My Stepbrother Wants Me-Chapter 192: The Game Was Up

Julian’s POV

"Why didn’t you do anything?" I asked, my voice cutting through like a blade. I needed to know why the hell we had just stood there like statues while that woman mocked us. "She was right there, Ethan. Standing three feet away from you, gloating about a situation she created. And you just stood there and let Catherine lie for you."

Ethan didn’t answer immediately. I heard him shift, his boots scuffing against the rug. When I finally turned, he was looking me hard in the face, his eyes bloodshot and brimming with a cold, jagged sort of fury.

"What was I supposed to do?" he asked, with a low, dangerous hiss of a voice. "Was I supposed to lunge across and wrap my hands around her neck while your father was close by? Use your head, Catherine was right about this. If I had touched her, if I had even raised my voice to the level she deserved, Richard would have had his security on me in five seconds. And then what? I’d be in a cell, and Tessa would be alone in that apartment with no one to watch the door."

I fell on the edge of my bed. The frustration was a living thing in my chest, clawing at my ribs. I reached out and slammed my fist into the mattress, the dull thud doing nothing to calm the pressure. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"She’s still here," I spat, the words tasting like venom. "She’s sitting downstairs, probably laughing into her water because she knows Richard is her ultimate shield. I hate it. I hate that every time I try to move against her, I hit the wall that is my father’s ambition. She knows she’s untouchable as long as he’s in the house."

I leaned forward, burying my face in my hands. The weight of my own mistakes was a huge burden. I thought about the first day Lucy had arrived, how I had allowed it because I thought she was someone I could trust.

"I regret it," I muttered into my palms. "I regret ever letting her come over. I should have listened to Catherine. She tried to warn me. She saw through Lucy the second she stepped foot in this mansion, and I was too damn stubborn to listen. I thought I knew better. I thought I had everything under control."

Ethan moved from the dresser and sat on the bed next to me. He didn’t offer any comfort; of course. Instead, he let out a mocking breath.

"Yeah, you were stubborn," his voice came flat. "You arrogant dick. You’ve always been that way. You let her in because you were too busy focusing on your own petty games to see the real threat."

"You can’t blame me," I retorted, glancing at him sideways. "Do you not remember how this whole thing with Catherine even started? Do you remember the state of this house back then?"

He scoffed and leaned back on his elbows, staring up at the ceiling with a smirk.

"Oh, I remember," Ethan said. "I remember it perfectly. You used to hate her so much. You couldn’t even stand to be in the same hallway as her. You swore to me, over and over again, that you would do everything in your power to send her and her mother packing. You wanted them out of this house, out of your life, and back in whatever gutter you thought they came from. You were so obsessed with getting rid of them."

He turned his head to look at me, the smirk widening into something biting. "And look at you now. It’s pathetic, really. Here you are, stupidly in love, acting like a knight in shining armor for the woman you promised to destroy. I’m sure you can’t even go a day without seeing her. You’re so wrapped up in her that you didn’t see Lucy coming until she was already drawing blood."

"Shut up," I snapped, standing up and pacing the length of the rug. "Almost thought this part of you was gone."

"Why?" Ethan challenged with a laugh, his voice rising. "I remember the plan. I remember you telling me that the best way to destroy Richard’s dreams of becoming Mayor was to make Catherine fall in love with you. You were going to seduce her, make her completely dependent on you, and then create a massive, public scene. You wanted to humiliate Richard by showing the world exactly what kind of ’family values’ were happening inside his walls. You were going to use her as a bomb to blow up his political career."

I felt a cold shiver go down my spine. Hearing the plan out loud, now, felt like listening to a stranger speak. That person—the Julian who viewed Catherine as a tactical weapon—was gone.

"I told you to shut up," I warned, stepping closer to him and lowering my voice to a whisper. "If someone overhears this, we could get in deep shit."

Ethan didn’t look intimidated. He opened his mouth to fire back another retort, likely something about how I was more afraid of losing Catherine’s trust than Richard’s respect, but he never got the chance.

A loud knock on my bedroom door echoed through the room. We both froze and my heart skipped a beat, hammering against my ribs.

"Julian?"

It was Gabriel’s voice. He was standing right outside, and there was no telling how long he had been there.

Ethan and I exchanged a look of shock and fear. My mind raced through the last thirty seconds of our conversation. Had he heard the word Mayor? Had he heard about the plan to use Catherine?

If Gabriel had heard even a fraction of what Ethan had just spat out, he wouldn’t just keep a secret like that. He would ask questions. He would go to Richard. Or worse, he would go to Catherine.

"Better pray he didn’t hear us," my tone came out low but serious, as I stood rooted to the spot, my breath held in my lungs until they burned. I looked at the door handle, waiting for it to turn, waiting for the confrontation that would ruin everything.

"Julian? Open the door now," Gabriel called again, his tone slightly more insistent.

I looked at Ethan, who was staring at the door like it was an active bomb.

"Yeah," I finally managed to call out, my voice sounding strained and unnatural even to my own ears. "Just... give me a second."

I turned the lock and pulled the door open just a few inches, trying to block his view of the room, but Gabriel was already leaning against the frame, his eyes narrowed as he looked past me. The expression on his face was impossible to read, but I was certain the game was up.