Chapter 5

Julian would wake up, see the villa’s security footage, and realize Spencer and I had left together. He’d probably go insane.

And then he’d make me suffer terribly again.

But I didn’t care anymore.

Spencer had hit my weak spot, and I had no choice but to get into his Porsche.

“Talk. What do you know?” I asked from the passenger seat, letting Spencer drive two blocks before pulling over into the shade of some trees. My jaw was clenched, my heart churning like it was in a frying pan.

Spencer was blunt: “Julian used several accounts, making small, frequent transfers to the driver, Mark, over three years, totaling two million. It was to get him to cause the car accident and kill Leo. That two million was just enough for Mark to get his daughter the highest-end cochlear implant and ensure his wife and daughter could live a stable life afterward.”

“He killed someone for two million?” My voice was warped.

Spencer shook his head with a bitter smile: “Kian, two million might not even buy you a watch, but for Mark, it was his daughter’s chance at a normal life, their only hope of changing their future.”

“I don’t give a damn about the disparities in the world right now. Just tell me why Julian killed my brother.”

Leo loved Julian so much.

Loved him enough to willingly betray my dad, to give Julian a clear advantage in the bidding for that huge piece of land on the east side of town.

Loved him enough to unhesitatingly block an attack from an enemy, breaking his leg for Julian.

Loved him enough to learn carving, his hands covered in calluses, just to carve Julian a jade figurine.

Loved him enough to make a life-sized doll of Julian and cuddle it every night.

Julian would just smile at him, and Leo would give away a business deal.

Julian would put an arm around his shoulder, and Leo would gleefully hand over the most valuable club my dad owned.

It enraged my dad so much that he snapped the old wooden paddle he kept for discipline, and Leo’s back and butt were a bloody, pulpy mess.

His high IQ, once so evident as a top student, seemed to vanish. He seemed to use up all the stupidity he’d never committed in twenty-some years, all on Julian.

Like an idiot, he would have ripped out his own heart and offered it to Julian, and even if Julian trampled all over it, Leo would have been happy.

And now Julian wanted to kill him?

Spencer sighed: “Because of you.”

I felt like I suddenly couldn’t understand English, asking blankly, “Because of me?”

“Eight years ago, you graduated college and held your graduation art exhibit in the city. Julian was with a friend, strolling through, and he saw you.”

I tried to recall that distant scene.

I was an art slacker, really. My graduation exhibit was purely because my dad and Leo wanted to promote me, so I wouldn’t end up unable to sell a single painting.

Most of the people who came were invited to show support; they might not have understood art, but they understood social etiquette, lavishly praising my haphazard scribbles as if I was about to become the American Picasso.

But I replayed my memories again and again, still finding no trace of Julian.

I could only look helplessly at Spencer, waiting for him to wipe away the dust of memory and expose the initial entanglement between Julian and me.

“Julian fell in love with you.”

Just a few words, yet they hit me like a sledgehammer.

They cracked open details I’d never noticed before.

During the time Leo was pursuing Julian, his aesthetic suddenly changed. In college, he’d meticulously worn student uniforms; after graduation, he’d worn perfectly tailored suits, always dignified and elegant.

But then, he started rummaging through my closet, saying he wanted to learn trendy styles.

I scoffed, telling him he couldn’t pull off the artistic vibe.

Leo just smiled and shook his head, looking resigned: “Julian likes it. He wants me to try something new.”

Damn him!

Leo, trying so hard, was he just playing *my* substitute?

How could Julian be so twisted?!

It took me a long moment to find my voice, my heart sinking, yet I still forced myself to rail: “What are you talking about?! Spencer, I don’t believe any of this! Love me? Murder? I don’t believe it!”