…Julian ignored her outburst and thundered on. "You let him wander into a dark cellar? Do you have any idea what that could've done to him?"
"Are you even listening to yourself?" she snapped. "They're children, and they were only playing. It was a bloody accident, and there's no way Sophie who deliberately put Lucas in harms way."
"You don't know what harm is," he growled.
"And you don't know your own son!" she fired back. "You all act like he's soft and made of glass, but he's just a normal boy. A smart, and sensitive boy who needs more than your cold lectures and distance."
"Don't you dare lecture me on how to raise my son." he yelled at her, his eyes filled with fury.
"Then I suggest you start paying more attention to the details then." she retorted.
Julian was stunned, he stood there looking at her, watching the fire of defiance burn in her eyes. He forced himself to remain calm, to not react in his anger. He approached her, and for a moment they were face to face, standing there and daring each other.
"One more mess like this and you're gone." He said slowly, and without waiting for a reply marched out the way he had come in.
Alex watched him go, angry at herself for having been lusting after his body while he ranted in front of her.
…
Julian didn't fire Alex. Although Madame Miller tried everything possible to convince him, even promising to find a more suitable replacement immediately, but Julian was not interested in the offer.
All he did instead was to completely avoid even more. His anger was gone, but something else seemed to have taken it's place, a question eating away at him.
What kind of woman was she exactly?
Something about the defiant way she stood up to him still troubled him. Despite his boiling anger, she didn't cry or apologize… she had even challenged him, infuriated him even more. He hated it, but at the same time found it interesting.
She had stood her ground boldly, when every other person around him would have cowered in fear. It felt weird, but for some reason he couldn't stop thinking about her.
The only way, was to stay away.
As the days went by, he began to spend more time in his office, staying way past midnight on many occasions. Sometimes he didn't even bother to come home at all, and when her did, he always came back rough and reeking of alcohol. He looked stressed and tired but spoke to one, chosing to shoulder whatever was bothering him alone.
One night, Vanessa came over again and met him at the office. She'd heard of his new habit of staying over on certain nights, and so she'd tracked him. She found him slumped on the sofa in the little guest room he built for himself, a half empty bottle of vodka in front of him.
"My… my… my, you're a mess Julian," she remarked. "What on earth has got you so worked up, you look like shit."
Julian offered her no answer, only took another sip of his vodka and stared ahead.
Vanessa wasn't having it, not when she was here to earn his favours. She climbed onto his lap, slowly taking off her shirt and rubbing her breasts in his face.
He didn't protest.
She began to kiss him slowly, his lips, his cheeks, his nose and his neck, muttering dirty words into his ears.
He allowed her.
But when her mouth began to follow a path down his chest, and her moaning was beginning to intensify, his body suddenly went stiff.
Vanessa paused. "What the hell Julian, what is it now?"
He looked up at the ceiling in silence, and then he pictured her.
Alex.
He didn't picture her naked or seductive, just her defiant aura, standing in front of him and challenging him… daring him, and refusing to be broken.
He stood up and pushed Vanessa off him.
"What has gotten into you." she snapped furiously.
He said nothing, only walked to the window and looked out into the street.
Vanessa cursed and stormed out… He didn't bother to stop her.
…
Back at the estate, Alex was alone in the library, going through one of Lucas's abandoned sketchbooks. She was turning through pages after pages of rough outlines, and half formed faces.
Most were complete and well coloured, and they featured her, Sophie and Julian. But then one picture stopped her in her tracks.
It was Gregory.
A dark and grotesque looking figure, darkly shaded, and spying from a corner. In front of him was a child… a little boy, trapped and terrified.
Alex went cold immediately, unable to believe what she was seeing. She didn't know exactly what it meant, but she knew it was Gregory and Lucas didn't like him. She was going to have to tell him off, for the sake of Lucas.
She found him in the garden, humming a strange sad tune under his breath as he trimmed the hedges, snapping the shears viciously like he wanted to hurt something.
"Gregory."
He turned, and his face immediately darkened.
"Yes, Miss Reynolds… how can I help you?"
"You're scaring him,"
He looked puzzled. "I beg your pardon?"
"Lucas… he's afraid of you." She hissed at him. I've seen the way you follow him about, hovering around him like a dark cloud."
Gregory chuckled, but there was no humor in it. "The young master doesn't even speak, how can he have told you this. Or are you now into the business of making false accusations?"
"I'm not making any false accusations," she said boldly. "You're up to no good, and I won't let it continue."
Gregory walked slowly towards her, and then stopped just a few inches away. He glared so hard that she thought he was going to physically attack her, but he suddenly turned and slunk off, muttering something inaudible as he went.
"That was some bold accusation."
Alex turned around quickly, and there was Julian leaning against a tree behind her.