The Day I Heard His Thoughts I Stopped Loving Him Chapter 05

The Day I Heard His Thoughts I Stopped Loving Him Chapter 05

A heavy silence fell over the living room.

Harrison Vance’s face darkened as he growled under his breath. “Shut up!”

Julian whipped his head toward his father. “Dad, are you seriously not seeing this? Nora doesn’t give a damn whether I apologize or not! She’s just throwing the Ashford money around, trying to humiliate us! She humiliates our whole family.

and now she’s gonna go after…”

“You worthless piece of…” Before Julian could finish, Harrison Vance’s palm cracked across his face.

The sharp, ringing slap echoed through the living room. Julian’s head snapped to the side, and a vivid red handprint

bloomed across his cheek almost instantly.

He stood frozen for a second, stunned. Then a sardonic smirk twisted at the corner of his mouth. “You know what? I don’t care about any of it. Not the arranged marriage. Not the business deals. I’m so damn sick of living a life where I

have no say in anything!”

With that, Julian spun on his heel and stormed out of the house.

Harrison Vance clutched at his chest, his whole frame trembling with barely contained fury.

The living room settled back into quiet. Having watched this entire farce play out, my father finally spoke in a slow,

deliberate drawl. “Mr. Sterling. Please see our guests out.”

After we’d made our position crystal clear that day, my father began pulling back several streams of capital, citing unsatisfactory project evaluations as the official reason. This only tightened the noose around the Vance family’s cash

flow.

Desperate to plug the holes, Harrison was forced to scramble and reallocate funds from other ventures, running himself

ragged in the process.

As for Julian, not only was his allowance cut off completely, but his standing within his own household became increasingly untenable. For years he’d coasted along smoothly, shielded from any real hardship thanks to the Ashford family’s support. He’d never faced any genuine setbacks in his life.

It barely took a few days before he couldn’t take it anymore and cornered me after school.

“How long are you gonna keep playing these games, Nora? We have personal issues-fine. But dragging your father into

it? Making him go after my family;s business? You get that’s completely unhinged, right?”

I turned and met his gaze head-on. “My family reassessed. That’s it. We stopped being your safety net. How is that an

attack? Do you seriously think we’re obligated to bankroll the Vance family forever? Jullan, my father runs a business.

Not a charity.”

His face darkened with barely suppressed fury. He looked like he was about to explode any second.

Julian.”

A soft voice drifted up from behind him. Olivia Harper tugged gently at Julian’s sleeve. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.

Please, just don’t fight with Nora anymore.”

Julian’s brow furrowed slightly, but the hard edge in his gaze softened almost instantly. His thoughts spilled out freely in

my ears, unfiltered and raw,

[Olivia actually listens. That’s the difference. She’s better than Nora in every single way. Yeah, her family doesn’t have

money. So what?]

[And my father? He’s still dead set on this merger. Forcing it. Like Nora is some prize I’m supposed to chase. He’s

completely blinded by the Ashford name. Their money. Their power.]

[But I’m not caving. No way.]

[Once the Vance family gets past this, once we’re back on our feet, I’m gonna make Nora pay. For everything. Every single

time she made me feel like nothing.]

He was just about to speak when Olivia pressed on. Julian, you don’t even need them. The Ashfords. You’re brilliant. Your grades are insane. You’ve won, like, every academic award out there. You could totally make it on your own.”

“And the Vance company? It’s huge. Your family built all of that. Years of hard work. It’s not like you’d just collapse

without them, right? I mean… am I wrong?”

She tilted her head up to look at him, her eyes shimmering with pure admiration.

That little speech backed Julian right into a corner. There was no way he could admit out loud that his family genuinely couldn’t survive without the Ashford family’s backing.

Julian’s Adam’s apple bobbed a couple of times, a flicker of bewilderment crossing his face.

I believe in you.” Olivia said softly, holding his gaze with unwavering conviction.

He paused for a moment, and then a sudden confidence flared in his eyes. “You’re right. That’s all this is. Business. Both sides get something. The Vance family didn’t build everything we have just because the Ashfords threw us a few scraps And if it comes down to it? We’ll take our business somewhere else. Simple.”

I watched the false bravado plastered across his face and let a faint, mocking smile curve my lips. “Great. Good luck with

that.”

Then I turned the corner and left the two of them behind.