Chapter 11
The event carried on like clockwork—speeches, awards, champagne, hollow claps echoing under golden chandeliers—but Julian barely registered any of it. He sat at the head table surrounded by CEOs and dignitaries, but his mind was across the room, locked on one woman who no longer belonged to him.
Katherine didn’t look back. Not once.
She listened attentively to the speakers, laughed quietly at Noah’s jokes, and greeted industry leaders with the grace of someone who had learned how to shine on her own.
Julian sipped his drink, but it did nothing to dull the sting.
That night, when the summit ended and the ballroom began to clear, Julian walked out alone. His car was waiting, engine humming softly, but he didn’t get in right away. Instead, he stood on the sidewalk, hands in his pockets, staring up at the dark sky.
He thought about how it all began—three years ago, when she’d asked him for one thing in return for saving his father’s life.
A marriage.
He had agreed, thinking it was a calculated move on her part. He convinced himself she was like every other woman he’d met—interested in status, wealth, security.
But Katherine had never taken advantage of him. She had simply stayed. Quietly. Faithfully. Lovingly.
Until the night everything shattered.
The hotel.
The drugs.
The silence he gave her when she called for help.
And worst of all—the way he touched her, thinking it was nothing more than a moment of lust, never once stopping to ask why she was really there.
His chest ached as he finally got into the car.
The silence followed him all the way home.
That night, his penthouse felt bigger than usual. The walls echoed with everything he didn’t say. Her slippers were gone. Her soft hums in the morning were gone. Her scent, faint but comforting, had long faded.
She hadn’t just left the house.
She’d left him behind entirely.
He sat on the edge of the bed that used to feel too small for them, and for the first time in years, he whispered her name into the emptiness.
“Katherine…”
But she didn’t hear him.
And maybe that was the punishment he’d earned.