Chapter 36

{Hailey’s Pov}

The moment we walked back toward the main lounge, I should’ve sensed something was off. The air had shifted. Thicker. Heavier. Like the house itself was bracing for something ugly.

Then I saw him, Julian. Leaning on the wall like he owned gravity. And his best friend, Kelvin, grinning like the devil with a new trick.

“Look at who we got here,” Kelvin said, his voice too loud, too smug. “You weren’t just a stripper… you were a prostitute.”

I stopped cold.

A laugh escaped his mouth, sharp and nasty.

“Don’t you dare call me that,” I snapped, stepping closer.

He looked pleased with himself. “You were trying to use your charms on me. On my brother. So we’d lose focus.”

Then—God—I watched him sniff his hands, like the memory of me was still on him. I wanted to slap that smirk off his face.

“I see how you manipulated George,” Kelvin went on. “It’s obvious you slept with him for money. Because only that kind of magic would make him make such a stupid mistake.”

My stomach turned.

“Hailey, let’s get out of here,” Kiara whispered behind me, her tone low and angry.

“No.” I planted my feet. “I won’t keep running from this piece of shit.”

Julian shifted. Still quiet. Watching.

“You’re just mad you got dethroned,” I spat. “I didn’t steal the inheritance. I earned it. My name is on the will, and not even your momma can undo it.”

The smug grin vanished from Kelvin’s face, but it wasn’t him who stepped forward.

It was Julian.

He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to.

“I will,” he said.

A promise. Cold and heavy.

“I’ll know everything about you soon enough.”

His voice sent a chill down my spine.

“My access to funds might be somewhat limited right now,” he continued, “but the Lachlan name still means something. There will always be people tripping over themselves to do favors for any one of us.”

He didn’t blink. Didn’t move. He didn’t have to. Power rolled off him like a stormcloud.

“Whatever you’re hiding,” he said, “I’ll find it. Every last secret. Within days, I’ll have a full dossier on your entire life. Your father. Your mother”

“Don’t talk about my mother.” I could barely breathe. My chest felt tight, like something sharp was pressing against it.

He leaned in, his voice low.

“Stay away from my family, Ms. Vale.”

He moved past me, like I didn’t matter. Like he was done.

Dismissed me.

No. Hell no.

“Or what?” I called after him, refusing to let it end like that. My voice shook with rage. “Or what—what happened to Eloise will happen to me?”

He stopped.

Like someone hit pause on his body.

Every muscle locked. His fists curled at his sides. He didn’t turn, didn’t speak.

For a second, I thought he might explode.

Then his voice came, low and hoarse.

“Don’t you say her name.”

He was angry, yes—but underneath the fury, I heard something else.

Pain.

Not just Marcus, my brain whispered. Eloise didn’t just matter to Marcus.

I saw it then. In the way Julian’s shoulders sagged just a little. In the way his eyes looked glassy when he finally turned. Like I’d cut deep, deeper than I meant to.

A hand landed gently on my shoulder, Williams. He didn’t say anything, but the way he looked at me said it all: Enough.

Still, I didn’t flinch. I didn’t back down. Because this was my war now too.

Julian gathered himself. His mask slipped back on. Cold. Regal. Like a king on a throne of glass.

“You won’t last a month in this house,” he said. Like a fact. Like a death sentence.

“In fact,” he added, “I’d lay money that you’re gone within the week.”

He didn’t wait for me to respond. He walked away, taking the room’s warmth with him.

Silence settled.

Kiara moved beside me. “I swear to God, I will punch Kelvin in the throat if he ever breathes that trash again.”

I didn’t answer.

I was still stuck in that moment.

In the way Julian had flinched at Eloise’s name.

In the way he’d promised to find out everything about me.

He was dangerous. A ticking bomb in a perfect suit. And I’d just lit a fuse.

But one thing was clear:

If Julian Lachlan wanted war…

He was about to get it.