Chapter 14: Julian Fletcher, Let Me Go

Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Julian Fletcher, Let Me Go

"Julian Fletcher, don’t you go too far!" Frank Walsh stepped forward and grabbed Julian by the collar.

Afraid they would start fighting, I stepped in front of Frank Walsh. "Frank, thank you... You should go for now. We can talk some other time."

Frank Walsh, not wanting to put me in a difficult position, shot Julian an angry glare. "Cece, you need to hurry with what we discussed. The farther you get from a man like him, the better."

I nodded. "Okay, Frank."

Frank Walsh drove away, and I stood still, not turning back to look.

"Cecilia Caldwell, have I been too good to you lately?" Julian stepped forward, grabbed my wrist, and dragged me to the storage room in the backyard.

I stared at him, a little afraid, not knowing what he planned to do.

"Didn’t I tell you not to associate with Frank Walsh? Did you just let my words go in one ear and out the other?" Julian was furious.

"I’ll tell Mrs. Fletcher that our engagement is off... I’ll leave Meridia." I backed away in fear, watching Julian nervously.

"Hah, trying to run?" Julian sneered. "Cecilia, when you do something wrong, you face the consequences. You think you can atone just by leaving?"

"But you were the one... who told me to leave." I cried, asking him why he had to be this way.

"You had a chance to leave before you viciously pushed Erin down the stairs. I gave you that chance, but you didn’t take it. Now, it’s too late!"

"I didn’t do it! How many times do I have to tell you before you’ll believe me? Why won’t you believe me!" I sobbed, asking him why he refused to trust me, why he was treating me like this.

Julian seemed completely unmoved, his eyes filled with nothing but rage.

He snatched my phone and locked me in the storage room. "You can stay in here and think about what you’ve done. I’ll let you out when you agree to come to the hospital with me and apologize to Erin."

Crying, I pounded on the door, begging Julian to let me out.

But he refused, and no one else in the Fletcher household dared to defy him.

I don’t know how long I cried before I curled up in a corner, terrified.

The light in the storage room was broken. Julian knew perfectly well that I’ve been afraid of the dark ever since my parents died...

Yet he still chose to punish me in a dark, confined space.

’He was always like this, using my greatest fears against me.’

’He was taking advantage of the debt I owed him, bullying me time and time again.’

My fever grew worse. I leaned against a pile of clutter and lost consciousness, unsure of how long I was out.

If the housekeeper hadn’t taken pity on me and run to tell Mrs. Fletcher, I probably would have died in that storage room that night.

...

「The next morning.」

"Julian, what could Cece have possibly done for you to lock her in the storage room?" Mrs. Fletcher angrily questioned him.

"Erin is in the hospital! She’s only just been stabilized!" Julian’s voice seethed with uncontrollable fury.

"Mom, you’re the one who spoiled her rotten. If this keeps up, she’ll be completely out of control!"

I lay groggily in bed, listening to Julian and his mother arguing outside my door.

"She dared to push Erin down the stairs! That’s attempted murder! If Erin decides to press charges, Cece will go to prison!"

Mrs. Fletcher fell silent.

After a long pause, she finally spoke. "Julian, please, talk to Erin. Whatever compensation she wants, the Fletcher family will give it to her. We can’t let Cece go to prison. The poor girl... prison would ruin her whole life."

Julian sneered. "And whose fault is that? All these years she’s lived in our house, eating our food, using our things... what has she ever done besides cause trouble for the Fletcher family?"

"Mom, I’ve already had Alex Morgan buy you a ticket. Go stay in Tridia for a while. I’ll handle things here. You can’t keep indulging her. If you keep this up, you’ll only be hurting her in the long run."

’Julian was trying to get his mother out of the way.’

I gripped the bedsheets, too scared to make a sound.

’If she left, he’d be able to do whatever he wanted to me without restraint.’

Curled up under the covers, my whole body trembled. ’What do I do? What do I do?’

’Julian isn’t going to let me off the hook.’