Claimed by Three Billionaires

Chapter 7 — Grayson’s POV

I watched him without judging; after all, what could I blame him for? I would have done the same to have Selene by my side.

“And then you looked her in the eyes and simply lied to her… again,” I finally said, my voice low but heavy.

Julian let out a dry laugh, more defense than humor, and began to spin the glass between his fingers so he wouldn’t have to look at me.

“I didn’t really lie to her,” he replied.

“Julian, for God’s sake…” I huffed, leaning back in the chair. “You know as well as I do that Nathan doesn’t care what happens to her.”

For a second his eyes—dark and hard—lifted to mine with that determination that always makes him unbreakable.

“I didn’t lie,” he insisted. “As soon as I speak with him, Nathan will confirm that he did send me to help her.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“And how do you plan to pull that off?”

He smiled like someone who already has a plan mapped out.

“With my persuasion, of course.”

The sentence left no room for doubt: he was willing to lie to the whole world if necessary. So I steered the conversation a little.

“And what if her husband comes back?” I asked. “There are already rumors in high society that Edmund is not dead, and they say Eleanor is furious about Selene fleeing to America with her grandson without her permission.”

Julian clenched his jaw.

“If Edmund were alive, I’d see to killing him myself,” he said. “But I assure you he’s not. And that crazy Eleanor Ravenshire can’t do anything unless Selene returns to Europe before Theo turns eighteen. She knows that; that’s why she’s furious.”

Silence stretched, heavy. Then he said what I had already suspected, his voice soaked in coldness:

“Edmund was hitting her in places that weren’t visible, leaving scars on her skin.”

I breathed and looked him straight in the eye.

“And you know this for certain because…?”

There was another silence. Finally, I answered for him, without thinking.

“Because you had s*x with her, right? I forgot. I forced myself not to think about that.”

The way I stated that fact came out unfiltered. Julian didn’t like it. He corrected me, with a mix of pride and blunt truth.

“Because I made love to her—I didn’t just have s*x with her. You should understand that better than anyone.”

I couldn’t help a stab of jealousy pass through me. Julian, Ethan and I had loved her since childhood. I thought in that moment of my brother’s by choice (Ethan) prolonged absence, of everything the three of us had agreed upon years ago, and Julian read my face.

“I’ll talk to Ethan when he returns,” he said. “It wasn’t my intention to break our pact, but—”

“She came back and you couldn’t help yourself,” I paused. “I get it.”

“Do you?” Julian asked me.

“I do, but I don’t accept it as an excuse to break our pact,” I replied honestly. “You know how I feel about her; you know how Ethan feels. That’s why we made the pact: if she couldn’t be ours at the same time, she wouldn’t be of any.”

I could see jealousy pass through him as he listened. He knows my feelings for Selene and if I had knew he wouldn’t keep his word, I would have acted first.

“How is she?” I asked, because in the end the most important thing was Selene’s wellbeing.

“Exhausted,” he answered. “After assuring her that Nathan did send me, we continued making love all night. Although she’s clearly resentful for how badly we treated her during our adolescence.”

The answer didn’t please me because it wasn’t what I wanted to know. I tried not to lose my composure.

“I mean the trauma Edmund caused her. You say he beat her and left marks. How is she?”

Julian poured himself another whiskey. It was early to drink, but when others work for you, time doesn´t matter. I raised my glass and poured myself one drink as well.

“She prefers not to talk about it,” he said.

“Is it that bad?” I asked, more assertion than doubt.

“It is,” he replied, furious at imagining what Selene had lived through.

I didn’t share Julian’s euphoria at having made Selene his—indeed, I felt a sickening jealousy because of it—but I did share the same hatred for the one who had hurt her. If Edmund weren’t dead, I thought, I would kill him.

“That’s not right, you know,” I told him before leaving. “To lie like that, when she’s already suffered so much… and with the baby? What are you going to do? Weren’t you the one who said you didn’t like babies?”

Julian looked at me with the same arrogance as always, but this time… there was something different in his gaze. A deeper shadow, a firmer decision. As if, in some way, Selene had stirred something in him he didn’t even know it existed.

“I’ll give him my last name,” he answered without hesitation. “Selene is mine, and it’s only logical that Theo should be too. As soon as I marry her, I’ll arrange everything to strip him of Edmund’s surname and give him mine.”

“High society won’t see that kindly,” I warned him.

Julian just laughed, brazen, and took a long drink before setting the glass on the table with a heavy thud.

“When have we ever cared what society thinks?”

And he was right. I finished my whiskey and, upon leaving his office, I couldn’t shake that last phrase from my head. It was so Julian—defiant, reckless, willing to burn the world down to keep what he desired.

So I only needed to see her once more. Convince her. Ask her for a chance. If Selene was giving one to Julian, she could give one to me too. I had loved Selene Ashford with a silent fire that had burned forever, and now… I wasn’t going to stop.

Deep down, I knew Julian would also have to learn to share and swallow his jealousy, because whether he liked it or not, she belonged to the three of us. He had started it by breaking the pact. And I wasn’t going to stand aside watching him claim alone our woman.