Page 222 of Mayhem and Minnie

I flex my arm, ready to punch him, but Minnie stops me. She quietly shakes her head.

“She is none of your business. Don’t you fucking address her if you don’t want to get your ass kicked in front of the entire family,” I tell him in a low voice.

“I’m so scared, Marlowe,” he says in a high-pitched voice, mocking me.

I tighten my hold over his tux. For now, our conflict seems to have gone unnoticed. But if this continues, everyone will undoubtedly be able to tell something’s not right.

Fucking asshole. I can’t believe he’s doing this at Mother’s birthday party no less.

“Julien, I’m warning you.”

“With what, little brother?” He raises a brow. “Perhaps I might be the one to kick your ass this time,” he fires back. The venom in his voice takes me aback.

Fucking hell. He’s really testing my patience, isn’t he?

We’ve never gotten to blows before, but I suppose there’s a first time for everything.

I’ve never liked him anyway.

“You forget”—he leans in to whisper—“that I’m the perfect son while you’re just a fucking weirdo. Why, I bet you had to pay her to come with you, didn’t you? We all know you’re secretly gay.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I grit out.

Yes, there’s always been animosity between us, but it usually translated in passive-aggressive comments or simply not talking to each other. This is the first time he’s been so vile to my face.

He draws back, his lips pulled up in a malefic smile.

Grabbing Cara in a bruising hold, he drags her away from us.

“Talk to you later, brother,” he says and winks.

He leaves the drawing room, going up the stairs to the first floor of the house. Cara follows behind dutifully, more like a servant than a goddamn fiancée.

“I’m sorry about that,” I whisper to Minnie. “He’s never been this vile before. And for all his faults, I never thought he’d get physical with a woman.”

After what we witnessed our mother go through in our childhood, the last thing I would have imagined was for him to repeat what my father did. I may have never liked Julien, but I never thought he’d stoop so low. I wonder if Mother knows, though it’s unlikely. If she did, she’d have his hide for raising his voice at a woman, let alone beating one up.

Minnie’s watching Julian and Cara closely as they depart.

“This is not typical of him, you say?” she asks in an odd voice.

“He’s a pompous prick. He’s always been one. But I never knew him to be aggressive. Or straight up vulgar. He cares too much about his reputation to do that.”

“I see,” Minnie murmurs. “So this is a recent behavior?”

“Can’t speak about that since I haven’t seen him in a year.” I shrug. “But I can’t remember him being like this.”

She bites her lip.

She opens her mouth to say something, but Irene and Cristopher make their way to us.

“Marlowe and a fiancée. If this isn’t the event of the year.” Cristopher whistles as he pats me on my back. I tense. He knows I hate it when he does that, but he keeps doing it every time.

Every single fucking time.

I glare at him.

Irene, on the other hand, is at Minnie’s side, complimenting her on her outfit.

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