Rewrite the Apocalypse dream (by Dee Cari) novel Chapter 64

Chapter 64 She is no longer a factor

Finished

u…” Alice stuttered, her voice shaking as she stared at Julian. Her posture instantly shifting into a pathetic, desperate attempt at flirting. She smoothed her hair and stepped toward him, looking at Julian hungrily as if he already belonged to her, all while throwing a venomous, lethal stare sideways at Joanna.

“Mr. Hawthorne? I… I’m Alice. Joanna’s sister. The preferred daughter of the Harington estate. I think there’s been a massive misunderstanding-”

Julian didn’t even tilt his head. He merely shifted his eyes, locking onto Alice with a cold intensity that made her physically step back in fright.

“I don’t care who you are,” Julian said, his voice dropping an octave, freezing the air around them. “And if you speak to her in that tone again, I will personally liquidate everything you touch. Do not test my patience.”

“Are we ready, Joanna?” Julian asked, his voice returning to a smooth, icy calm, ignoring Alice entirely.

Joanna looked at her sister’s pale, furious face, a grim sense of satisfaction settling deep in her chest. “Yes, Julian. Let’s go. We have a timeline to keep.”

Julian opened the passenger side door for Joanna. His expression remained completely stoic, but his eyes locked onto hers with a dark, heavy intensity that made the hair on her arms stand up. “Get in.”

He paused, his cold gaze lingering on Joanna’s face as she stepped up toward the cabin. “How could you live with someone so annoying?” Julian asked, his voice low, sharp, and dripping with clinical disdain. “I have changed my mind. Let’s not pay a visit to them, but just send a gift.”

Joanna climbed into the luxury cabin. Outside the tinted window, Alice stood on the pavement, watching the truck with a mixture of possessive longing for Julian and pure, unadulterated hatred for Joanna.

Julian climbed into the driver’s seat and closed the heavy, steel door, sealing them away from the outside world. Before putting the truck in gear, he pulled out his encrypted satellite phone, his fingers flying across the screen with practiced corporate authority. He held the phone to his ear, his voice quiet, flat, and chillingly casual inside the quiet cabin.

“Yeah, it’s Julian. Execute the foreclosure on the Harington estate properties immediately. Locate every secondary line of credit tied to Gwen and Alice Harington and trigger the default clauses. Wipe them out by morning. Leave them with nothing.”

He pocketed the phone without waiting for a reply. Alice, standing blindly outside in the parking lot, had absolutely no idea her entire financial foundation had just been dismantled in real-time.

With a roar of the powerful engine, the truck peeled out of the station, leaving Alice to wallow in her bitter jealousy as the dark clouds of Brimstone Peak loomed heavily on the horizon. Joanna quietly sent an encrypted text message to her Lawyer Greg and updated him on the situation asking him to track Gwen and Alice in the next few weeks, especially the estate finances. She told him to be careful of loose ends before shutting down her phone.

The hum of the truck’s tires on the empty highway provided a steady, rhythmic backdrop to the silence stretched between them. The neon lights of the gas station faded into a memory, replaced by the heavy, ink-black darkness of the country roads leading toward the mountain range. Inside the cabin, the dashboard cast a soft, ambient glow over Julian’s sharp profile as he navigated the winding asphalt.

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Chapter 64 She is no longer a factor

FI

Julian glanced sideways at Joanna. The cold, ruthless energy from quietly ruining her family’s finances still ng to him like a second skin. He didn’t lean in, and he didn’t smile, but the space between them felt hyper-charged, suffocating in its proximity.

“Your posture is rigid, Joanna,” Julian observed, his voice cutting through the quiet cabin, completely devoid of any playful warmth. “You’re dwelling on her. She is no longer a factor. Focus on the objective.”

Instantly, Joanna’s guard went up like a porcupine sensing a threat. She turned her head, fixing him with a sharp, freezing glare. “I am focused, Hawthorne,” she snapped, her voice curt and flat. “Watch the road. W are driving into a storm. I don’t need a lecture on focus from you.”

Julian didn’t flinch. He kept his eyes locked on the dark highway ahead, his jaw tightening/just a fraction as his mind was running.

She thinks she can push me away with anger, he thought, a dark, dangerous thrill rippling beneath his cold exterior. She was a fortress in some ways, entirely unyielding, and it only solidified his resolve. If he was honest with himself, he was drawn to her as soon as he saw her at the airport. The fact that she opened up a little on her family situation, made him very satisfied because it showed she trusted him somewhat. He could not explain his feelings yet entirely, but he knew he was going to stay by her side no matter what.

He remained silent for several long minutes, letting the heavy, suffocating weight of his presence fill the cabin, refusing to offer a reassuring word.

They drove straight through the night, the world outside their windows growing steadily wilder and more desolate as civilization thinned out. Finally, Julian adjusted his grip on the wheel, his eyes scanning the radar map. When he spoke, his tone was purely analytical, yet demanding.

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