Chapter 3

"What did you just say?"

Julian’s deep voice dropped from above, icy and dangerous.

"You saw everything last night!" I blurted out, forcing myself to sound brave. "I hit the clubs, I hired guys! Who knows, maybe tomorrow I’ll actually cheat on you!"

"If we get divorced now, at least we both save face!"

I gathered all my courage, looked up, and froze.

He had just stepped out of the shower. His dark robe hung loosely around his shoulders, left casually half-open.

Droplets of water still clung to his chiseled chest, tracing a slow, agonizing path down toward his waist.

Does he actually have an eight-pack? I swallowed hard, my eyes shamelessly tracking a stray droplet.

Say what you want about Julian being an arrogant jerk, but the man had grown into an absolute Greek god.

[Girl, you practically felt up his entire torso last night and turned the screen into a censor bar, and you STILL don’t remember if he has abs?!]

[Julian is down so bad it's tragic. He practically offered his virgin body on a silver platter, and she didn't even notice.]

[Julian is way too gentlemanly. He should’ve just pinned her to the bed and taken care of business! She wouldn't be talking about divorce now!]

Reading the floating comments, my face caught fire. Oh God. What on earth did I do to him last night?! Is he going to think I'm asking for a divorce just to play hard to get?!

"Chloe," Julian said, his voice unusually low and rough. "Are you really asking for a divorce over some club dancer?"

"It’s not about the dancers!" I snapped, falling back on our usual bickering. "We don't love each other! This was a business deal from day one! We can't stay chained to each other forever!"

We had been arguing like this our entire lives. Sure, I was in the wrong about the club, but that didn't mean I was going to back down.

Besides, thanks to the chat, I knew I had thoroughly embarrassed myself. Let him think I was a heartless player who used him and tossed him aside!

Fifty million dollars was calling my name. I couldn't afford to get distracted by cheap romance. And Julian definitely didn't love me like those stupid comments claimed.

The comments were obviously a test from the System to distract me from my bag!

Julian stared at me for a long time before looking away. His voice cracked slightly. "Are you sure you want this?"

I opened my mouth, but the floating text blocked my view:

[DON'T BE SO CRUEL, I BEG YOU!!]

[I'm crying, Julian loves her so much, don't leave him!]

[Stop talking about divorce! If you stay with him, he won't just give you his billion-dollar empire, he'd give you his literal life!]

[He looks like he’s about to cry, stop torturing him!!]

A billion-dollar empire? I knew the Sterlings were loaded, but a billion?

Still, what did that have to do with me? It wasn't like he'd just hand it over.

I peeked at Julian's profile. The corners of his eyes actually looked slightly red. Wait... was he really going to cry?

Back in the day, whenever we fought and I couldn't beat him with words, I’d hit him. His sharp tongue always used to reduce me to tears.

But after we got married, he became distant and polite. No more petty arguments, no more roughhousing.

Acting on instinct, I reached out and gently turned his face toward me.

The moment my fingers touched his skin, I swear a flush of pink crept onto his cheeks.

"What?" Julian mumbled, refusing to meet my eyes. He sounded sulky, almost wounded.

I cupped his face with both hands, forcing him to look at me. "Evelyn is back in town. You know that, right?"

"What does her coming back have to do with me?"

"She’s your first love! Now that we're getting divorced, you're free to get back together with her!"

The second the words left my mouth, Julian slapped my hands away.

"Who the hell said I wanted to get back with her?! Chloe, is your head filled with garbage?!"

Just like that, his sulky vulnerability vanished, replaced by his usual infuriating arrogance.

Oh, so we're back to being petty? Fine, let's go!

"My head is filled with YOU!"

The words slipped out before my brain could stop them.

Dead silence fell over the room.

Julian froze in shock. I froze in utter, soul-crushing mortification.

What was that?! Why did I always lose when arguing with him? I fell right into his trap every single time!

Before I could backpedal, Julian’s shock melted into a slow, smug grin. He leaned down, his face dangerously close to mine.

"If your head is that full of me, then stop whining about a divorce every five minutes."

My brain short-circuited. We were literally discussing our separation! How did it flip into this?!

The floating comments were spamming heart emojis:

[YASSS KING! GO OFF!]

[Keep going! The brick wall finally learned how to flirt!]

[SO SWEET! I SHIP THEM SO HARD!]

Looking at Julian’s smug, gorgeous face hovering inches away, I swallowed nervously. No. I had to regain control of this conversation.

"So we don't get divorced? What, do we have an open marriage instead?" I challenged. "You go see Evelyn, I go party with hot guys, and we live our best lives?"