Ch39 - A set-up

“Why not call the cops? Aren’t you the type who goes after people? Or did he drive you crazy?” Felix snapped first.

Lydia kept staring at the floor. “What about my reputation? You know how the tabloids would spin this.”

“Afraid? You forget Julian owns a media outlet—who’d dare print crap with him around?” Felix started, then his face twisted. 

“Or do you want me to deal with him myself? Fine—tell me WHICH hand touched you. Or both? I’ll cut the bastard’s hands off.”

Lydia’s mouth fell open—he was serious, his eyes were rimmed red with anger.

Just then, Henri’s phone buzzed, breaking the tense silence. Julian moved fast, rifled through Henri’s pockets, checked the incoming number and silenced it.

“Don’t do anything rash right now. Get this guy moved downstairs,” Julian ordered. 

He called up only Craig and Jay—plan was to get Henri into the elevator and down to the parking level, out of sight, fetch a doctor, then bring Antoine in and figure out next steps. Subtle, less attention-grabbing.

Before they could get him to the lift, one of Antoine’s guards poked his head in the staircase and shouted, “Mr. Duval—he’s been found!”

Antoine hustled upstairs and froze at the scene: Julian’s group and Henri, bruised and being held. He was shocked. “Jesus—what did you do to him? Is this how you treat guests?”

Craig and the others obeyed Julian’s signal and let Henri drop to the floor. Julian pulled Violet close to stand beside him; Lydia watched, heart sinking.

Antoine crouched and patted Henri’s shoulder. “HEY, wake up.”

Henri blinked, saw who it was and grabbed at him like a drowning man. “Please—help me! They’re gonna kill me!”

“Really?” Antoine straightened and turned to Julian. “Is this how you treat future partners?”

Julian shot a look at the man on the ground. “Maybe you should ask him what kind of shit he pulled. He groped my friend—this is on him. I think you owe us an explanation.”

Antoine’s surprise flickered into something else as he glanced between Lydia and Henri. “Is what they’re saying true?”

Henri clung to Antoine’s leg. “It’s a set-up! They—Lydia told me Julian wanted to show goodwill for a partnership, so I—”

“SHUT UP!” Lydia’s voice cut through, shrill with fury. “Don’t you dare! You touched me—stop lying!”

Antoine recognized Lydia. “Do you have any proof?”

Felix stepped up, planting himself in front of Lydia. “She doesn’t need proof. You think a Haverford would lie about this?”

“Hey bro, I’m just trying to get the facts straight,” Antoine said, one brow raised. “No need to get all worked up.”

“Don’t ‘brother’ me,” Felix snapped. “You’re giving us an explanation today—or we call the cops and see who ends up losing more.”

Lydia tugged at his sleeve from behind, but he pressed her hand down, keeping her back.

The air between went stiff and uncomfortable.

“Are we still doing this, then? No need to make things ugly, right? We’re all friends here — sounds like a misunderstanding, maybe just some squabble between them.” Antoine said. 

He is not so much worried about the cops as about dragging his name into trashy headlines. He’d flown to the States for more than one deal; pissing these people off wouldn’t help, but he wasn’t about to have them calling all the shots either.

Felix’s anger kept boiling over. “YOU don’t get it — if Mr. Haverford finds out about this, what’ll happen to his daughter? Do you think they’ll just let this slide?”

Antoine relaxed his face and waited for Julian to speak.

Julian’s gaze cut razor-sharp. “We’re not short on partners, and I don’t want our company getting dragged down one day because of someone else’s scandal.”

Antoine froze for a beat — Julian’s hard line surprised him. 

Walking away from a billion-dollar deal like it was nothing…maybe this kid had a lot more backing than he thought…

He glanced at Henri; Henri was his fund’s number two, important — but given this guy’s track record, odds were Henri fucked up. If this blew up… it’d be a real mess.

Without hesitating he shoved Henri off, scowled. “WHY do you keep causing trouble?”

Henri panicked and clutched at his leg. “Trust me, trust me this time — it was a set-up by that bitch, they’re in on it together, don’t believe her!”

“Seriously? You got into this mess ’cause you can’t keep your dick in your pants,” Antoine snapped coldly. “Get up, and stop embarrassing me.”

Guards hauled Henri up despite his yelps. His face was swelling — he looked ridiculous now.

“I’m innocent, I swear I don’t even fancy her…” Henri protested.

“Shut up, or I won’t vouch for you,” Antoine cut him off.

Henri shut his mouth, full of regret for ever listening to that bitch, Lydia; now Antoine was hardly on his side. He swallowed whatever he wanted to say.

Antoine smiled at Julian. “Looks like today’s not a good day for business. Let’s reschedule.”

“Safe travels,” Julian replied, all civility with no warmth.

After they left, Felix stepped up to Julian. “Wait — you’re just letting them go like that?”

“There are still unanswered questions. We need to sort those out first,” Julian said.

“WHAT?” Felix couldn’t believe it.

The mood dropped like a stone.

Lydia froze, her eyes flickering. She glanced at Violet then looked away. “What do you mean? You actually believe that guy? Like I’d set this up — please. How could I?”

Julian’s tone was calm to the point of cold. “You said you came up to change, but that room was empty. What—did you get lost in your own house?”

Lydia’s mouth fell open, her voice trembling, stuck in her throat. “I… I… I went into the wrong room.”

“Julian, what the hell? She’s shaking — you seriously doubt her? Who the hell would set themselves up to be with some creep?” Felix snapped.

“Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll know once the investigation’s done.”

Lydia’s mind went blank. Her gaze landed on Violet — who’d barely spoken since this started — and she stepped forward, anger in her fingertips. “DID this woman say something to you?”

Violet frowned and looked at the finger pointing closer to her face. She’d tried to stay out of it, to be neutral, but Lydia wouldn’t let it go. She said softly, “You’ve got the wrong idea.”

“What does Violet have to do with this…?” Felix sputtered, then grabbed Lydia’s arm and gently pulled her back. At the same time Julian motioned for Violet to step back.

“Don’t stop me.” Lydia shrugged Felix off and faced Julian. “YOU said you’d look after me like your brother would — how can you treat me like this? I’ve done so much for you over the years, even spied on your stepmother for you. Is this how you repay me?”

“One thing at a time,” Julian said. “And because of this, today’s deal’s probably ruined.” He’d defend his people in public, but once others were gone he didn’t hold back. Lydia should’ve known how important today was — her little moves were obvious.

“SCREW your deals! I quit, you bastard!” Lydia’s face flushed red. Her fists clenched so tight her knuckles went white; she was shaking.

She started to say more, then bit it back. With one last shove, she turned and ran down the stairs.

“Hey, wait — slow down!” Felix called after her, then followed.