Chapter 4 - The Patriarch's Sentence
Julian stood up from the floor with agonizing slowness, his massive six-foot-three frame unfolding like a looming shadow over the kneeling woman. The low angle of her perspective made him appear colossal, his broad shoulders blocking out the ambient light of the chandelier, swallowing Victoria completely in darkness.
Victoria remained on her hands and knees on the dark marble tiles, her pristine white crepe dress sprawling around her like a crushed blossom. The elegant, theatrical poise she had spent two years perfecting as the mistress of Ravencrest Estate evaporated into thin air under the sheer pressure of his gaze.
Julian locked his jaw, his facial muscles working furiously as his teeth ground together with a sound like crushing stone.
"You dare..." Julian growled, his deep baritone voice reverberating off the high marble walls and ascending the twin curved staircases like a subterranean shockwave. "...you dare to lay a hand on my son?"
"Julian, please!" Victoria cried out, scrambling backward on her hands and knees, her dress dragging through the dust near the base of the stairs. "You are letting a servant manipulate you! She is jealous of my position! She has hated me since the day you brought me to this house!"
"Martha Vance was carrying me in her arms through this foyer forty years ago," Julian said, his voice dropping into a deadly, flat monotone as he took a heavy step toward her. His polished leather shoe landed with a booming CRACK on the black tile inches from her trembling fingers. "She stood by my mother’s side when she died in this very hall. She washed the blood from these tiles. She watched over this estate when I had nothing. You have been in this house for twenty-four months, Victoria. You are a guest who forgot her place."
"I am the woman you married!" she shrieked, tears of genuine panic finally overflowing her mascara-rimmed eyes. "I am the lady of Ravencrest!"
"You are a predator who entered my den," Julian corrected, his voice icy and clear. "And you have mistaken my patience for blindness."
Julian turned his back on her, kneeling down once more to gently lift little Leo from the floor, supporting the baby's head with his massive palm. He turned to Martha, extending his free hand to help the battered maid to her feet.
"Martha," Julian said gently. "Go to the kitchen. Put ice on your face. Then go to my study and wait for me."
"Yes, Mr. Sterling," Martha whimpered, casting one last, terrified glance at Victoria before hurrying down the service corridor.
May you like
Julian turned back to Victoria, who was now standing, her back pressed against the carved mahogany railing of the staircase.
"Go to the master bedroom," Julian commanded flatly. "Do not touch your phones. Do not touch your jewelry. If you attempt to leave the second floor before I ascend those stairs, I will have the security detail at the gate put you in handcuffs."
