Queenie caught the naked anger in Julian’s pale face, and in an instant she understood there was nothing to gain from a head-on confrontation right now.
Immediately, she shed every last trace of defensiveness. Her demeanor softened; her eyes grew red and watery with unshed tears as she shuffled, pitiful and vulnerable, to his bedside and reached for his hand resting atop the blanket.
“Julian…”
Her voice trembled, barely above a whisper, thick with emotion.
“I—I only acted that way because I love you so much. I’m terrified of losing you. When I thought you were going back to her, I just panicked. I didn’t know what else to do…”
Julian lay there, watching her cry—her tears falling, her face the very picture of fragile heartbreak. Once, he would have felt a flood of pity, a desperate urge to give her the world just to see her smile again.
But now, that old tenderness seemed dulled, as if shrouded by a film of distance and confusion. Still, something deep within him stirred—after all, she was the woman he had cherished for so many years.
He forced a wry, self-mocking smile, his voice rough:
“Love me? Afraid to lose me? Really…”
That faint, bitter laugh was laced with disbelief, exhaustion, and something more—a sorrow even he couldn’t quite name.
Queenie, ever perceptive, heard the tiniest crack in his resolve and pressed her advantage. Her tears flowed faster as she clutched his hand, pressing it to her cheek, her voice choked but crystal clear:
“I know everything you’ve done for me. I know your heart… And only now do I realize—those shares, all that stuff, none of it matters compared to you. Julian, you are the most important thing in my life! I can live without any of that, honestly, I don’t care!”
She shook her head hard, as if to fling away every last tie to ambition or greed, her eyes burning with a possessive desperation:
“I don’t want you to have anything to do with Gwyneth ever again. I can’t stand seeing you together, acting like you’re in love. I hate it! I can’t take it! I just want you, Julian. I want all of you, only for me…”
Her words, raw with tears and near-mad longing, landed on Julian’s heart with crushing force.
He listened in silence.
Wasn’t this exactly what he’d craved, once upon a time? To leave Gwyneth behind and have Queenie’s total devotion—just the two of them, against the world.
Now, to hear her say the very thing he’d dreamed of—that she’d give up everything for him alone—something cold and locked away in his heart seemed to thaw, just a little.
He was still angry at her foolishness, but years of habit and the old, aching tenderness began to win out.
Maybe…maybe this was enough?
So long as she was by his side, maybe nothing else really mattered.


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