CHAPTER 8

Julius

I tried to intervene in small ways. Complimenting Jane when Hudson criticized her. Asking her opinion when Hudson talked over her.

Treating her with the respect and courtesy my son never showed, but it hadn't been enough.

The wedding was supposed to be the culmination of Hudson's victory. Jane, finally trapped. Finally his forever, and then yesterday happened.

I had been walking through the hotel corridors, looking for Hudson to tell him the ceremony was about to start, when I heard a sound that made my blood run cold.

A choked sob. I had rounded the corner and seen Jane standing in front of an open conference room door, her hand pressed to her mouth, her whole body trembling.

She was still in her wedding dress, looking like an angel, but the expression on her face was pure devastation, and through that open door, I had seen them.

Hudson with his pants around his ankles, buried deep in Maribel who was bent over the conference table, her bridesmaid dress hiked up around her waist.

They were facing the door. They could see Jane standing there, frozen in horror, and they didn't stop.

Hudson's eyes had met Jane's over Maribel's back, and he actually smirked. He kept fucking her while his bride watched, that entitled expression on his face that said “So what? What are you going to do about it?”

Maribel had looked up too, seen Jane, and the bitch had actually moaned louder, arching her back, putting on a show.

They knew Jane was watching, and they didn't care. They wanted her to see.

The cruelty of it had stolen my breath. This wasn't just cheating. This was psychological warfare. This was Hudson asserting his dominance and showing Jane exactly how little she mattered to him.

Jane's eyes had found mine then, and the look on her face, that absolute shattering of her soul would haunt me forever.

"Jane—" I started toward her, my hand reaching out, but she bolted. Ran past me like a terrified animal, her dress clutched in her hands, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.

"Jane, wait!" I had called after her, my voice echoing through the corridor, she hadn't stopped. Hadn't even slowed down. Just kept running until she disappeared around the corner.

I stood there for a moment, torn between going after her and dealing with the two pieces of shit still fucking in that conference room, but Jane needed space more than she needed me chasing her, and Hudson needed to understand the magnitude of what he had just done.

I turned back to the suite, rage burning white-hot in my chest.

Hudson had finally pulled out of Maribel, tucking himself back into his pants with Maribel was fixing her dress, checking her makeup in a compact mirror like she had just touched up her lipstick instead of fucking her best friend's fiancé.

I had slammed the door shut behind me so hard the walls shook.

"What the actual fuck is wrong with you?" The words came out low, lethal, every syllable dripping with venom.

Hudson had looked up, barely even bothered. "Oh, hey Dad. Did you see Jane? She kind of ran off—"

"She ran off because she just watched you fuck her best friend!" My voice rose despite my attempts at control. "You looked her in the eye and kept going. You wanted her to see it."

"So?" Hudson had shrugged, that infuriating smirk still on his face. "She needs to understand how things are going to work in our marriage. I fuck who I want, when I want. Jane's job is to look pretty, have my kids, and not complain."

The casualness of his cruelty had nearly made me hit him right there.

"You're disgusting," I spat. "You're a narcissistic, sadistic piece of shit, and you don't deserve her."

"Then maybe you should marry her, Dad," Hudson had sneered. "You've been eye-fucking her for years anyway. Think I didn't notice? The way you look at her? The way you always take her side?"

My hands had clenched into fists. "I look at her like she's a human being. Something you've clearly forgotten how to do."

"She's property," Hudson had said flatly. "Beautiful and obedient property, and she'll come back because she knows she's nothing without me. Where else is she going to go?"

Maribel had giggled at that, and I turned my fury on her.

"And you," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous register. "You're supposed to be her best friend. How long has this been going on?"

"Six months," Maribel had said with a shrug, completely shameless. "Jane's too boring for Hudson. He needs someone who can keep up with him."

"Get out," I told her. "Get the fuck out before I have security throw you out."

She scurried into the bathroom, finally showing some sense of self-preservation, but Hudson had just stood there, adjusting his tie, completely unmoved.

"You need to go find Jane," I said. "You need to apologize. You need to—"

"I need to do nothing," Hudson had interrupted. "Jane will calm down. She will realize she has no other options, and come crawling back. She always does. That's why I chose her, Dad. She's weak. Desperate. Easy to control."

