- 11.
After the auction, I took Julian to collect the
painting. It was a filler piece, a portrait Seth
had painted of me long ago. He’d never
painted me before, and even then, he hadn’t
bothered with my face. Seth wasn’t an artist;
the painting shouldn’t have caught Julian’s
eye.
Julian followed me silently.
I stopped, looking at his hand hanging by his
side. He’d smashed a glass earlier; dried
blood crusted his knuckles. I took out a wet
wipe from my purse.
He caught my hand, his fingers burning. He
looked down, masking the storm in his eyes.
I waited.
“Who is Seth?” he finally asked.
The painting was signed ‘Seth.‘ Julian’s reaction told me he’d recognized me in the painting. He could be surprisingly perceptive.
I continued cleaning his hand, my movements precise. “He was my father’s friend’s son. My
age, but…frail. He stayed with us for a while
when I was seventeen. He wasn’t a painter. You overpaid.”
Julian’s lips were a thin, white line.
His hand trembled, as if he were holding
something back. He wouldn’t even say Seth’s
name. “Where is he?”
I placed his hand over my heart, meeting his
dark gaze. “Here.”
“Seth is dead,” I said. “In my heart.”
Julian reached out and switched off the lights, plunging the room into darkness, illuminated only by the faint moonlight filtering through the window.
I braced myself for another outburst, the
sound of shattering glass. His rage was always so intense.
But he remained still. I touched his face. It
was wet.
He pulled me into a tight embrace, burying his
face in my neck, his voice choked with tears.
“Chelsea, how can I make you forgive me?”
く
I stroked his hair. “Hang the painting back
up,” I whispered. “Don’t tear it. It’s expensive.
Hang it in your bedroom. Where our
engagement photo used to be.”
He froze.
Julian was intensely possessive. Anyone who showed interest in me after our engagement had suffered the consequences.
If a portrait of me, painted by Seth, hung in his bedroom…he would relive my rejection every single day. We would be even.
After a long pause, he whispered, “Okay.”
Г
