Queen of Hearts by Alice La Roux

Author:Alice La Roux [La Roux, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-05-04T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

ROSIE

I walk around the plush mini mansion that Julian owns, nestled away in the suburbs. We’d driven up a long gravel driveway to a large grey stone building with a smaller separate building beside it, likely a garage. There had been staff tending to the gardens, cutting the trees and mowing the grass as we passed but he’d quickly dismissed the housekeeping staff for the remainder of the day once we’d entered the large double front doors.

The entryway was large and airy, featuring a grand staircase with twisted metal balusters and real wood flooring. We move through into a lounge area, where I run my hands over everything, reminding myself that this life should have been mine.

Photos of him and Creed, various awards he’s gained for his charity work in Newtown and newspaper articles are framed and on display. There’s even a picture of his parents in a silver burnished frame. I wordlessly knock it face down on the sideboard as we pass, feeling satisfied when I hear the glass crack. Julian glares at me, but says nothing of my pettiness.

Three large leather sofa’s form a U shape around a walnut coffee table, facing the large ornate fireplace and I smile, imagining chilly winter evenings spent curled up watching the fire crackle. The wall opposite is completely covered with books, the large floor to ceiling shelves stacked with law texts, classic literature, and well-worn paperbacks. Jealousy pangs in my chest and I swallow uncomfortably. I haven’t been able to buy and keep books for a long time, since I had nowhere to store them and I jumped around between my followers and Lola. Her tiny apartment barely had space for her small crappy TV, let alone a bookcase. The whole house smells like him, like books and coffee.

We finally settled in his home office, a room filled with dark woods and more books.

He sits at his desk, a large bespoke piece with intricately carved legs and I can tell how much he cherishes it, the wood gleaming and perfectly polished.

“If you want me to stay here, I have conditions.”

“I don’t want you here Rosie.” He looks up at me over the edge of the papers he’s holding. His green eyes flash, and not for the first time do I wonder how he ended up with eyes like that and his tarnished gold hair, when both his parents had been dark haired and dark eyed. True Italian genetics shone through in them, and while Julian had Felix’s features, his strong nose, clean cut jawline, there was none of Lina in her son. Interesting.

“Don’t lie.” I fall back onto the couch near another ornate fireplace with carved dragons and laugh. “Someone wants to bring us down; we don’t have time for lies.”

Julian wants me, it’s the one thing I’m certain of right now and I’d be the one lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about him naked. Our little dinner, where I’d left him behind, had only served to show me just how explosive it could be between us.

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