Chapter 5 5

The sound of leather hitting leather echoed through the private gym in Julian's penthouse.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Julian was punishing the heavy bag. Sweat ran down his bare back, soaking into the waistband of his shorts. He was visualizing Kenneth Miller's face with every strike.

The door banged open.

"You'll never guess what I found!"

Christian Sterling, Julian's younger brother, strolled in holding a tablet. Christian was everything Julian wasn't-blond, perpetually tanned, and unserious.

Julian caught the swinging bag, stopping it with a grunt. He grabbed a towel. "If this is about another one of your 'investments' in a nightclub..."

"No," Christian grinned. "It's about your little protégée. Harper Sinclair."

Julian froze. He wiped his face slowly. "What about her?"

Christian tapped the screen and held it up. It was a timeline. A graph.

"I ran a background check. You know, just to be safe. And look at this pattern."

Julian squinted at the data. It was a list of names. Dates. Durations.

"Every single relationship she's had in the last six years," Christian explained, tracing the line with his finger. "Liam, Mark, David... they all end. Right around the eight-week mark. Never fails. Look at the spread. Sixty days, fifty-five days, fifty-eight days."

Julian stared at the number. Around two months.

"So?" Julian asked, feigning indifference.

"So?" Christian laughed. "It's a psychological cutoff, Jules. She's got a kill switch. She runs the clock, gets what she wants, or gets scared, and bails before it gets real. It's the 'Sinclair Curse'. She's got commitment issues the size of Texas."

Julian felt a cold knot form in his stomach. He looked at the data again. It was precise. Mechanical.

He had thought she was driven. Focused. A woman of substance.

Was she just... bored? Was this whole "revenge" angle just another way to pass the time until the timer ran out? Was he just the flavor of the month?

"She's not a player," Julian said, but his voice lacked conviction.

"Bro, the numbers don't lie," Christian said, tossing the tablet onto a bench. "Don't get attached. She's a rental."

Julian threw the towel at Christian's head. "Get out."

Christian laughed and dodged, leaving the room.

Julian stood there, his chest heaving. He picked up his phone.

There was a text from Harper.

Just got the interview confirmation. Thank you again. I won't let you down.

It included a smiley face.

Julian stared at the emoji. It looked mocking now.

He typed back.

See that you don't. This is business.

In her apartment, Harper stared at the message. The temperature of the conversation had dropped twenty degrees.

"What did I do?" she whispered.

She didn't know about the eight-week pattern. She didn't know that the number wasn't a game. It was a trauma response. It was the exact duration her father, Kenneth Miller, had stayed after promising he would never leave again when she was seven.

Every time a relationship hit that mark, panic set in. The walls closed in. She ran before she could be left.

She put the phone down, feeling a familiar ache in her chest.

Julian sat on the bench in his gym, staring at the wall. He hated that he cared. He hated that the idea of her leaving in two months bothered him.

He stood up and walked to the bag. He hit it. Harder this time.

He would break the pattern. Or he would break her. He wasn't sure which yet.