Julian’s POV
I checked the time the moment the service door sealed Delia back into her wing, and I did it not because I cared where she went after humiliating herself in my suite, but because I needed to confirm that Martha Kensington had finally left my house and taken her perfume, her entitlement, and her constant hunger for leverage with her, because there are only so many hours in a day and I refuse to waste any more of them playing husband for a woman I never wanted while her mother watches like she’s supervising livestock.
The estate had gone quiet in that way only old money houses know how to go quiet, where silence is not peace but a controlled environment, curated by staff who understand which doors to close and which corridors to clear when the head of the family is done perfor
