My Stepbrother Wants Me-Chapter 199: Gabriel Finds Out

Catherine’s POV

"Calm your nerves, baby. I was just pulling your legs," I finally revealed with a light laugh.

Julian hurriedly reached for him, his hand resting on my hip, his breathing even and deep. "Not surprised."

"Really?" I clicked my tongue and pouted my lips to the side.

He tapped my nose, "yes, of course. I know how naughty you can be. Have you forgotten I call you my Wildcat?"

I was about to reply when the door to his bedroom was thrown open without a single warning knock. The sound of the latch hit the stopper, causing Julian and I to bolt upright.

The duvet slid down to my waist as I scrambled to cover myself, my heart leaping into my throat. Standing in the doorway was Gabriel. His hair was slightly disheveled, looking as though he had come to Julian in a moment of urgent necessity. But all of that vanished the second his eyes landed on us.

The silence that followed was deafening. It was the kind of silence that felt like it was physically crushing the air out of the room. Gabriel stood frozen, his hand still gripping the door handle, his eyes darting from Julian’s bare chest to my tangled hair and back again. The shock on his face was fast, a flash of pure surprise that quickly curdled into something far more toxic. I couldn’t even form a word. My throat felt like it had been welded shut by his cold stare.

Gabriel didn’t yell or demand an explanation. Instead, he let out a slow, sharp breath through his nose. He shook his head slowly, with a look of profound disgust crossing his face— the kind of look one gives to something rotting on the side of the road. He looked at me for one final, agonizing second, his eyes filled with disappointment. Then, without a word, he turned on his heel and stormed out, slamming the door behind him so hard.

"Gabriel!" Julian shouted, jumping out of bed.

"We have to talk to him," I whispered, my voice trembling. "Julian, he is angry. Shit!"

Panic surged through me. My hands were shaking so violently that I could barely find the sleeves of my dress. We scrambled into our clothes in a frantic, disjointed silence. There was no time for buttons to be straight or for hair to be smoothed. Every second Gabriel was out of our sight was a second he could be standing in front of Richard, telling him exactly what he had seen. If Richard found out about us, I couldn’t think of the exact things he would do but I knew it would all be brutal.

I didn’t wait for Julian to finish locking his belt. I bolted toward the door, my bare feet silent on the carpet before I hit the cold hardwood of the hallway. I could hear Julian behind me, his footsteps heavy and hurried, but I was focused on the retreating shadow of Gabriel at the end of the corridor.

"Gabriel! Wait!" I called out but he didn’t slow down. If anything, his stride lengthened, his shoulders hunched as he marched toward the main staircase. He was heading toward the central part of the house, toward the lion’s den. I pushed myself to run faster, the adrenaline masking the burn in my lungs. I caught up to him just as he reached the landing of the grand staircase, my hand shooting out to grab his wrist. I used all my weight to force him to stop.

"Gabriel, please," I panted, my fingers digging into his shirt. "Please hear me out for one second."

Gabriel swung around so fast I nearly lost my balance. He didn’t pull his arm away, but he looked down at my hand as if it were a poisonous insect. The rage vibrating off him was noticeable. He didn’t say a word. He just stood there, his jaw clenched so tight I could see the muscles jumping.

"Say something," I pleaded, my voice cracking. "Yell at me, call me names, just don’t... don’t go. Please, Gabriel. Please, I know how bad it is but...."

His eyes finally met mine, his silent anger shutting me up. He was killing me. He looked like he wanted to roar, but the words were stuck behind a wall of pure resentment.

"Get your hand off me," his voice came out in a low, dangerous hiss.

Julian appeared behind me then, his face pale but his expression set in that familiar, defensive mask. He stepped forward, placing a hand on my shoulder to pull me back slightly. "Gabriel, calm down. Let’s go back to the room and talk about this like rational people. You’re furious, and I get it, but—"

"Don’t," Gabriel snapped, his voice finally rising. He turned his glare toward Julian, and the intensity of it was enough to make me flinch. "Don’t you dare say my name. Don’t you dare."

"Gab, just calm down. Be reasonable," Julian said, his voice dropping into that calm, steady tone he used when he was trying to de-escalate a tactical situation. "You’re very furious at the moment, and you’re going to say something you can’t take back. Just breathe."

"Breathe?" Gabriel repeated, a bitter, jagged laugh escaping his throat. "You’ve been playing me for a fool this whole time. I asked and you denied it—"

He didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, he lunged.

The movement was so sudden that I didn’t have time to scream. Gabriel’s fist connected with Julian’s jaw with a sickening, heavy thud. Julian’s head snapped to the side, his body recoiling from the force of the blow, but he didn’t fall. Gabriel didn’t stop there. He let out a primal grunt of frustration and threw another punch, this one catching Julian in the ribs.

"Gabriel, stop!" I shrieked, reaching out to grab his arm, but he shook me off with a strength I didn’t know he possessed.

Julian didn’t hit back. He stood there, his arms down at his sides, taking the hits. A streak of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth, but his eyes remained fixed on his brother, filled with a grim, stoic patience. He was letting Gabriel vent his rage, refusing to turn this into a fight between two men when it was clearly a fight between two brothers.

"Hit me!" Gabriel roared, swinging again and catching Julian across the cheekbone. "Defend yourself! Act like the monster that you truly are!"

Julian staggered back against the railing, the wood creaking under the impact. He wiped the blood from his lip with the back of his hand, his breathing heavy but controlled. "I’m not going to fight you, Gabriel. I understand why you’re doing this."

"You don’t understand anything!" Gabriel yelled, his voice carrying through the entire house.

By now, the noise had become impossible to ignore. Doors began to click open along the hallway. Staff members appeared, huddled in the shadows, their eyes wide as they witnessed the two heirs of the Vaughn estate brawling like common thugs. Then, Lucy stepped out of her room. She was wearing a lace robe, her eyes scanning the scene. She looked at Julian’s bleeding face, then at Gabriel’s shaking fists, and finally at me.

"What on earth is going on here?" Lucy demanded, her voice cutting through the tension. She walked toward me, her eyes narrowing as she took in my disheveled state. "Catherine, answer me. What have you done to them? Why are they fighting like animals in the middle of the night?"

I couldn’t answer her. I was too busy watching Gabriel, who looked like he was about to break. He was staring at Julian with a mixture of hatred and agony, his hands still curled into tight, trembling fists. The violence had reached a fever pitch, the air thick with the smell of sweat and the raw, jagged energy of a family falling apart.

"Gabriel, please, just stop," I begged, tears blurring my vision. "The workers are watching. Think about what you’re doing."

Gabriel didn’t pay any attention to me. He was focused entirely on Julian. He stepped forward again, his hand grabbing the front of Julian’s shirt, pulling him close until they were nose to nose. "I trusted you," he whispered, his voice shaking with a devastating intensity. "I actually thought you were better than him."

Julian didn’t blink. "I am better than him. And so are you. That’s why you’re going to stop this right now."

Just as Gabriel raised his fist for what looked like a heavy, crushing blow, a sound rolled through the hallway. It wasn’t a physical sound, but the deep volume of it made everyone freeze in place.

"STOP THIS RIGHT THIS MINUTE!"