"You're just like your mother." I said quietly, and Hudson's face had darkened. He hated being compared to Elizabeth, my ex-wife who had been every bit as cruel and narcissistic as he was.

"Fuck you," He spat. "At least I'm not a pathetic old man pining after his son's fiancée. Yeah, Dad, I see the way you look at her. Like you want to fuck her yourself. Well guess what? You can't have her. She's mine."

I wanted to hit him then. I really wanted to beat that smug expression off his face, but I forced myself to stay controlled.

"If you ever treat her like that again," I said, my voice deadly calm, "I will destroy you. I will cut you off from every cent of the family money. I will make sure every door in this city closes in your face. Are we clear?"

"You won't do shit," Hudson had laughed. "You're all talk, Dad. You always have been."

He walked past me then, shouldering me aside, heading back toward the wedding venue like nothing had happened, and I let him go.

I had stood in that conference room, shaking with rage, and I had let him walk away, but then I had gone looking for Jane.

I found her in an empty elevator, mascara streaking down her face, and I had offered her an escape.

I hadn't planned what came next. Hadn't thought it through. I had just known that I couldn't let her go back to Hudson.

I couldn't let my son destroy her completely, and when she had looked at me with those desperate, broken eyes and said yes, when she had let me touch her, kiss her and fuck her, it had been everything I had wanted for years and never let myself have.

I had poured everything into showing her what it felt like to be valued. Cherished. Worshipped.

I made her come apart in my arms, made her scream my name and made her forget Hudson existed, but it hadn't been enough, because now she was in my shower, planning to go back to him.

She was convinced she was nothing without the man who had deliberately broken her heart just to prove he could.

The shower shut off, pulling me from my dark thoughts. I stood, heading to my closet to pull out clothes for her.

A soft cashmere sweater that would be too big but warm. Sweatpants with a drawstring. Clean underwear still in the package.

Jane emerged wrapped in a towel, her hair damp and her face freshly scrubbed. She looked younger without makeup. She looked very vulnerable.

"Here," I said, handing her the clothes. "These should work."

"Thank you." She took them without meeting my eyes.

I left her to dress, heading to the kitchen to make breakfast. Eggs, bacon, toast and fresh fruit. I pulled out everything, needing something to do with my hands.

Jane appeared in one of my kitchen chairs a few minutes later, drowning in my sweater, looking impossibly small and lost.

"You need to eat." I said, plating food for her.

"I'm not hungry."

"Eat anyway," I set the plate in front of her, then poured her coffee the way I had noticed she liked it, lots of cream and two sugars. I noticed it months ago, at a family brunch and filed it away without meaning to.

She picked at the eggs, taking tiny bites, clearly forcing herself to swallow. I sat across from her with my own coffee, watching her, trying to memorize this moment.

"I can drive you," I offered when she finally pushed the plate away. "Wherever you need to go."

"No," She shook her head firmly. "Thank you, but no. I'll take a cab."

"Jane—"

"Please, Julius," Her eyes met mine finally. "Please just let me go."

I let out a low sigh and nodded. I called her a cab, waited with her in tense silence until it arrived and watched her slip out my door without looking back, and then I was alone.

The penthouse felt empty. The breakfast dishes sat on the table, her barely-touched plate a reminder of everything I had lost.

"Fuck!" The word exploded out of me, and I swept the dishes off the table. They shattered against the hardwood, but the destruction did nothing to ease the fury.

I should have said more yesterday. I should have beaten Hudson bloody right there in that suite.

I should've told him exactly what I thought of him in terms that left no room for doubt, but I had held back.

I was being professional. I was the disappointed father instead of the enraged protector, and now Jane was going back to him.

I pulled out my phone, staring at Hudson's contact. Part of me wanted to call him and threaten him with everything I had, but what good would it do?

I set the phone down and headed to my bedroom to get ready for work. The sheets still smelled like her. I left them. Some masochistic part of me wanted the reminder.

Jane was going back to Hudson, and I couldn't stop her, but I made myself a promise.

When Hudson hurt her again, and he would, I wouldn't hold back. I wouldn't play the diplomatic father.

I would destroy him completely, because Jane might not see her own worth yet, but I did. I had seen it from the beginning, and I'd be damned if I let Hudson break her completely, even if she hated me for it.

I knotted my tie with sharp, angry movements and left for the office.

The war wasn't over. It had just begun.