Chapter 21 - Julian
The ballroom still looks the same.
That’s what throws me.
The lights haven’t changed.
The music hasn’t stopped.
People are still laughing, still drinking, still congratulating themselves for caring about causes they’ll forget by morning.
And yet something in the room feels… wrong.
I don’t know what it is at first. I just feel the absence before I understand it.
I finish a dance with a woman whose name I already don’t remember. I release her with a polite smile and a murmured thank-you that means nothing. It’s all muscle memory now. A performance I’ve been doing my whole life.
I turn, scanning the edge of the dance floor.
Lucy isn’t there.
That shouldn’t matter.
She isn’t obligated to wait for me.
She isn’t anything to me yet.
And still...
I look toward the table.
Theo is there. Elliot. Rowan. Harper. Caleb.
Lucy’s chair is empty.
I frown slightly, more irritation than concern at first. She probably stepped away. The restroom. Fresh air. A conversation with someone.
She’s capable. She doesn’t need to be monitored.
I start back toward the table, and Theo’s eyes meet mine before I even get there.
Not teasing.
Not amused.
Not relaxed.
Sharp.
Alert.
Angry?
The way he looks when something has gone wrong, and he hasn’t decided yet whether he’s going to be furious or protective.
I stop beside him.
“Where’s Lucy?” I ask.
Theo’s mouth curves into something that is not a smile.
“Oh,” he says. “Now you care.”
That feels wrong. Heat churns in my gut that I don't understand, and I try to push it down. Push the uncomfortable feeling away.
Caleb straightens beside the table, his gaze steady on mine. Not judgmental. Just… present. Watching.
“I asked where she is,” I say.
Theo crosses his arms. “You were a little busy.”
“What are you trying to say?” I snap.
“Does it matter?” he shoots back. “You couldn’t tell me the name of the last woman you were dancing with if your life depended on it.”
I open my mouth to respond... and realize he’s right.
There’s nothing there.
No faces.
No names.
Just a blur of perfume and fabric and polite smiles.
Lucy, though...
The blue of her dress.
The way the candlelight caught in her eyes and danced across her freckles.
The gold shimmer on her eyelids.
The hitch of her breath when my hand drifted too close to her bare back.
It’s all still there.
Caleb speaks quietly. “She left.”
My stomach drops.
“Left?” I repeat. “Left where?”
Theo’s eyes darken. “With Graham.”
Something cold slices through me.
“With… Whitaker?”
Caleb nods once. “He had his driver bring the car around.”
For a split second, the room tilts.
“She wouldn’t just...” I stop. “Why would she leave with him?”
Theo’s laugh is sharp. “Because you gave her every reason to.”
I look between them, irritation flaring. “What are you talking about?”
Caleb’s voice stays calm, but there’s something edged beneath it. “I brought Lucy her clutch. Her phone was going off. She stepped away to take the call.”
I remember now, vaguely, seeing him cross the dance floor. Not paying attention.
“She told me not to get you,” Caleb continues. “Said you seemed like you were too busy.”
Theo’s eyes flare. “Which you were.”
“And then,” Caleb finishes, “she left with Graham.”
The word left hits differently now.
“What happened?” I demand.
Theo exhales slowly. “She got bad news. We don't know who was on the phone, just that she was informed her mother was in the hospital and that she needed to get to her.”
My pulse starts to pound in my ears.
“Whitaker was dancing with her when the call came in,” Caleb adds. “He followed her off the dance floor, said he’d take her to the hospital, take care of her.”
Hospital.
Shit. This isn't good.
Some instinct, some quiet terror sliding into place.
“She was dancing with him?” I say.
And I don't know why that is what comes out. I don't know why that feels like the most important thing I just learned, but fuck if it doesn't feel important. If it doesn't feel like something I should have noticed... stopped.
Theo’s brows lift. “Seriously, you ass? After you danced with a third of Richard's folder? Did you even have a proper conversation with her the whole night?”
I don’t answer him.
Because I do know what happened.
I brought her here.
I put her under these lights.
I let my father provoke me.
And instead of choosing her, I chose the game.
I chose this pre-programmed need to do better, be better than him.
“She was dancing with him,” Theo says flatly. “When you were busy being Richard’s good little pawn.”
My blood goes hot.
“She sat here until Graham swooped in, while you were parading women like trophies,” Theo continues. “Do you have any idea what that looked like?”
I turn away from him, breathing hard.
This feeling...
this heat, this restless, violent urge under my skin...
I don’t have a name for it.
I don’t get angry like this.
I get cold.
I get strategic.
This is something else.
“I need to go,” I say.
Theo scoffs. “Now?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Elliot asks, watching me closely. “Why bother?”
The question shouldn’t hurt.
It does.
“If this is how you treat her,” Elliot continues, voice sharp, “she’s never going to agree to what you’re offering. And frankly? You should let Whitaker have her. He’s already halfway there.”
The idea of Graham having Lucy...
standing beside her, taking care of her, being the one she turns to...
Something in me snaps.
“No,” I say.
It comes out rough. Certain. Absolute.
I look at them all now.
“I don’t care who else was on that dance floor. I don’t care who my father dragged over here. I don’t care how badly I played it.”
My hands curl into fists.
“But she is not interchangeable.”
Silence ripples around the table.
“I couldn’t tell you the name of a single woman I touched tonight,” I continue. “But I can tell you exactly how Lucy looked when she walked into this room. I can tell you how her breath changed when I was too close. I can tell you how it felt when she stood beside me.”
Theo stares at me like he’s seeing something new.
“Something’s changed,” I say quietly. “And she’s at the center of it.”
Caleb steps closer. “What are you going to do?”
I don’t have an answer.
Not yet.
“How are you going to make this right?” Theo asks. “Because if I were Whitaker, I’d be glued to her side right now.”
That thought hits harder than anything else tonight.
Lucy.
In a hospital.
Scared.
With Graham.
I turn, restless, mind racing for leverage, for strategy, for anything...
And then I see him.
Exactly who I need.
And for the first time all night, I stop thinking how my father taught me.
I start thinking like a man who is about to fight for something he should never have risked losing.