He Kept Postponing Our Marriage for Her Crises… So I Ended It Myself Chapter 11
He hung up and dialed again, this time for an ambulance.
He shoved the phone in his pocket and ran. He climbed over the perimeter wall, then stumbled through the front door of the villa.
He grabbed the car keys off the wall hook and started the engine.
Arthur was already at the garage door, arms spread wide, blocking the car.
“Julian! Get out of the car! Where is my sister?!”
Julian slammed on the brakes.
He hit the window switch. “Get out of the way!”
“Like hell I will!” Arthur came around to the driver’s side, yanked the door open, and grabbed him by the collar. “You called the cops? Why? What happened to Audrey? Tell me!”
Arthur hauled him halfway out of the car. Julian didn’t fight it.
“Answer me. Audrey doesn’t just take things lying down. She never has. So why would she sit in that basement without a fight?”
Arthur’s voice cracked. “You threatened her with me, didn’t you? Told her if she didn’t cooperate, you’d come after me?”
Julian’s knuckles went white on the steering wheel.
“Say something!” Arthur slammed his fist against the car roof.
Arthur’s eyes were burning. “You hold that over her head every time, but do you even know why she went to that dinner in the first place?”
“Your deal, the one that went sideways. The local syndicate had their hooks in it. They were going to force you out of the deal. Audrey went to the Crawfords for help, begged them to set up a meeting, and those people set her up. They sent her in alone. She almost didn’t make it out.”
“Yeah, I put the guy in the hospital. And I’d do it again. I don’t care if it puts me in prison.”
->
“Audrey’s the one who made the whole thing go away. She didn’t want you thinking she couldn’t handle things on her own. And she didn’t want me going to jail for it.”
Julian went still.
He’d always assumed Arthur had picked that fight on his own, that he’d just stepped in after the fact as a convenient favor.
He never knew the whole thing started because Audrey was trying to protect him.
“Move.” His voice had nothing left in it. “I’m going to find her.”
Arthur released him. “Then go. If you don’t bring her back, I’ll kill
you myself.”
He barely made it a block.
Julian pulled over.
Where?
He had no idea where she was.
He bent over the steering wheel, forehead pressed to the backs of his hands.
Last night.
He almost went down there. He was so close.
But he didn’t. Why the hell hadn’t he?
