Page 6 of Hate On

He expected Julianna’s father to snap at him judging by the way the man’s face looked, but all he did was give him a short nod. The mother reached out for the call light and hit it before turning her gaze to the two men.

As Roman retreated to his bed, she said in a cool voice, ‘Surely there’s a better place for the two of you to do this.”

Roman lay in bed, struggling to make sense of what was going on.

He’d heard a little bit before he’d gotten out of bed, but the raised voices had woken him up. No telling how long they’d been talking before they woke him.

He curled back up on his side, but this time, he faced the curtain that separated them as he waited for the nurse to arrive with Julianna’s breathing treatment. Miss Léonie would be gone by now, if he had their shifts right. It would be Nurse Schmid. She was the worst of all of them, but the good news was, she was mean enough she just might scare Roman’s dad into behaving. Roman’s dad and Julianna’s father with his stiff jaw and shoulders.

Why were they fighting?

He had no idea, but he’d ask Julianna about it as soon as everybody was gone.

* * *

He never had the chance.

Less than a half an hour after Nurse Schmid brought a breathing treatment for Julianna, one of the hospital orderlies arrived with a wheelchair for Roman.

He eyed it narrowly.

“Do I get to go back to school?” he asked, glancing at his parents as he sat up on the side of the bed.

“No.” His mother brushed his hair back from his face while his father stood by the window, staring out over the quiet countryside. “You’re going to a private room. Both of you are ill. You need room to rest and heal.”

“I’mfine,” he bit off. “I get headaches. And Julianna gets scared—”

“She’s not your concern,” Father snapped, turning around to glare at him. “You’ve got no business being roomed with that girl and that’s all there is to it. Do you understand me?”

Roman lapsed into silence, rising at the prodding look from his mother. He moved into the wheelchair and sat down. On his way out the door, he glanced at Julianna’s parents, then once more at Julianna.

“Get better,” he said, not knowing what else to say.

She stared at him miserably, her big, dark eyes looking almost black in the pale circle of her face.

That image lingered with him. For a long, long time.

2

Julianna

Present Day

Julianna Castle was justas at home in her luxurious five-star hotel boardroom as she was in one of the labs owned by her family’s jewelry dynasty. The practice of referring to all the stores they owned, the mining operations, the labs where stones were cut and polished as simply abusiness,well it seemed… lackluster, and if there was one thing Julianna disliked, it was things that lacked luster.

It had to be a family trait. Her parents were the same way. It wasn’t because they were flashy. Not at all. Everything about her parents screamed understated elegance, from her mother’s stylish chignons with the faint streaks of silver, the strand of pearls that was her signature piece, the gold-rimmed glasses she’d worn for as long as Julianna could remember, to her father’s silvery hair, stately habit of only wearing three-piece suits, and his deep, well-measured voice.

But as lavish and elegant as the boardroom Julianna was now sitting in appeared, as well-appointed as it looked, she’d rather be in one of her company labs, or better yet, out at one of the mines, no matter how hot and tiresome it could get out there. She wasn’t cut out to work behind the counter of one of the jewelry stores, and she definitely wasn’t cut out for the boardroom. But explaining that to her father was pointless. He’d sent her to college, making sure she had the business smarts and the training necessary to follow in the family tradition, never understanding that if she had her way, she’d spend her days in the labs, handling the unpolished, rough-cut stones.

Still, while she might not be as happy to be in the boardroom, she was perfectly comfortable there and smiled at the uniformed attendant who’d been assigned to handle the room during the upcoming meeting. He’d already poured coffee for her father and two of the company’s legal team. She nodded at him when he offered to fill hers, letting her eyes stray across the room to the second party.

The Montrose family.

Her family’s most formidable corporate rivals in the industry—their only real rivals, as it were.

She’d met the senior Montrose, but his sons, no.

This particular son was a handsome son of a bitch, she had to give him that. Dark hair carefully styled, except for a few roguish strands that fell across his forehead. They framed a face that somehow seemed sensual and cruel at the same time. His narrow yet cupid’s bow shaped lips, and his parted mouth, well they were almost too beautiful for his face. Too soft, somehow, she decided. He flicked a glance in their direction and she caught sight of his eyes. It was enough to make her breath catch, but she modulated the reaction.