Chapter 6
Julian sat alone in his office, staring at the city skyline from behind the tall glass windows. The view was the same as always—clean, sharp, cold. But these days, it didn’t feel like power anymore. It felt like distance.
Everything had gone quiet since Katherine left.
He still woke up at the same time. Still ate breakfast at the same table. Still went to work and ran board meetings like clockwork. But there was a gap he couldn’t fill. A silence that wouldn’t go away.
It was in the food that no longer had flavor.
In the empty space at the dinner table.
In the mornings, when no one left his shirts ironed and ready like before.
He never noticed those small things when she was there.
He never thanked her. Never asked how she was doing. He had convinced himself she was just after his name, his wealth, his reputation. That everything she did was part of some game.
But now that she was gone—really gone—he couldn’t stop seeing the cracks in his own logic.
He’d signed the divorce papers thinking it would end things cleanly.
But it hadn’t.
If anything, it had opened something up inside him. Something uncomfortable. Something real.
Cayson had told him he saw Katherine. That she looked strong. Successful. Happy.
Julian didn’t know why that made his chest tighten.
He should’ve been glad she moved on. That’s what she wanted, wasn’t it?
Then why did it feel like he was the one left behind?
He didn’t tell anyone, but after the divorce, he had personally followed up on what happened that night at the hotel.
And the truth made his stomach twist.
Eloise had set it all up.
It wasn’t just some party gone wrong or a misunderstanding.
It was deliberate.
She had spiked Katherine’s drink. Sent her to that room. Made sure Julian was the one who walked in.
It had been a trap—one Julian stepped into willingly, without even asking why Katherine was there.
He had been so full of assumptions, so quick to believe the worst of her. And now?
Now he knew he had been the one used. The one fooled.
But he didn’t know how to fix it.
Not this time.
Not when Katherine had finally stopped waiting.
Not when she was building a life where he no longer fit.