My Stepbrother Wants Me-Chapter 155: A Physical Fight With Lucy

Julian’s POV

While driving back, I could feel the angry stare Catherine was giving me but whenever I turned to look at her, she would look away fast. The silence between us was annoying, it definitely wasn’t what I had expected. I expected us to get closer with the current situation at hand but guess I was wrong.

I looked over at her, seeing the way she stared out the window with her jaw set. I wanted to initiate a conversation, maybe talk more about the plan for Ethan and Tessa, or even explain a bit more about why I had actually agreed to it, but she wouldn’t give me the chance.

"Uhm..." As I opened my mouth to speak, Catherine reached into her bag and pulled out her earbuds. She didn’t even look at me. She just rolled her eyes, jammed them into her ears, and leaned her head back against the seat.

I stopped what I was going to say and scoffed. It looked like she got colder, especially after we had just spent the last few hours saving her best friend’s life. She clearly had no interest in talking to me.

My mind suddenly moved to that Dante guy, wondering if she was trying to be a loyal girlfriend to him by ignoring me but I chose to get the thought out of my head.

The "partnership" I had mentioned earlier was strictly business to her. I accepted the situation with a tight nod to myself and focused on parking the car.

We finally arrived. After I parked the car, we stepped out of the vehicle and walked toward the main entrance. I was already mentally preparing for whatever lecture Richard was going to give if he was us together, but I didn’t even make it past the entrance before the first obstacle appeared.

Lucy was standing right in the center of the entrance hall. She was dressed in an expensive cocktail dress, her arms crossed, looking like she had been pacing the floor for hours waiting for our return. Her eyes were sharp, darting between me and Catherine with a look of suspicion.

"Where were you?" Lucy demanded the second we crossed the threshold. She didn’t look at Catherine; she directed the question straight at me, her voice high and accusatory. "Julian, I’ve been calling you. Richard has been asking for both of you. You’ve been gone for hours. Where did the two of you go together?"

Catherine didn’t slow down. She had already walked past Lucy, heading for the stairs, but the sound of the question made her stop. She stood still for a second, then turned her head just enough to drop a snide comment over her shoulder.

"How is that supposed to be your business?" Catherine asked. Her voice was flat, bored, and dripping with enough contempt to make Lucy’s face turn a bright shade of red.

Lucy’s eyes went wide. She turned around to face Catherine’s back, her hands balled into fists. "What did you just say to me?" She yelled. "Who the hell do you think you’re talking to, Catherine?"

I watched as Catherine turned around fully. I could feel the smirk on her lips even before I saw it. She looked at Lucy from head to toe, her expression one of utter pity.

"I’m talking to the desperate woman forcing herself on a guy that probably can’t get his dick up for her, even if she’s naked," Catherine replied.

The air in the room seemed to vanish. The insult was so blunt, so incredibly public, that for a moment, even I was stunned. Lucy’s mouth hung open for a split second before her face twisted into a mask of pure rage. She let out a strangled cry and lunged forward.

Lucy didn’t try to argue. She went straight for the physical, reaching out to grab a handful of Catherine’s hair. I saw it happening and started to move forward to stop her, mostly because I didn’t want the scandal of a fight or maybe because I wanted to protect Cat but I wasn’t fast enough.

Catherine didn’t need my help. She moved with a speed I didn’t know she possessed. She stepped into Lucy’s space, caught her wrist, and before Lucy could even register what was happening, Catherine delivered a dirty slap that rang through the entire hall. I could practically feel the sting of it on my own cheek.

Lucy stumbled back, shocked, but the fight wasn’t over. Catherine didn’t give her a chance to recover. She tackled Lucy, the momentum sending both of them to the floor with a heavy thud.

I stood back, my hands half-raised, but I chose not to stop it. I was genuinely impressed. I had always seen Catherine as the girl who got pushed around but I didn’t think she had it in her to beat up Lucy. Catherine took the upper hand immediately. She pinned Lucy to the floor, sitting above her, and started pulling Lucy’s hair with one hand while delivering hard slaps with the other.

Lucy was screaming, trying to scratch at Catherine’s face, but she was completely overpowered. Catherine was stronger, fueled by weeks of built-up frustration and the adrenaline from the clinic.

I only decided to intervene when I felt that witch had received enough torture. I could see the marks on Lucy’s face, and I knew that if this went on any longer, someone would call Richard, and the situation would become unmanageable.

I stepped forward, grabbing Catherine around the waist and hauling her off. It took effort; she was fighting to get back at her. "Hey, you two. That’s enough!" I barked.

The moment I tore them away from each other, Lucy scrambled up from the floor. "Are you crazy? Look what you’ve done to me, you silly bitch!"

Her hair was a bird’s nest, her makeup was smeared, and her cheek was starting to swell. She looked absolutely shocked, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

Catherine was still struggling against my grip, her eyes wild. "Let me go, Julian! This fool still has some nerves to throw insults at me. Maybe I’ll have to claw her eyes out, so she can have something real to worry about!"

Lucy started backing away, heading toward the safety of the living room, but even in her state of shock, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. "You’re a psycho! Don’t you fucking come near me. You’re going to pay for this! I’m telling Richard! You’re disgusting, you little brat!"

"Go ahead!" Catherine yelled back, pointing a finger at her. "Go tell him! Tell him how I laid you out on the floor, shameless, desperate thing!"

"You have no idea what I can do to you."

Catherine’s gaze on Lucy intensified. "Go ahead, l like to see you try. I’m not the weak girl you think I am. You’ve been walking all over me since you got here, but that ends today. The next time you try to go physical on me, or the next time you even think about putting your hands on me, I’m going to make sure you lose a tooth or more. Do you understand me?"

Lucy didn’t answer. She just looked at Catherine with wide, fearful eyes, then turned and fled down the hallway toward Richard’s office, sobbing loudly.

I finally let go of Catherine’s waist. She smoothed out her clothes, her chest heaving as she tried to regulate her breathing. She didn’t look at me. She just adjusted her bag on her shoulder and turned back toward the stairs. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Catherine," I called, my voice a mixture of warning and genuine amusement.

She stopped on the first step and looked down at me. Her hair was messy, and her knuckles were red, but she looked more alive than I had seen her since the day she arrived at the estate.

"What, Julian? Are you going to yell at me for beating your girlfriend?"

"No," I said, a small smile playing on my lips. "But you might want to wash your hands. You’ve got her cheap foundation under your fingernails."

Catherine didn’t smile back, but she didn’t snap at me either. She just turned and continued up the stairs, leaving me alone in the foyer.

I stood there for a moment, looking at the spot on the floor where they had been fighting. That name I gave her... "Wildcat"... that nickname was definitely not an exaggeration. It defined her for who she truly was. A smile appeared on my lips as I remembered how she designed Lucy’s face. I couldn’t deny that I enjoyed watching her do that.

I checked my watch. Lucy was definitely on the phone with Richard’s by now, which meant the evening briefing was about to become a nightmare. I sighed, straightened my jacket, and headed to my room to freshen up. I had to prepare my own story, to tackle whatever lie Lucy was going to tell him, so Catherine wouldn’t end up being the one who suffers for it.