Chapter 2 Chapter 2

POV: "Julian"

"Julian would never speak to a woman like that. Stray or not."

Eleanor Blackwood stepped out of the shadows. She had been standing there the whole time.

Perfect. Right on cue.

The silence stretched as I adjusted my cuffs. I still hadn't turned to look at her.

"Well, that's too bad, grandmother, because your golden boy is currently breathing through a tube. You'll just have to settle for me."

She sighed. It was an exhausted sound. The kind of sigh reserved for a stray dog that won't stop barking.

She walked around me, forcing herself into my line of sight. I glared down at her, but she didn't look angry.

"Settle," she tested the word on her tongue as her manicured fingernail tapped the silver tie clip against my chest. Julian's tie clip.

"You misunderstand your place in this family, boy. I don't settle for spare parts. I use them until they break, and then I throw them away."

She stepped closer. Close enough that the dim lighting caught the pull of her latest facelift—a desperate attempt to distract from the silver roots bleeding through her dye job.

"They are already gossiping, the board," she said. "Whispering about Julian's sudden mood swings and aggression out of nowhere."

I held her stare. "Then tell them your little Julian finally grew some balls."

Eleanor let out a dry chuckle before patting my shoulder in a grandmotherly gesture that made my stomach turn.

"Such a tough boy. Shame you were only ever bred to be the spare."

Something flared in my chest, but I strangled it down before it could reach my face. The gleam in her eyes told me she saw the flinch anyway. She had struck exactly where she wanted.

"But the board doesn't want tough, darling. They want compliant," she murmured. "We are three weeks away from the IPO. Billions of dollars are resting on Julian's charming reputation. If your little ego trip spooks my investors and ruins this launch..."

Her fingers clamped down on my shoulder, her nails biting through my suit like claws.

My muscles locked under her grip, but I didn't give her the satisfaction of a flinch. Not even a blink.

"...I will unplug your brother's ventilator myself, and I will make sure the police find your fingerprints on the cord."

She dropped her hand from my shoulder and took a step back.

"Fix this. Or I will."

And just like that, the conversation was over. She smoothed the front of her skirt and turned her back, dismissing me.

Her heels clicked away, fading down the hall until the door swung shut.

The air in the room suddenly felt thin. I yanked the tie off my neck and threw it onto the nearest chair. I was suffocating under the weight of my own family.

Then, my eyes caught it.

The girl's check.

It was still lying face-up on the floor, exactly where the girl dropped it.

I stared at the slip of paper. Slowly, I crouched down and picked it up, the crisp edges rough against my fingers.

"She was your brother's pet project."

Nolan, the head of public relations of the Blackwood Empire, materialized from the hallway behind the stage. He was one of the three people on earth who knew I wasn't Julian.

Eleanor was one. Nolan two. The third was a loose end I intended to bury the second the IPO cleared—he'd earned that much and worse.

"Julian sponsored her years ago," Nolan said, wiping his forehead with a handkerchief. "The press loved her story. And you just chased her out of the building."

I looked down at the name printed on the bank line.

Sloane Caldwell.

Fuck.

"Why the hell wasn't I briefed?"

"She wasn't on the guest list," Nolan stammered, his knuckles white as he shoved the damp handkerchief back into his pocket. "She ambushed the security checkpoint. I didn't even know she was in the building until they radioed."

I ran my thumb over her signature. The ink was pressed deep into the paper. She had signed it with a deliberate hand.

She had starved and scraped to gather a fortune, just to throw it at my feet.

A strange, dark amusement flared in the back of my mind.

The stray had teeth.

"Nolan, clear my schedule."

Nolan blinked. "Atlas, what are you doing? If you're going to send security to intimidate her into keeping her mouth shut, don't. She's the press's darling. If you threaten her and she goes public, the IPO is dead."

I pulled my phone from my pocket. "I'm not going to threaten her, Nolan."

"Then what are you doing?"

"Taking away her options."

I dialed the private banker who handled the Blackwood personal accounts. He answered on the first ring. Blackwood Capital owned enough of that bank to make questions optional.

"Mr. Blackwood. How can I assist you today?"

I kept my eyes on the paper in my hand. "I have a cashier's check in my possession. Number four-four-nine-seven. Issued by the downtown branch."

"Yes, sir. I see it in the ledger. Shall I process the deposit?"

"No." I kept my voice flat. "Flag the transaction."

Nolan froze.

"Flag it as stolen funds," I commanded. "Freeze the account it originated from pending a fraud investigation. Do it immediately."

"Right away, sir."

I ended the call and slipped the phone back into my jacket.

Nolan stared at me, his face bloodless. "What have you done? If she connects this back to the Blackwood estate, she's going to start a war."

I folded the check and slid it into my breast pocket.

"Good."

The back of the Maybach was dead quiet.

The tinted windows blurred the city streetlights into streaks of yellow and red as the driver pulled away from the plaza. I leaned back into the leather seat, the grip of the Blackwood empire finally fading into the background.

I reached into my pocket and pulled the folded check back out.

I traced the harsh lines of her handwriting in the dark.

Sloane Caldwell thought she could discard her money on the floor and walk away. She thought she had won.

By tomorrow morning, she was going to swipe her debit card for a cup of coffee and realize she had absolutely nothing left.

A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth.

It felt strange on my face, pulling at muscles I hadn't used since I was forced to put on my brother's saintly mask.

I didn't need to chase her.

She would come straight to me.

And I would be right here, waiting for her.