Chapter 79

The lounge door was flung open. Evelyn stepped in, back straight, striding toward Julian against the light. Joshua shot up from the couch the second he saw her, a flicker of unease in his eyes. Bernard clearly didn't expect her to show up either. Only Julian, spotting Evelyn coming his way, shed the cold edge he'd been wearing, replaced in an instant by a quiet warmth. Evelyn picked up on his mood shift right away. Standing by Julian, she didn't hesitate—right in front of Bernard and Joshua—she scanned him up and down. "Did he hit you?" The moment those words dropped, Bernard's face shifted wildly between red and green. She was calling him out, loud and clear. Julian let her inspect him without complaint, lips curling into a light smile. "Nope, you showed up just in time." Bernard was shocked, his eyes bulged in disbelief, resisting the urge to whack his son right then and there. Did he seriously just say that? Was that not basically telling Evelyn, 'If you'd been a minute late, my dad