Page 178 of Knox

Leo swipes again, and Finnian gasps.

“Bloody hell, this lad would literally snog anything with a pulse.”

“More like anything with a bank account,” I laugh.

“That’s enough!” Julian snaps, lunging forward to snatch the phone away. “These people deserve some privacy.”

“These people are pigs,” Leo says back, holding the device just out of reach.

“Give me the fucking phone, Leo!” Julian hisses, taking me off guard.

His tone is cold and angry… a tone I’ve never heard come out of him before.

It startles me so much that I think Leo will comply and give him the phone, but instead he freezes in place, staring at the screen.

Leo glares at Julian, completely baffled, then looks back down at the device. “…You slept with Aurelio, Julian?”

“He did what?!” I demand, snatching the phone back.

And yep…

There he is, Aurelio fucking Julian on all fours.

I’m about to tell him how tacky it is to sleep with a friend’s ex, but then I see it…

Aurelio is wearing a Dolce & Gabbana diamond necklace I bought him back when we first started dating.

No…

What the hell.

Aurelio wasn’t my ex when this happened.

I step backward, my gaze snapping to Julian.

“You…” My voice breaks thanks to the stupid betrayal burning in my chest. “You slept with my boyfriend?!”

“Fuck…” Julian scoffs, turning his back to me and walking toward his backpack. “I told you not to go digging through shit, but you just had to be a fucking idiot and disobey.”

That’s when a chill runs down my spine.

The sudden shift in his personality, the way he’s talking… everything about him is so completely different from the Julian we thought we knew that I freeze, unsure how to react.

Something inside me tells me we are in danger.

Didn’t Knox say the stalker was someone close to me?

No…

Not possible.

We’ve been friends for over five years.

“What the fuck, Julian? How can you betray Cillian like this?” Leo hisses, stepping forward. “I knew you wanted to be Cillian, but I never thought you would stoop this low—”

“Shut the fuck up, Leo,” Julian interrupts, walking back toward us, and before any of us can process whatever is happening, he pulls a kitchen knife from his pack and drives it into Leo’s stomach.

My ears ring as Leo gasps, collapsing to the floor.