"I don't know," Julian said. "I was at Vivian's party. I was drugged. I'm at her apartment now. Gianna, Colette is sending me messages about pictures. I don't understand –""Send me your location," Gianna said. "I'm coming to get you."Julian texted her the address and sat on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands.His phone buzzed again.A text from Vivian: Enjoyed last night? You were incredibly vigorous. You're still sleeping soundly in my bed, by the way. So exhausted. Poor thing.Julian stared at the message.He hadn't slept with Vivian. He had no memory of anything after the duet.But Colette had pictures. He opened the messages from Colette again and scrolled up.There were photos attached.Images of a man—him—lying shirtless in bed, eyes closed, apparently unconscious.Another photo of two people in an embrace, half-naked, intimate.A video thumbnail labeled with a kiss emoji.Julian's stomach churned.This was a setup. A frame job and Colette had fallen for it completely.

The bedroom door opened.Julian walked out, shirtless, his hair disheveled, his expression completely flat.Vivian's face lit up instantly. She detached herself from Colette and moved toward him, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing herself against his side.Julian didn't push her away.He simply stood there and looked at Colette.His eyes were dead – there was no anger or sadness in them. Just empty, like someone had reached inside him and removed everything that made him human."At last night's celebration dinner," he said, his voice quiet and measured, "everyone was saying I was Sebastian's replacement."Colette opened her mouth."So," Julian continued, his gaze never wavering from hers, "am I really just a placeholder to you?"The words landed like a physical blow.Outside, the rain hammered against the windows with relentless force. Water streamed down the glass in sheets, distorting the view of the city beyond.Colette stood frozen in the middle of the apartment, her

Colette sat in her car in the parking garage of Vivian's building, her hands gripping the steering wheel so hard her knuckles had turned white. The rain continued to hammer down outside, the sound monotonous and endless, matching the rhythm of her breathing.She'd been sitting there for ten minutes. Or maybe twenty. Time had stopped having meaning.Her face throbbed where Vivian had scratched her.She kept thinking about Julian's indifference and the way he'd looked at her—like she was nothing, like three years of marriage meant absolutely nothing and she was just another obstacle he'd pushed past on his way to somewhere better.She'd made him, shaped him, transformed him from nothing into something worth having, and he'd repaid her by crawling into another woman's bed the moment she wasn't watching.Her phone buzzed.Colette's heart lurched for just a second before she saw the caller ID.Sebastian.She answered immediately, her voice hoarse from screaming at Vivian. "Hello?""Colett

The lunch was progressing smoothly when Julian's phone buzzed on the table.He glanced at it and his entire body went rigid.It was an intimate photograph. A man asleep on a bed, shirtless, with a woman pressed against his chest, her arm draped across him possessively, her smile radiant and triumphant as she looked at the camera.The man's face was clearly visible. It was unmistakably him.Rage flooded through Julian like wildfire, burning hot and consuming, his hands clenching into fists so tight his nails drew blood from his palms.Gianna was mid-sentence, talking about some expansion strategy in the Southeast Asian market, when she noticed his expression change. She followed his gaze to the phone and her eyes narrowed slightly.Julian stood abruptly, his chair scraping back with a violent sound that made nearby diners turn to look. He didn't care. Fury was coursing through him, sharp and focused, demanding action."I need to make a call," he said, his voice cold enough to freeze

"Did you see her face?" One of Julian's colleagues leaned across the cafeteria table, his voice low and filled with barely suppressed laughter. "Vivian Holt practically threw herself at him during that meeting. I've never seen a woman work that hard to seal a deal."Another colleague snorted into his drink. "Please. He probably used seduction. Look at him – tall, dark, mysterious, fresh off a night out with a beautiful woman. The guy's a natural."They all laughed out loud. Julian sat at the end of the table pushing food around his plate without actually eating any of it. The banter washed over him like background noise. He was thinking about Vivian's confession, and about the intelligence she'd provided about Colette and Sebastian's plans. Just then, rhe cafeteria erupted in sudden, conspicuous silence.Everyone at his table looked up simultaneously.Gianna Brennan was walking toward them carrying a standard company lunch tray—the kind everyone else used, which looked absurd in h