My Accidental Billionaire Husband (Katia and Julian) novel Chapter 20

Why is she after him

Delia’s POV

From the moment Katia stepped into the Windsor estate, something shifted.

I couldn’t name it at first. I told myself it was nerves, that strange flutter that comes when a life milestone is unfolding in real time and everyone around you seems to be watching, measuring, and waiting for you to step into the role you’ve been rehearsing since your sister decided to have a baby. This was my engagement, my future, my moment.

And yet, my stomach wouldn’t settle.

Julian had been polite to me all evening. Attentive, even. He stood beside me when expected, answered questions when spoken to, and nodded at the right moments. He did everything a fiancé should do on paper.

But it was the things he didn’t do that bothered me.

He didn’t linger.

He didn’t touch me unless it was necessary.

He didn’t smile unless someone else was watching, and worse, his eyes kept drifting.

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Not aimlessly and not out of boredom, toward her.

I stood near the edge of the sitting room, pretending to listen to one of my aunts prattle on about floral arrangements, while my attention stayed locked on the balcony. Julian was there now, standing close to Katia. Too close. Their body language wasn’t intimate, but it wasn’t distant either. It was… comfortable. Familiar in a way that made my chest tighten.

They were talking and laughing.

I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I didn’t need to. The way Julian’s posture softened, the way his shoulders angled toward her, and the way his expression shifted into something I hadn’t seen directed at me all night, it was enough.

I excused myself before my aunt could finish her sentence.

My heels clicked sharply against the marble floor as I crossed the room, every step fueled by a growing knot of unease. I found my parents near the far end of the hall, standing close together in conversation with one of the Windsor lawyers. I waited until there was a pause, then gently touched my mother’s arm.

“Mother,” I said quietly. “Can I speak to you?”

She glanced at me, then at my father, and nodded. We stepped aside, just far enough that our voices wouldn’t carry.

I didn’t waste time.

Are you sure Julian and Katia have never met before tonight?”

My mother frowned slightly. “What kind of question is that?”

“Because it doesn’t look like they’re strangers,” I said, unable to keep the edge out of my voice. “Earlier, Katia hugged Abigail like they were close. Apparently they went to Harvard together. And now Julian won’t stop talking to her.”

My mother’s lips pressed together as she thought. She glanced briefly toward the balcony, then back at me.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “What I do know is that their grandmother came to our home years ago. Katia was fourteen… or sixteen, I can’t remember exactly. We didn’t know her, but she knew Katia. She introduced herself and told us who she was.”

My pulse quickened. “And?”

“And we couldn’t let the opportunity pass,” my mother said plainly. “The Windsors don’t knock twice. We assumed Katia knew her, but when we finally told her on her twentieth birthday, it was clear she didn’t.”

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“That doesn’t make sense,” I muttered.

“We were surprised too,y mother continued. “But the arrangement was already discussed. We thought Katia would accept it.”

“She didn’t,” I said sharply. “She fucked another man and got pregnant; what does she want with my fiancé?”

I moved toward Katia before I could think better of it, my steps quick and purposeful. I didn’t know what I was going to say, only that I couldn’t let her linger here any longer, not looking like she belonged, not moving through this house like it was as much hers as mine.

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