.
“She’s mine, and you put your hands on her?”
“Julian Parker, are you even human?!”
He drew back to hit again. I stepped between them.
He stared, stunned.
“He was taking liberties with you,” Cole said.
“Nellie, you’re coming home with me.” He reached for my hand; I dodged.
“I’ve moved out of the Lawsons‘.”
Cole blinked. “I actually went to see your dad that day. You weren’t there.
I figured you were just mad and you’d come back in a few days.
Because I didn’t pick you up right away, you’re throwing a tantrum at me, is that it?”
I’d thrown tantrums before.
Run off when I was upset.
Cole would rush around looking for me.
Like that was the only way to prove he still cared.
I don’t know when it changed.
He stopped looking.
When it stormed, I still got scared.
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I couldn’t take care of myself.
I’d run out and end up begging him to take me back.
He thought that after I left a recording this time, I’d slink back to the Lawsons‘ in a few days.
Not this time. I wasn’t going back.
“Cole, I grew up. Nellie can live on her own.”
Cole jabbed a finger at Julian. “And him?
You call living on your own–being with another man?”
Julian drew me behind him, like the way he’d once shielded Mia Greene.
“Her choice is hers,” he said.
“Your family pushed the arranged marriage. You’re the one who backed out.
She decided not to choose you. Why isn’t that allowed?”
Heads turned below; whispers exploded.
“No
way.
The Lawson and Parker heirs fighting over a dummy? For real?”
“Is it the looks or because she’s easy to push around…?”
“Didn’t Cole hate her? What is this now?”
Cole took a breath and said to Julian, “Tell me what you want. I can give you anything.
I’m her legal guardian. Let go. Now.”
Julian didn’t move.
“She’s eighteen. She doesn’t need a guardian. She’s not a dummy, not property, not something you get to push around.
I’m here to tell you this: she has nothing to do with the Lawsons anymore.
Who she chooses is her right.”
Chapter 7
