The Temporary Boyfriend

Chapter 81: Annulment

Julian’s phone started to vibrate. He looked at the screen and a dark smile spread across his face. He didn’t answer it. Instead, he just tucked the phone back into his pocket.

​"Who is calling?" Lyvana asked, watching his face.

​"No one important," Julian replied, leaning in and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

The car finally reached Aurora.

​"Marco will stay with you," Julian said. "I’ll meet you at the hospital for your first appointment."

​She nodded and stepped out of the car.

A little while later Julian arrived at the Grant estate to find Catalina fuming. Her face was red, and she was pacing back and forth.

​"Julian, what the hell is the meaning of this?" she screamed. She held out a stack of papers, her hand shaking with anger.

​Julian didn’t even blink. He looked at her with cold, bored eyes. "You can read, can’t you?"

​Catalina threw the papers onto the coffee table. "This is the most absurd thing I have ever heard! We just got married, and now you got our marriage annuled?"

​"It was never a real marriage, Catalina," Julian said. He stepped closer, his voice low and dangerous. "And now that sham is over."

​"You can’t do this!" she shrieked. "My father will ruin you! The press will have a field day with this!"

​Julian let out a short, dry laugh. "You know better than to threaten me with the press."

Eleanor and Chairman Grant walked into the room. They looked at the mess of papers on the table and then at Julian.

​"What is happening here?" Chairman Grant asked, his voice booming.

​"Julian got our marriage annuled!" Catalina cried out, pointing a shaking finger at the documents. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

​Chairman Grant’s face turned red. "Are you insane?" he bellowed. He stepped toward Julian, his hands balled into fists. "You can’t just end a marriage like this. Think of the families!"

​Eleanor looked pale. She looked from Catalina to Julian, her eyes wide with shock. "What are you saying, Julian? Why would you do this now?"

​Julian stood his ground.

​"The marriage is over," Julian said coldly. "It was a mistake right from the start, and I am fixing it today."

Chairman Grant stared at him as though he didn’t recognize the man standing before him. "A mistake?" he repeated. "You call an alliance between two families a mistake?"

Julian didn’t flinch. "I call it what it is," he said evenly. "A transaction that has run its course."

Catalina let out a bitter laugh, her composure unraveling by the second. "A transaction?" she echoed. "You think you can use me, use my family, and just walk away like nothing happened?"

Julian’s gaze shifted to her slowly.

"You were never used," he said. "Nothing happened between us."

Eleanor stepped forward then. "Julian... this isn’t how things are handled. If there were issues, we could have discussed them. There are reputations at stake — yours included."

Julian glanced at her.

"My reputation will survive," he said.

Chairman Grant scoffed harshly. "You imbecile. I will disown you for this."

He stormed off with Eleanor after him.

"How did you even get this done?" Catalina said, shaking her head. "I wasn’t even involved! You can’t just end a marriage without me!"

​He didn’t say a word. He certainly wasn’t going to tell her that he had a few powerful Judges on his payroll.

"Am I?Just know that, this is over, and you are no longer my wife. You never really were anyway."

"You just made the wrong choice Julian. I will kill her with my bare hands."

"Am warning you, Catalina," Julian said, his voice ice-cold. "Don’t you dare touch her. Don’t even go near her. Or I will cut you limb from limb."

"You’re a monster," she hissed.

"Try to remember that. You can stay here as long as you need to."

Then he turned and walked out.

Catalina let out a scream of rage as Julian walked away. She grabbed a crystal vase from the side table and threw it at the door, but it shattered against the wood long after he had gone.

​"You won’t get away with this!" she shrieked, her voice echoing through the massive hallway.

"She took out her phone and called Mateo.

Catalina squeezed the phone, as it rang, her eyes stinging with tears of fury.

​"Answer it," she hissed under her breath. "Answer the damn phone, Mateo."

​Finally, the line clicked open.

​"Hey Cat?" Mateo’s voice was calm, which only made her angrier.

​"He did it! Julian got an annulment!" she screamed into the receiver. "It’s over!"

​"Am sorry Catalina," Mateo said quietly.

"Am coming to pick you up, to destress. You can think clearly when you are not hysterical."

​Outside, the air was cool and quiet. Julian entered his car, his face instantly turning calm. The chaos of the Grant estate was behind him. He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Marco.

​Status.

The response came almost immediately. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

Everything is quiet boss.

Julian drove straight to a hidden cabin in the woods. Outside, five guards stood watch. Inside, two more men were guarding a prisoner.

​Julian had finally traced the aphrodisiac attack back to someone in the lab. Now, he just needed to confirm if it was Catalina who asked for it. She wasn’t the only one who could get those chemicals, but she is the only one with a motive strong enough to want Lyvana humiliated. And Julian was going to make sure someone paid for it.

He stepped inside, his polished shoes clicking against the floor. The two guards stepped back, leaving him alone with the man tied to the chair.

​The man was sweating. He looked up at Julian, his eyes wide. He knew exactly who Julian was, and he knew why he was there.

​"I don’t have all day," Julian said.

His voice was calm, but it was the kind of calm that made people want to scream.

He pulled a pair of leather gloves onto his hands.