Page 225 of Mayhem and Minnie

Is this why she wanted to come here? Because she thought Cara might be in danger?

Minnie must read the question on my face because she nods.

“On your knees,” Julien rasps.

Minnie’s eyes flare up in concern.

Before she can say anything, I bypass her and kick the door open.

“What the fuck?” Julien shouts.

Cara is on her knees in front of him, her neck red. Julien’s trousers are half open and his fingers are wrapped up in her hair, tugging painfully.

“I should be the one asking that. What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Julien?” I grit out.

“This is a private matter,” he mutters as he pulls his zipper up.

Cara wobbly gets to her feet. She sways from side to side before Julien grabs her arm and pulls her to his side.

“Is he hurting you, Cara?” I ask.

“Am I hurting you?” Julien echoes, his eyes narrowed as he watches her.

“O-of course n-not,” she mumbles as she averts her gaze.

“I don’t know what your fucking deal is, Marlowe, but stay out of my business,” he grits out as he walks by me and pulls Cara behind him.

Minnie comes in at the same time as he’s trying to exit. She trips on the threshold and spills her glass of champagne all over Julien.

A loud, howl-like sound erupts from him the moment the liquid makes contact with his skin. He shrinks back, his entire body racked by pain. But it only lasts a few seconds as he quickly gets his bearings together.

He wipes himself, but as I reach Minnie’s side, I note redness on his hands where the champagne had spilled on him. It’s almost as if the liquid burned his skin.

“Fucking freaks, both of you,” he curses. He glares at Minnie, pure malice dripping from his gaze.

“You…” He grinds his jaw as he takes a step toward her.

I pull her to my side and meet his gaze, daring him to do something.

His lip twitches. His light brown eyes are now eerily black, as if his pupils had melted into his irises. There are black ink blots around the white of his eyes. A protruding vein throbs at his temple, and I sense the anger radiating from him.

“Me?” Minnie asks in an innocent voice. “It was just an accident.”

He gives her a harsh stare before he hurries out of the room, muttering a string of curses under his breath. Cara looks back at us, her expression horrified. But she helplessly follows along as Julien drags her back to the party.

Minnie and I stare after them.

My instinct is to act and demand an explanation from Julien.

This isn’t right. He’s clearly hurting her.

“I think we need to call the police,” I add in a tense voice.

God, I never imagined I’d call the cops on my own family. Yet here we are.

Damn it all to hell. I still cannot believe that Julien would behave like this, our conflict aside. He knows how much our mother suffered under father’s autocratic rule; how she’d try to hide her bruises from us until it wasn’t feasible to do so anymore—until she was almost left for dead because of that bastard.

“No,” Minnie says, pressing her lips together. “This isn’t a police matter.”

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