Page 41 of Goldrage
Aurelia shifts, and the movement pulls her dress tight across her body. Still too thin, but there’s a fullness to her breasts that wasn’t there before. The slight softening of her waistline that her hand keeps protecting. Nature is already reshaping her for what’s to come.
My child. Growing inside a woman who should be dead.
“Do you know what I learned at parties like this?” Mother asks. I don’t have the patience for whatever point she’s trying to make, but she continues anyway. “I learned that pain is currency. That every bruise, every humiliation, every violation, are all investments in a future where the ledger balances.”
I tear my gaze from Aurelia long enough to really look at my mother and the shadows beneath her makeup. The curve of her shoulders that I used to mistake for submission.
“Is that what this is?” I gesture to the party, to Aurelia, to the whole fucking show. “Balancing ledgers?”
“Everything is about balance.” She touches my cheekwith cool fingers. “Your father taught me that. Every action demands reaction. Every cruelty requires compensation. The trick is patience. Waiting for the perfect moment when the scales tip in your favor.”
Across the room, Aurelia sways slightly. She’s carrying my child while standing in a room full of people who would destroy her if I gave the word. One gesture from me, and they’d tear her apart. But she stands there with her chin raised, defiant as ever, protecting what’s mine even as she denies me.
“That child will bring you balance, Julian. Well, if it’s yours. Let’s hope it is.”
It’s mine.
And maybe Mother is right. This child will help me balance the ledger for everything Aurelia put me through.
Sometimes, I wish she’d never been part of my life. But this child, my child, could be worth all the torment.
“Do you have plans to pass her around, darling? You had promised a lot of men they could have their turn.”
My jaw clenches. “That was before I knew she was pregnant. No one can touch her until the baby is born, got it? I don’t trust these fuckers.”
“I suppose.” Mother fingers her emerald necklace. “After the child is born, she’ll get passed around as promised, then I still have plans to kill her. Don’t stand in the way of that, dear.” She gives me a pointed look and then moves away.
I watch as she floats back to Aurelia and then steers her away from the group of men.
But I remain rooted, watching Aurelia like a manobsessed. Because that’s what I am, still too obsessed with the woman who should be dead, who carries my future in her womb.
The party fades to white noise. There’s only Aurelia, only the life growing inside her, only the promise of a future that holds my legacy.
Maybe I haven’t quite decided what to do with the mother of my child yet.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
AURELIA
Lady Harrow’s fingernails dig into my arm like talons, steering me through the crowd toward a heavyset man whose very presence makes my skin want to crawl off my bones. Thinning gray hair frames a face that belongs in nightmares—cold, predatory eyes that strip away dignity with a glance. My stomach lurches.
Gregory Whitman.
I flash back to Lady Harrow’s party that one night. Gregory’s thick fingers held that cigar steady while Lady Harrow encouraged him to participate. He pressed it against my skin only once, not wanting to “damage the goods.” The smell of burning flesh mixed with his excited breathing. He was hard. He enjoyed seeing me on all fours getting tortured. He rubbed his hand along his bulge, watching me.
“Gregory, darling,” Lady Harrow purrs beside me and exchanges air kisses. “Here she is, carrying our future.”She glances at me. “Gregory has been quite eager to congratulate you personally.”
I’m sure he has.
His smile stretches across his face like an oil slick, black and suffocating. Those slimy eyes travel down my body slowly, pausing at the subtle curve of my supposedly pregnant belly. This thin dress isn’t enough protection from his gaze.
“Indeed I have,” he says, and God, that voice, carrying the same nauseating charm I remember from that night. “Such wonderful news.”
I’ve been feeling uncertain about the remaining names on my hit list. Is this revenge scheme really so important compared to everything else? But in this moment, it’s the only thing on my mind.
Gregory is on my list, and I want him gone. Not for my mother.
For me.
