Page 85 of Goldsin

I flinch in Julian’s place. How can a father say something like that? How can any of this be happening right now?

How is Adrian just standing here witnessing it all without doing something?

“Fuck. You,” Julian spits back at him.

A chuckle leaves Lucian’s lips, and I blink a few times to make sure I’m seeing correctly. Lady Harrow’s pants are being unbuttoned as she thrashes around. The blouse she was wearing before now lies on the floor, wrinkled and forgotten.

I don’t think I can do it anymore. I start to shake too, my body begging me to run inside.

“You think she’s worth anything? Look at her. She’s just a vessel for my seed. A plaything for men like us.”

My nails dig into Adrian’s arm at his words. Red stains his pristine skin as I dig harder. Something insideof me breaks, shattering as it mixes with pure rage and hopelessness.

“I amnothinglike you.”

I don’t hear anything else. Not when I’m fighting to keep myself from crashing.

Something boils in me to the point of utter defeat, as if everything Julian is feeling is getting sucked out of him and stored in me. I’m paralyzed as I watch him seethe at his father for the way he treats his mother, while his mother loses parts of herself she’ll never get back.

Is this what being a child is like? Is this what having parents looks like?

Valentine isn’t my real dad, but he would punch anyone who dared touch me. Not the other way around.

They gave him life just to play with it.Why?

The man pushes Lady Harrow away, making her stumble on her feet and fall to the floor, before heading toward us.

In a second Adrian has me shuffling on my feet to keep up with him as he maneuvers me with his hand clutched around my wrist.

We pass by the framed art on the walls, but all I see are the images swirling in red from the office, Lucian’s words taunting in bold letters as they dance around Julian and Lady Harrow’s faces.

Blinded by the memory of what happened not even five minutes ago, I don’t notice where Adrian is guiding me until I find myself in the middle of one of the three living rooms—the one farthest from Lucian’s office.

Shoving Adrian in the chest, I free myself from his grip. “What is wrong with you?” I pant, my hands furiously rubbing at the new set of fresh tears as they roll down, smudging my mascara even further. “How could you just stand there and do nothing?” I shout, voice trembling with suppressed sobs.

His lips are parted, breath held, as he stares at me, seconds away from losing it ...

And he does. The composed, calculated Adrian finally loses control. His hands ruin his perfectly styled hair as he pulls at the strands. Different emotions flash behind his eyes at me.

He tugs his tie loose and then sinks onto the couch, hanging his head between his shoulders as his leg bounces up and down, up and down.

“You don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand!”

He lifts his head. I expect there to be anger at the tone I used, but instead he looks wrecked.

“You want to know why I didn’t help them?” His voice gets louder, jaw clenching slightly. “Because the only way to protect them is by staying out of it. You think what you saw in there is bad?” He shakes his head. “Imagine what he’d do to you, knowing you mean something to Julian.”

“That’s it? You’re protecting them by doing nothing?” I cross my arms over my chest, needing the smallest sense of comfort.

Adrian stands, circling the perimeter of the room as he says, “It’s not that simple. There’s so much more going on than what you saw tonight.”

My voice finally breaks. “Thentell me!” I cry out.

He glares at me, hating me for pulling the next words out of him.

“Our father has always treated our mother like crap,” Adrian begins while he walks up and down the room, glancing my way here and there when he loses control over his words, spilling everything to me. “He never saw her as anything more than athinghe could use. He would use her to secure new business ties. He would ... share her with other men.”

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