Chapter 432/Was Never a Dream, Julie...

Chapter 432

Julie’s point of view

I shrieked bitterly, tears gathering rapidly in my eyes:

"I want to choke you to death!"

I didn’t wait for his answer; I lunged onto his chest, wrapping both my palms tight around his thick neck, clamping my fingers down with pure malice to cut off his breath.

He locked his fingers around my wrists with effortless ease, restraining my hands before I could exert real pressure, hissing out in sharp surprise as he took in my wild outburst:

"Julie!... Have you completely lost your head?!"

I fixed my pain-filled gaze onto his eyes, shouting in a choked gasp:

"I want you to die!... I want you to vanish from my life!"

His body suddenly relaxed. His thin lips curved into a charming, warm, and rare smile that melted the icy harshness off his face.

He lifted his free hand, dragging his fingers smoothly to brush the messy strands of hair away from my cheeks, his voice dropping low, dripping with passion and danger:

"I love this wild madness in you, Julie..."

Damn it!... My chest tightened violently, my lips trembling before that cursed smile. What kind of beautiful, provoking dream is this, for fuck’s sake?! Why does he seem so tender and incredible in my illusions, when in reality he’s a heartless demon?!

My grip on his neck went completely slack. I stared at him in utter disarray, whispering in a broken rasps:

"Why are you so sweet in my dreams, Robert?"

He looked down at me, a faint smile touching his lips, asking in a calm tone:

"Am I not sweet in reality?"

I shook my head violently, shouting right in his face as rage boiled inside my chest:

"No!... You’re a complete bastard! You’re an idiot, selfish, emotionless, heartless, arrogant, and..."

He cut me off in a firm voice, raising a single eyebrow:

"That’s enough!"

I stared at him in surprise, my expression softening slightly as I offered a childish, apologetic murmur:

"Did I upset you?... I didn’t mean you! You here in my dream are actually very sweet... I’m only talking about your hideous real-life version."

He narrowed his icy eyes, asking in a low voice dripping with suspicion:

"So... you don’t like me in reality?"

I shrugged my shoulders bitterly, my gaze dropping to his bare chest before I spoke:

"No... I even thought about it a lot: what if I had loved Carlos instead of you?"

In less than a heartbeat, his features froze completely! The smile vanished from his lips, his jaw clenching with terrifying rigidity as he hissed out through gritted teeth:

"What the hell did you just say?!"

I knitted my brows in confusion, my eyes scanning the corners of the room... I couldn’t wrap my head around how this dream was lasting so long, or how its details, the scent of royal oud, and the heat of his skin felt so brutally real!

I pulled my hands off his shoulders, letting out an exhausted sigh:

"Sorry... I’m going to close my eyes now, and when I open them again, you won’t be here."

I squeezed my eyelids shut, sitting there waiting for the moment of waking up and vanishing... A few seconds passed, then I opened them expectantly, only to find the exact same enraged face and dark, piercing eyes staring down at me with pure harshness!

I shut my eyes tighter, forcing my eyelids shut while repeating in my head for my mind to wake up. Suddenly, his deep voice caught me off guard, hovering agonizingly close to my ear, carrying the heat of his breath:

"This isn’t a dream, Julie..."

My eyes flew open in absolute shock, my pupils widening in a terror that paralyzed my entire body... and a deafening scream of panic ripped from my throat, shaking the entire suite!

The echo of my scream shattered through the vast suite as my chest heaved with rapid, ragged gasps, as if air had been suddenly sucked from my lungs.

In a fraction of a second, Robert’s massive palm clamped over my mouth firmly, without causing pain while the heavy weight of his body lunged over me, pinning my trembling hands onto the silk sheets, trapping my hips beneath his solid knees.

He lowered his face until only a fraction of a millimeter separated our lips, his dark eyes ablaze with a storm of suppressed rage and absolute dominance.

He hissed sharply against my skin:

"Calm the fuck down!"

I tried to break free wildly, thrashing my head side to side and shoving his arms with every ounce of my meager strength, but his grip was like steel chains.

My unfocused eyes snapped back to his burning gaze, and the blinding truth struck me like a lightning bolt: (He’s real!... This heat, this harshness, and the overwhelming scent of royal oud... None of this is an alcohol-induced delirium!)

My movements slowly died down as I gasped helplessly, every trace of doubt abandoning my mind to make way for a stark, brutal shock that threw me into the abyss.

