Page 29 of Goldrage
Two hours.
Then we’ll all know the truth.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
JULIAN
My phone burns in my palm, the screen lighting up. 10:47 a.m. Three minutes since I last looked. One to two hours, the doctor said. It’s been almost three and I’m thinking about putting a bullet in his skull for lying. Every extra second without answers pulls my sanity thinner and thinner. I’m about to fucking snap.
Aurelia shifts on the couch across from me. She keeps touching her stomach and it looks so unconscious it has to be real. Doesn’t it? The baby is real? There’s a fierce, possessive ache in my chest and it makes me feel lighter than I’ve felt in months. So if she’s fucking lying, I’m killing her right here and now.
I brace my forearm on the window and stare out at the garden so I stop checking my phone. No, I’ll kill Valentine in front of her first. Then her friend. Then, when she’s completely devastated, I’ll kill Aurelia.
Lying about me having a child is a step too far.
A father. Me.
Shit. That isn’t something I’ve ever thought about. My entire life has been about survival, so I never imagined having my own kid, never let myself want it. Children were for men who didn’t have darkness lurking in their blood, who didn’t wake up tasting violence on their tongues. But now the possibility dangles before me, and I’m drowning in the need for it to be true.
A son. Or a daughter. Fuck, I don’t care which. It would just be… someone pure who has never betrayed me or lied. Who I could protect and actually love.
An innocence who would love me back. I’d never threaten or hurt them. I wouldn’t let them see the violence of this world until they were eighteen and old enough to handle it. I’d be agoodfucking father and earn their respect and love through actions, never threats.
My gaze slides to Adrian without permission, drawn by the magnetic pull of old wounds. I caught the way his whole body seized up when he first saw Aurelia. There was a naked relief that flooded his expression before he could mask it. His hands trembled before he tucked them under the blanket on his lap.
Love. Raw and undeniable. And it’s a love that’s going to try to pull him away from me.
I won’t let it, even though the realization that him and Aurelia played me is like an acid corroding what’s left of my sanity. They plotted betrayal behind my back. Faked Adrian’s death. Tried to put the blame on my mother. Then they hid away at Lorenzo’s, hoping I’d ruin the Consortium and look like the world’s biggest idiot.
The thought takes root, spreading through every rational thought, and I’m back to wondering if thispregnancy is a lie. What if none of this is real? What if the pregnancy is just another move in their twisted game?
My mind races down dark corridors, constructing nightmares. They faked his death—that much is certain. They wanted to be together without the Consortium’s interference, without me in the way. But then what?
They saw how well I handled the transition to power and realized they’d miscalculated. So they pivoted, creating this pregnancy story as leverage.
Fuck, it makes sense.
If I hadn’t found out they were at Lorenzo’s, I bet the plan was to reveal Adrian’s miraculous survival and present Aurelia as the mother of the Harrow heir. Use the child—real or imagined—to challenge my authority. Reclaim power through sympathy and scandal.
But I fucked up their timeline when I stormed Lorenzo’s estate. I caught them before they could finish things.
I pound my fist against the window and the glass rattles. I ruined their initial plan, so Aurelia must’ve decided to try a different angle. Now she’s here, trying to make me believe she could be carrying my child. I glance at the bitch again. She’s holding her stomach and staring at the floor.
I don’t know. I can’t tell what’s real anymore. I can’t separate the lies from the truth.
I study her profile, the way she keeps her face angled away from everyone. But she can’t help herself—her eyes drift to Adrian. Each stolen glance is her twisting the knife deeper into my back.
She loves him. She always has. And everything with me was a lie.
Thisis a fucking lie.
The knowledge should destroy me, but something darker curls through my chest instead. A vicious satisfaction that tastes like victory. Because despite her longing, despite whatever plans they made in secret, I’m the one with all the power. Adrian wearsmychains. Aurelia sits in my house, at my mercy.
She can pine all she wants, but Adrian isn’t going anywhere. He’s mine—my brother, my blood, my responsibility. And if she thinks a fake baby will change that, she’s about to learn how wrong she is.
Aurelia’s gaze flickers to me, quick as a hummingbird, before darting away. But I catch what lurks in those green depths.
Fear.
