Chapter 263:

Robert’s POV

Debris filled the room, but the wreckage dwelling in my chest was far greater. I couldn’t believe that Julie the delicate girl who was in my arms yesterday possessed such ferocity. Even though she had scattered chaos in my office, shattering glass that sparkled like angry diamonds on the whiskey-soaked carpet, I found my pulse racing with admiration for her all over again.

I hated this admiration; I hated how erotic I found her when she was burning with rage and defiance.

I felt an intense self-loathing, a sickening feeling gnawing at my vitals like searing acid. How did I dare tell her that she was the one who asked to be fucked? How did I hurl her weakness and honesty back in her face with such filth? I knew with absolute certainty that I was the one who craved her more, that my body trembled with desire for every inch of her yet I crushed her dignity with words like poison.

In my own eyes, I was nothing but a lowlife, a bastard punishing an innocent girl for the sin of a treacherous mother. But the moment the memory of my mother haunted me the image of her ending her life because of that woman the rage ignited in my blood and eclipsed every ounce of tenderness.

The door opened slowly, and Carlos entered. His gaze froze on the shattered glass and the drink flooding the expensive carpet. He raised his eyebrows in shock and looked at me, bewildered. "What am I looking at, Robert? Did an earthquake hit this office?"

I took a deep breath, feeling my chest tighten behind my strained shirt. I replied curtly, trying to keep my features steady: "Nothing... just a minor accident."

Carlos narrowed his eyes, stepping closer as he scanned my exhausted face. "I just saw Julie in the hallway... she looked like she’d just come out of a war. Did you two fight?"

I exhaled with sharp impatience, my jaw tensing. "Carlos, please... I’m in no state to discuss this."

Carlos sighed and pulled out a chair to sit. His tone shifted, becoming more serious. "Fine, as you wish... but I’m here for something that cannot wait. The Snake is still alive. He survived."

I knit my brows tightly, a chill running down my spine. "So the bastard didn’t die?" I asked warily.

Carlos interlaced his fingers anxiously. "No... and it seems Don Morgan is planning something. This silence before the storm is unsettling; he’s cooking something up in the shadows."

I leaned back in my leather chair, which gave a faint creak, as I mapped out our next moves. "The next shipment... when exactly does it arrive?"

"A week from now," Carlos said.

"We have to secure it with double the previous force," I said firmly, my mind working like a precision machine. "I don’t think he’ll try to steal it the same way again that would be stupidity on his part."

"If he doesn’t steal the shipment, then what will he do?" Carlos asked, puzzled.

"I don’t know," I replied, feeling a tangible danger closing in on us, a danger that teased my instincts. "But Morgan’s silence suggests something much more dangerous, something that might hit us at our core."

Carlos nodded in silent agreement. "Then we must take maximum precautions."

"Yes," I said. "And that’s exactly what we’ll do."

We had barely finished the sentence when the door burst open with a deafening bang. Julie stormed in like a hurricane. Her breathing was audible, her chest heaving sharply behind her shirt, her eyes gleaming with a scorching fire.

She marched toward me with furious steps and stood before the desk, screaming in a trembling voice: "Did you change the passcode?! Do you think that by imprisoning me here, you’ll force me to accept your humiliation?! You want to break me under your very eyes!"

My entire body stiffened. I loathed the fact that she was exposing this personal conflict in front of Carlos. I looked at her sharply, the veins in my neck bulging with rage. "What is going on here?" Carlos asked in shock, glancing between us, lost. "What passcode are you talking about?"

Julie turned to him quickly, her gaze full of defiance and pain. "Do you want to know the truth, Carlos? I will tell you everything!"

I stood up from behind my desk, my massive frame looming. I leaned my hands heavily on the wooden surface until my knuckles turned white. "Julie... go to your room, now!" I commanded in a thundering voice.

She resisted with a stubbornness that made her plant her feet as if rooting herself to the floor. "I won’t!" she shouted in my face. "I won’t move from here until everyone hears the truth about you!"

"Stop this nonsense!" Carlos shouted, rising to his feet, trying to control the explosive situation. "Robert, Julie... will someone explain to me what the hell is happening?"

At that moment, a blind jealousy gnawed at my chest. I knew Carlos harbored feelings for Julie, and deep down, I feared he would exploit this rift between us to reach out and steal her from me. Even if I was the one who pushed her away, and even if I had decided to break up with her, the thought of any other man touching her made my blood boil like a cauldron.

I would not allow any man to go near her; she would remain mine, even in the depths of our hatred.

But Julie’s next words were like a projectile that shattered the remaining silence. She screamed at Carlos while pointing at me with contempt: "Robert decided to break up with me for no reason! And even worse... he told me I’m going to work as a maid here in the club a maid to be humiliated under his feet!"

Carlos’s breath hitched, and a heavy silence filled the room, pierced only by the flame of Julie’s burning breath and the thudding of my own heart, which I could almost hear in my ears.