The chair scraped across the marble floor as the waiter struggled with its weight, hurrying to place it between Grandma Selene and Vivi. Everyone’s gaze was fixed on Julien Raines, everyone except me as I tried not to look, but my curiosity tugged at me. He was a few inches taller than Alexander, broader too with an ease to him, a deliberate arrogance in the way he leaned back in the chair as though the table belonged to him as much as it did to the rest of them. Beside me, Alex curled his hands into a tight fist, his knuckles turning white, the anger rolling off him in waves. “You shouldn’t be here,” Eleanor snapped, her voice sharp enough to cut through the chatter around us. Julien smirked, swirling the champagne flute the waiter had just placed before him. “And yet. . .here I am.” Her eyes narrowed. “You’ve embarrassed this family enough.” “Embarrassed?” Julien arched a brow. “What’s embarrassing is pretending I don’t exist.” Grandma Selene tried to ease the storm,
Last Updated : 2025-09-12 Read more