He Was Too Soft to Hurt Anyone Until They Took Me Away Chapter 09

He Was Too Soft to Hurt Anyone Until They Took Me Away Chapter 09

It was over.

I’d gotten too comfortable and slipped.

Every alarm in my head went off at once.

My eyes dropped to the carrot dish. The only one I hadn’t touched.

He’d been testing me from the start.

Three dishes the old me loved. One I wouldn’t touch. And he watched to see which ones I reached

for.

The system was spiraling.

[Oh God. Oh God. He’s narrowing it down. What if he confirms it’s you and then kills you?!]

That thought hit like ice water.

No matter what happened, I was not breaking character.

So I gritted my teeth and lied to Julian.

“I… I thought I saw you in the kitchen earlier. Cooking.”

Julian held my gaze. I couldn’t tell if he bought it.

“Is that so?”

I nodded.

“Then I apologize. My mistake.”

He let it drop. I almost collapsed with relief.

Then the system screamed.

[Host! His Corruption level just spiked from 980 to 985!]

“What?” I choked out.

Julian never brought up dinner again.

When I returned his clean shirt, he barely glanced at it. He didn’t tell me to leave.

And I still needed to figure out how to bring his Corruption level down.

So I stayed. Neither of us mentioned it.

He worked constantly, but he never shut me out. Iis study door stayed open. He didn’t bother

hiding his calls from me.

One afternoon, I went to get him for lunch like I always did.

The door was cracked open. I heard Liam’s voice before I could knock.

“Everything’s in place. We’re just waiting for Horizon Enterprises to bite.”

Horizon Enterprises?

The name tugged at my memory.

Then it clicked. Horizon Enterprises. That was Stella Harper’s family.

Stella was my best friend in this world.

My stomach dropped.

Why did Julian want to go after Stella’s company?

The system filled in the blanks.

[So… after you died, Stella started calling Julian every year on the anniversary. To scream at him.

Blame him.]

[Every time she did, his Corruption level spiked.]

[He’s gotten too dangerous now, so she does it anonymously. But she still does it.]

Something ached in my chest.

The girl I used to bicker with every day still hadn’t let me go.

I made up my mind before the thought had even finished forming. I turned around and headed

downstairs.

“I have to warn her. I’m not letting Stella’s family go down because of me.”

The system didn’t stop me.

I forced down the rest of lunch. The second Julian left for the office, I slipped out.

I knew Stella. I went straight to her favorite nail salon and found her exactly where I knew she’d be.

She looked up from her manicure like I’d lost my mind.

“Excuse me? I’m kind of in the middle of something here.”

I pulled my mask tighter and talked fast.

“Tell your mom to watch her back at work. Don’t take any deals from Julian’s people. Don’t trust

anyone tied to him.”

Stella zeroed in on the one word that mattered.

“Julian? How do you know that psycho?”

I shook my head and kept pushing.

“Just tell her to trust nobody for the next few weeks. Lay low. That’s all.”

Stella crossed her arms.

“Don’t worry. My family wouldn’t touch that psycho with a ten–foot pole.”

Good enough. I exhaled.

I couldn’t stay long. I waved her off before she could ask anything else.

“Go finish your nails. Forget I was here.”

“Hey, wait-” Stella called after me.

Fifteen minutes later.

I was back at the house.

Forty minutes, tops.

Nobody would’ve noticed.

I crept into the front hall and lined my shoes up exactly where they’d been.

Like I’d never left.

If Julian didn’t ask questions when he got home, he’d never know.

I straightened up and let out a breath.

A quiet voice came from behind me.

“Miss Tessa, where did you go?”

I whipped around, heart in my throat.

Julian was standing right there. He was supposed to be at the office.

His eyes were locked on me. Calm. Horribly calm.