He slowly drew his palm off my mouth, but he didn’t pull his body away he remained hovering over me, trapping me beneath his bare weight, save for the towel wrapped around his waist.

I dragged my tongue over my dry lips, raspy words trembling with terror and heartbreak slipping out:

"You... You weren’t a dream?"

He tilted his head slightly, his jaw locking hard as he reminded me in a low voice laced with reproach and promise:

"No, Julie... I wasn’t a dream! And your damned words about Carlos weren’t an illusion either... I promise you, we will settle that account in detail the second your scrambled mind regains its full balance!"

My insides twisted violently. A single scorching tear spilled from the corner of my eye, trailing into my messy hair as the sheer horror of the catastrophe I had walked into fully set in.

My chest tightened brutally, my head throbbing as if a hammer were pounding inside my skull without mercy.

How the hell did I end up in this suite?! How did I dare enter his lair, and how did I sleep beside him on this bed in such dangerous proximity?! And even worse... how did he treat me with such tenderness and soft care just a moment ago?!

What the hell did I do when the alcohol took over my mind last night?!

I squeezed my eyes shut, contorting my face as I tried to summon my missing memory from the dark: (Remember, Julie!... Remember, for God’s sake, what you did!)... But there was nothing! My mind was a blank canvas, void of anything except a hazy fog and shattered glass fragments that refused to come together.

His deep voice caught me off guard again, hovering agonizingly close to my skin, carrying his scorching breath as he mocked:

"I told you it wasn’t a dream... Still not convinced?"

My eyes snapped open. I stared helplessly up into his dark eyes hovering right over me, my raspy voice struggling against his bare weight:

"Let me go right now!"

He didn’t even blink. He slammed his free palm onto the bed right beside my head, his muscles tensing as he cut in with a firm hiss:

"I won’t."

I swallowed hard, asking with rapid breaths, killed by panic and exposure:

"What the hell happened yesterday?! What did I do?!"

He tilted his head slightly, his lips parting in a harsh smile devoid of any warmth, stating firmly:

"You told me the truth."

The blood froze in my veins completely.

A sudden wave of horror seized my gut, paralyzing my limbs; could I have spilled everything?! Did I tell him the real reason behind my tragic escape?! Did I actually dare tell him I was pregnant with his baby... and that our child died beneath the rubble?!

My face went completely pale. A low, trembling whisper broke from my throat, drowned in fear:

"W-What truth?!"

He fixed his steel eyes deep into mine, answering in a dry voice dripping with weight:

"You told me everything... about what happened four years ago."

My lips trembled, the words slipping through my teeth unconsciously from the sheer weight of shock and confusion:

"Do you mean the phone call... and Ethan?! Everything?!"

In the very next second... Robert went dead still above me!

His icy eyes narrowed into a sharp, terrifying glare. His jaw locked with a brutal rigidity that turned his features into solid granite.

He lowered his face even closer, his voice dropping low, raspy, dripping with pure danger and death:

"Who the fuck is Ethan?!"

I froze dead in place, my heart plunging into a bottomless abyss.

Damn my filthy, slip-of-the-tongue tongue!... What the fuck did I just say?!

Robert’s scorching breath hit my pale skin, his eyes turned into black embers that burned through the deepest part of my terrified soul. Two crushing weights pressed down on me: the raw weight of his bare body pinning me to the bed, and the suffocating weight of that damned name that had recklessly escaped my teeth!

I clamped my lips tightly shut, shaking my head in rapid, frantic denial, desperately trying to yank my trembling gaze away from the steel trap of his eyes.

I whispered in a low rasps, drowned in panic:

"No one!... I didn’t say anything!"

The pressure of his palm against the sheet beside my head tightened, his face dropping lower until the tip of his nose brushed my pale cheekbone. He hissed out, every word dripping with lethal sparks that shook the entire suite:

"Don’t fuck with me, Julie!... Who the hell is Ethan?! And what does that name have to do with the phone call and your escape four years ago?!"

My jaw trembled violently. A single scorching tear spilled over his fingers, which held my chin with firm, unyielding gentleness. My lips locked up, my mind screaming that the truth was far too grotesque and heavy to bear in this deadly, catastrophic moment!

I squeezed my eyes shut to escape his unyielding, steel gaze, my breath coming in ragged hitches as tears washed over my shattered face:

"Let me go, Robert... Please, don’t ask me any more!"