Aurora hastily climbed out of Julian’s arms. “Julian…” she stammered.
Julian’s head had been cut by debris, and blood immediately began to flow. Seeing the blood, Aurora panicked.
“I made it in time,” Julian said, ignoring his own injuries, instead checking to see if Aurora was hurt.
“Didn’t I tell you not to come? Why did you come? Does it hurt?” Aurora’s tears fell unexpectedly as she saw Julian bleeding.
She hadn’t cried since she changed, but at that moment, she wept like a child, fumbling and fretting over his wounds.
Her hot tears fell on Julian’s face, marking the first time he had seen her so distraught.
“I’m okay, don’t cry, I’m really okay,” he reassured her, sitting up even with many shards of glass in his back, and pulled her close to comfort her.
“How can you be okay? You’re bleeding,” Aurora fretted, fearing even the slightest harm to him.
“You should go to the hospital,” someone nearby suggested.
“Right, the hospital, let’s go right now,” Aurora realized, having forgotten even this basic fact in her panic.
Julian took off his suit jacket, littered with shards of glass, revealing the speckled blood on his back, which pained Aurora even more.
“Let’s hurry to the hospital…”
“No rush,” Julian said, releasing her hand and walking towards Lindsay.
Lindsay, meeting Julian’s piercing gaze, involuntarily stepped back.
“I… I didn’t mean it, Julian, listen to me.”
Julian looked at her coldly. “Lindsay, I’ve told you countless times, there’s nothing between us!”
“Shut up! Don’t embarrass yourself further,” Joaquin and Grandpa Gilpin, among others, gathered around.
Although Joaquin felt sorry for Julian’s injuries, he blamed Aurora, believing Julian should stay away from such a disaster!
He knew what Julian was about to say and quickly interrupted, convinced that Julian and Lindsay were meant to be.
The Gilpin family was currently prominent, and he couldn’t let this fool ruin such a favorable marriage!
Julian understood his father’s intentions and merely glanced at him.
“What’s all this about?” Grandpa Gilpin was also perplexed.
“Lindsay, I will never have any feelings for you. Our marriage was arranged by my father.
I have never acknowledged it. If you truly want to join the Alvarez family, you might as well marry my father,” Julian declared in front of everyone, leaving many bewildered about his relationship with Miss Gilpin.
Wasn’t the Alvarez family’s son engaged to Miss Gilpin? Many were still unaware of his true identity.
Despite this, his heartless words, spoken so publicly, were shocking enough.
“Julian, you can’t do this to me! I have loved you for so many years!” Lindsay couldn’t accept the reality.
“The only person I will ever love is her,” Julian said, grabbing Lindsay’s hand. Before her heart could react, he flung her into a giant eight-tiered cake.
“This is my final warning-don’t touch my woman! Next time, I won’t let you off so easily!” Julian declared coldly.
Everyone was dumbstruck; what had just been a champagne tower was now a grand cake, from which Lindsay’s screams emanated.
Julian, dragging Aurora by the hand, left immediately, infuriating Joaquin who banged his cane on the ground. “You bastard, come back here! Apologize to Miss Gilpin!”
Julian’s pace quickened in response. Despite their disheveled appearance, no one thought them disgraceful. Their retreat was resolute, and Julian, bloodied, held Aurora’s hand tightly, drawing envious glances from many women.
“If you take one more step forward, you’re no longer my son!” Joaquin threw down his ultimatum.
Julian paused, and everyone thought he was afraid, given that blood is thicker than water. Yet Julian, without turning his head, replied, “You seem to have forgotten something. I disowned you ten years ago, I don’t even use your name anymore. I have no ties with the Alvarez family; I am Julian Barnet, not your son. Please don’t arrogantly make decisions for me again; you have no right.”
With that, Julian continued on, pulling Aurora with him, and they didn’t stop again, fading into the crowd.
“You bastard! You bastard!” Joaquin was livid.
Meanwhile, someone else laughed heartily. “Ha, Joaquin, better for me if you disown him-I gain a fine grandson-in-law,” chuckled Grandpa Montgomery, unconcerned.
“Can someone tell me what on earth happened?” Grandpa Gilpin, incensed yet restrained by his status, demanded to know.
“Grandpa, you have to help me,” Lindsay cried, climbing out of the cake, her face smeared with cream and chocolate.
“Go and wash up, stop making a scene here,” Grandpa Gilpin quickly dismissed Lindsay.
Eric withdrew his gaze from Aurora and Julian’s departing figures, suppressing a resigned smile. Had Lindsay not clung to him, he might have been the one to save Aurora. He pondered how Aurora’s tears would taste if shed for him.
Unfortunately, timing is everything, and he stepped out from the crowd, adjusting his glasses, and declared, “Let me explain.”
He recounted everything clearly. Grandpa Montgomery was the first to react aggressively. “William, my granddaughter kindly came to your celebration, and this is how your granddaughter treats guests?”
Grandpa Gilpin was also embarrassed. It seemed Lindsay had acted out unexpectedly.
“It was just kids playing around, Lindsay surely didn’t mean it!” he tried to defend.
“Didn’t mean it? That’s easy for you to say! If it weren’t for Julian, she was so lightly dressed, diving headfirst into the champagne, think of the consequences! What a heartless woman, how could you treat Aurora so poorly? You really think we, the Montgomery family, are to be trifled with?” Grandpa Montgomery, already a fiery man, waved his cane, ready to confront Grandpa Gilpin.