Chapter 8

His eyes widened in shock.

Julian Knight, who had remained calm facing billion-dollar gambles, who could retaliate even when pursued by enemies, who had dominated the business world for years—now, his mind went utterly blank from a fleeting kiss.

A wicked smirk played on my lips.

“You started it. Now clean up your own mess.”

Behind me, Celeste’s scream echoed through the entire corridor, gone was her former gentle composure.

Julian kept staring intently at my retreating back, his heart pounding uncontrollably in his chest.

It took a loud shout to snap him back to reality.

But I was already far away.

Under the setting sun, Julian sighed heavily and told Celeste, “Let’s go back.”

Julian didn’t know how to explain to Celeste.

The woman was completely enraged, not speaking to him all night.

He frowned, listening to the doctor explain the key points for maintaining the pregnancy. The first point was emotional stability. He took a deep breath.

Julian told Celeste he would pick her up from the hospital and that he would hold a grand engagement party for her.

Celeste’s mood stabilized.

And news of this engagement party naturally reached Leo Sterling and me.

“I’m not going.” I was looking for my passport; I was leaving tomorrow.

Leo trailed behind me, step for step, as if trying to completely extinguish any lingering hope I had for Julian. He kept trying to convince me.

I finally got annoyed and stopped what I was doing.

“I didn’t want to say it, but are you faking it, or are you really that naive?”

Leo frowned, looking at me.

I quietly slipped my passport into my pocket before continuing:

“Julian can have children and raise them, so why would Grandfather Sterling adopt a child for his own son? Unless…”

I paused, then a smirk played on my lips.

“Unless you’re Grandfather Sterling’s illegitimate son, lost somewhere, so he found a nice excuse.”

Leo’s eyes widened, blazing with fury.

I leaned closer, my index finger tapping Leo’s chest, and chuckled softly.

“Besides, how much truth is there to your feelings for me?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve been at the Knight estate for ten years and never met Julian’s ‘white moonlight,’ Celeste Dubois!”

Leo froze, his pupils constricting violently. He seemed truly oblivious to everything I had just said.

When I walked out of the villa, he didn’t even try to chase me, remaining in a daze.

It wasn’t until a sudden thunderclap, and an inexplicable sun shower began to fall, that he snapped back to reality. He clutched his chest and dialed Grandfather Sterling’s number.

Meanwhile, Julian and Celeste’s engagement party was about to begin, and all invited guests had arrived.

Julian stood at the entrance, watching the sun shower outside, an inexplicable unease bubbling within him.

He pulled out his phone and dialed my number, but it went straight to voicemail.

He clutched his phone tightly, his eyes showing a hesitation he’d never had before.

At the airport, I extinguished my cigarette and smiled faintly at the tall, imposing man who had come for me.

I let him put an arm around me as we boarded the private jet.

The second before boarding, I looked at the numerous missed calls on my phone.

A smirk played on my lips. I pulled out my SIM card and tossed it into a trash can.

*Julian, since there’s no love between us, the next time we meet, we’ll be enemies on the battlefield of business.*

I hadn’t gone to just anyone; I’d gone to the Moreau family, the Knight family’s century-old sworn rivals.

On the other side, Julian finally sensed something was wrong. He abandoned the engagement party.

He immediately began tracking my phone’s location.

“Mr. Knight, Sera’s phone signal is gone!”

“What?!”

Julian sat at his desk, his brows tightly furrowed. He opened his eyes, which were a furious crimson.