Sienna's face went dark. Before she could even process her rage, Julian hit her with a follow-up that nearly sent her over the edge.
"You sleeping with him, too?"
Sienna grit her teeth so hard her jaw ached. Her hands curled into white-knuckled fists as a cold shiver ran down her spine. "Blackwood! Get your mind out of the gutter! Keep your mouth shut if you're just going to talk trash!"
Julian arched an eyebrow. Blackwood? The girl had some nerve, calling him by his last name like they were equals.
"You looking for trouble?"
Julian's expression turned lethal. A heavy, suffocating pressure filled the cramped locker room. He gave her a look so cold it felt like a physical weight, and Sienna's mouth snapped shut under the sheer force of his intent.
She started backing away, inch by inch, trying to put some distance between them. Julian tracked every movement. After a second, he felt a flicker of self-derision—he was overthinking it. He'd taken her first time himself; he knew the truth better than anyone.
She'd been holed up on campus for the last two weeks. Even if she had the guts to cheat, she probably didn't have the time.
Thinking about that settled his temper slightly. But the memory of the way she'd looked at Finn—that soft, warm gaze—made the fire in his chest flare up again.
Maybe they weren't hooked up yet, but that didn't mean they wouldn't be. If he didn't step in, he'd be walking around Manhattan with a pair of metaphorical horns on his head before the month was out.
"Stay away from other men, Sienna. Consider that a warning," he murmured with a dangerous kind of tenderness.
Sienna looked away, her lip curling in a scoff.
Julian took a step toward her. Sienna recoiled like a startled bird, hitting the corner of the lockers.
"What do you think you're doing? Get away from me! Don't think just because you own that scumbag Zhang that I won't go to the NYPD!"
"Go ahead. Press charges," Julian said, his tone casual, though his smile didn't reach his eyes. "But I promise you, there isn't a DA in Manhattan who'd touch a case against me. You want to bet on that?"
The image of her stepfather's fanatical, terrifying worship of the Blackwood Empire flashed through Sienna's mind. Her confidence wavered.
Julian stood over her. He decided he wasn't quite twisted enough to keep her pinned in a corner forever, so he "mercifully" gave her three feet of breathing room.
"Why aren't you going home to the Upper East Side?" he asked.
"Mind your own business."
Julian actually wanted to know how she was doing, but her attitude was making it impossible to hold a normal conversation.
After a tense silence, he snapped. "You really want to play it like this? You're refusing to talk to me now? Sienna, do you really think I don't have ways to make you behave?"
As he spoke, he slowly unbuttoned his designer blazer. In the harsh fluorescent light, he looked like a predator settling in for a meal.
Sienna's eyes went wide, tears welling up instantly. "Don't... Julian, don't do this!"
Logic wasn't working, so she tried to bolt. She didn't make it two steps before a massive arm hooked around her waist and hauled her back.
Sienna shrieked. In a moment of total, blind panic, she went for broke. She spun around and threw her arms around his neck, jumping up and wrapping her legs around his waist, clinging to him like a burr to keep him from being able to move.
Julian's body went rigid. This move again?
"I'll talk... I'll answer you! Just please, don't do anything crazy... please..."
She was squeezing him with everything she had. And honestly? It worked. Julian stood there like a pillar of steel, letting this tiny girl hang off him, not moving a muscle.
"Why aren't you going home?"
"Is that even my home?" Sienna blurred out, her voice dripping with self-loathing.
Julian started to lift a hand, and she rushed to keep talking.
"That's their house! It's for my mother, for Zhang, and for their two perfect kids. To them, I'm just an outsider they're forced to put up with."
The only time they remembered she existed was when they needed a bargaining chip.
In the ten-plus years since her mother married into the Zhang family, had any of them ever treated her like she belonged? If she wasn't so desperate for the tiny scrap of affection her mother still gave her, she would have vanished years ago.
A sharp, hidden pang twisted in Julian's chest. He slowly raised his hand, intending to give her a reassuring pat on the back. But the second his palm touched her, she exploded.
"Don't touch me! Can't you keep your word for once? You old creep!"
Julian took a deep, steadying breath. He reminded himself he was a grown-ass Blackwood and shouldn't let a bratty kid get under his skin. It was beneath him.
He stopped moving, and Sienna's rigid body finally relaxed a little. She muttered under her breath, "I answered. Can I go now?"
She had to catch the last subway. If she missed the train back to her dorm, was he going to be the one responsible?
"Fine, you don't go home. I get it. But what's with the illegal under-the-table job? Did the family cut off your trust fund?" Julian asked, his face set in a hard line.
Sienna was quiet for a second, her voice muffled against him. "What trust fund? What's that even supposed to cover?"
Her mother only gave her five hundred dollars a month. Five hundred bucks—probably what her sister spent on a single skirt. Her mother's excuse was that since she chose to live on campus, she needed to learn "independence."
In a city with Manhattan's prices, five hundred dollars didn't even cover textbooks and groceries.
Julian understood. Young girls were expensive, and they liked nice things. A guy in Zhang's position made maybe a hundred grand a year with bonuses. In Manhattan, that barely buys a "decent" life; his allowance to Sienna probably didn't top two thousand.
Two thousand? You can barely breathe in this city for two thousand.
Julian's voice softened, his breath ghosting over her ear. "If you're short on cash, I can give it to you. Just be a good girl, Sienna. Anything you want, I can get it for you. You get me?"
Sienna let out a sharp, disgusted snort.
"I might have sold myself out once to save that family, but I'm not some pet you can keep in a cage! Julian, if you're just looking for a hookup to satisfy your urges, Manhattan is crawling with models and socialites. Stay the hell away from me!"
The bluntness of the insult left Julian speechless for a moment.
"I have hands and feet! I can earn my own damn money. Spending cash I got from sleeping with a man? That would make me want to puke!"
Julian: "..."
After a long, stunned silence, Julian snapped. He shoved the little "porcupine" away from him, his pulse thumping visibly in his temple.
"You've got no resources and even less common sense," Julian sneered through gritted teeth. "I can't wait to see how long that precious pride of yours lasts in this city."
"I'd rather beg for change in the subway station than sleep with another man for money!" she screamed back.
Julian actually laughed, but it was a cold, mocking sound. "Look at you. Barely out of high school and talking about 'sleeping with men.' You really are... shameless, Sienna."
Sienna fired back, her eyes sharp as glass. "Shameless? Maybe you should look at the man who forced a 'barely out of high school' girl into his bed first!"
She stood there like a blade of grass in a storm—tough, unyielding, and ready for a fight.
The words stung Julian like a thorn. A dark, violent aura radiated from him. "Watch your mouth, Sienna. One more word, and I'll show you exactly what 'shameless' looks like right here!"
Sienna's face paled. She scrambled back several steps before finding her voice to hit back.
"I used to hear that Mr. Blackwood was a legend, someone to look up to. But now I see you're just a common thug who bullies girls! No—you're worse than a street thug!"
"Sienna Thompson!" Julian roared, his temper redlining.
Sienna wouldn't back down. "What's next? You gonna hit me? If you put your hands on me, you're literally lower than an animal!"
Julian took a sudden, massive stride. In two seconds, he had her. He grabbed her arm with a grip that felt like it would crush the bone.
"Ow! That hurts! Let go!" Sienna winced, her face contorting in pain as she started to scream.