Chapter 6

"Please." I looked up at Jessica. "Give me the pendant."

Her smile only brightened. She reached into the brocade box and took out the pendant. For a moment, it seemed she would hand it to me.

Then she released it. The pendant struck the floor and shattered with a sharp crack.

"Oh no, Julie. Why didn't you catch it?" She spread her hands and adopted an innocent expression. "I guess there's nothing we can do now."

I stared at the broken pendant. Pain punched through my chest so hard I could barely breathe.

"Jessica!" I surged to my feet and grabbed her by the collar.

A second earlier, her face had been full of provocation. Now it shifted instantly, turning fragile and frightened.

"Juliana, what are you doing?" Christian's furious voice cut through the air.

He rushed over and shoved me hard enough to knock me to the floor. Then he looked Jessica over from head to toe and asked, his voice tight with concern, "Are you hurt?"

Jessica nodded, then quickly shook her head. "Chris, don't blame my sister. She probably didn't get what she wanted and felt upset, so she tried to take the wedding gift you bought for me. This is my fault. I didn't hold onto the pendant tightly enough..."

Christian turned to me, rage blazing in his eyes. "Juliana, you're the one who kept saying you never regretted leaving me. Then what's this? Stealing the wedding gift I bought for Jessie? You should be ashamed of yourself. Apologize to her."

I pushed myself up from the floor. The skin on my knees was scraped raw. The sting burned, but I clenched my teeth and made no sound.

"I didn't steal anything. And I won't apologize."

Christian let out a cold laugh. "You'd better keep that attitude all the way through."

He took Jessica in his arms and left.

My hands shook as I crouched to gather the broken pieces of the gemstone. The sharp edges sliced my fingers. Blood smeared across the pale stone, but I barely felt it.

"Mom, I'm sorry. I couldn't protect the one thing you left behind." I knelt on the floor, tears spilling out before I could stop them. It felt as though something inside me had broken for good.

After I cried myself empty, I booked a hotel room and decided to move out of the Winslow residence.

That place was not my home. Home was wherever Virgil and Anna were, but they needed five more days before they could return to Imperius.

…

I went back to the Winslow residence to pack. I was halfway through when the guest room door flew open with a violent kick.

Christian stood in the doorway, his expression dark, a whip in his hand. The leather gleamed coldly under the light.

My heart sank.

"Juliana, what you did today made the Winslows a laughingstock," he said. "Your father decided that since you refuse to behave, someone needs to teach you a lesson. I'll do it for him. If you have any sense of shame, then stop entertaining thoughts you should never have had in the first place."

He lifted his hand. A moment later, bodyguards rushed in and pinned me down before I could fight them off.

I met Christian's eyes, saw the certainty there, and almost laughed.

I had explained myself over and over. No matter what I said, he still believed I had come back because of his engagement.

At that point, I did not know whether I had failed to make myself clear or whether he simply refused to believe the truth.

To me, he no longer mattered.

The whip cracked across my back. Hot, brutal pain exploded. A muffled sound escaped me, but I did not cry.

Then came another lash and another.

My back felt as if it had been set on fire. Even the bodyguards looked away.

Christian's breathing grew heavier, as if he were holding something back, but the force of his blows never lessened.

Only when my knees finally gave out and I collapsed to the floor did he stop.

He dropped the whip. It struck the ground with a sharp snap.

"Remember this lesson." He looked down at me. "Don't try to stand in the way of my marriage to Jessie again."