Slights to his person Julian could generally handle with little issue - but he was proud of his abilities with people (women, business, otherwise) and to hear her phrase it in such a manner only stoked his anger all the more. But that was what they were going for in one another, picking at the scars and refreshing the hurt because that was all that was left of their relationship. When was the last time they'd been in each other's presence and had a civil conversation? Not within recent years, that much Julian knew. He took in a deep sigh, one hand rising to knead the bridge of his nose and then his eyes as though he were dealing with a difficult child. Which, at times, was what Ariana felt like; and he didn't want to be married to a child, he wanted the woman he had fallen for. He had no idea what had happened to her, and he was too busy to track her down. Instead it had been far simpler to push Ariana away, and then eventually follow that up with the divorce. More and more it seemed like a good idea.
And that train of thought brought back that little inkling, the little notion in the back of his mind that he had made the wrong move. That, instead of making things work for them, he had made things work for him - which, in his mind, was the usual, and thus not an unnatural course of action. Throughout all of his life he had never quite had to make things go his way, it had always been the case that he came out on top almost eighty percent of the time. The idea that he might have to work, to maintain his relationship with his wife was foreign; they were both adults, and quite frankly, if she loved him she would understand that he had responsibilities. It wasn't always technically work in running the club, though sometimes he did have to go that extra mile (but he managed to make that happen not so often) - to have to do that for another person was so tiring.
"Is that what you think? That I used you and then threw you away?" The emotion came through his voice, the tired nature of the conversation resounding in the cadence of his words. His hand fell back down to his side, both now hanging loosely as he continued to allow his important time to be swallowed up by her. Of course, had he known that she was moving in next door, undoubtedly he would have figured out a way to avoid this kind of confrontation, but such planning was too little too late. His lips pursed in a sour manner, the entire expression of his face matching her own for disapproval. There had been a time when he'd enjoyed the fact that she refused to be anything but an equal; it had thrilled him, that while he could still apparently capture her with his usual wining and dining ways, she managed to stay on a level edge with him, proving herself every bit just as capable as he. Slowly that seemed to turn into nitpicking and demanding ways; yet again, the thought that perhaps Julian was simply seeing her in a different light had never occurred to him, but if he were to manage a long, hard consideration of his feelings toward Ariana, he might find such a thing to be true. For the moment, however, he just found her annoying.