Chapter 8 - Julian’s Last PerformanceJulian realized it before everyone else.
He looked around and saw witnesses multiplying like fire.
His friends had stepped away from him.
His girlfriend was crying in the corner, not from heartbreak, but terror of being photographed near him.
His father refused to meet his eyes.
So Julian did what men like him always do when charm fails.
He became dangerous.
“This is your fault,” he hissed at me.
My father moved, but I lifted one hand.
“No.”
I wanted Julian to see me standing.
Not hidden behind my father.
Not protected by someone else’s rage.
Mine.
Julian laughed shakily.
“You think this makes you powerful?”
“No,” I said. “It shows you were never powerful. You were only protected.”
His expression twisted.
Then he lunged.
Security moved faster.
Two guards seized him before he reached me. His cufflinks tore loose. One diamond button skidded across the marble floor and stopped beside my heel.
The sound was tiny.
But everyone heard it.
Julian struggled like a trapped animal.
“Get your hands off me! Do you know who I am?”
My father stepped close.
“That is the first thing we are going to fix.”
Then he nodded.
A guard removed Julian’s phone from his pocket.
Another collected his wallet.
Another took his watch.
Julian looked suddenly naked without his symbols.
No cufflinks.
No phone.
May you like
No obedient crowd.
Just a man with blood on his conscience and fear in his eyes.
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