Chapter 6 - Unspoken TruthsThat night, dinner was served in utter silence. Outside the floor-to-ceiling glass, thunderstorm clouds rolled over the Hudson River. Clara pushed her salad across her plate, the weight of Ethan’s accusation gnawing at her peace of mind.
"Ask," Julian said calmly, cutting into his steak without looking up.
Clara froze. "I didn't say anything."
"Your breathing changed the moment you came home, and Marcus filed his report," Julian continued, setting down his knife and fork. His eyes locked onto hers, dark and unreadable. "You want to know about Elena."
"Did you force her out?" Clara asked, her voice barely a whisper. "Ethan said—"
"Elena was Arthur’s daughter from an unacknowledged marriage," Julian explained, his voice entirely devoid of warmth, stripped down to raw, painful reality. "My father wanted us united to consolidate ownership. When Elena found out Arthur was laundering money through offshore human trafficking syndicates, Arthur framed her for corporate espionage. I used my personal leverage to get her safe passage to Geneva under a clean identity. The public thinks I discarded her because the truth would have destroyed ten thousand innocent jobs tied to this firm."
May you like
Julian leaned back, a bitter shadow crossing his face. "In this world, Clara, people prefer to believe a man is cold rather than accept that his family is rotten. Do you believe I’m a monster?"
Clara looked at his open posture, seeing the deep scar of a protector who had shouldered the world's blame in silence. "No," she said firmly. "A monster wouldn't keep tea warm for someone working late."
Related Stories
