Chapter 437/You Don’t Have the Right to Refuse

Chapter 437

Julie’s point of view

I squeezed my eyes shut in raw pain, a burning tear spilling over to brush against his steel thumb as he gently wiped the tracks of my crying away a sharp tenderness that contradicted the harshness of his words.

He added in a low hiss against my ear:

"I don’t know the meaning of forgiveness when it comes to you walking away from me... But I know one thing and one thing only; you are here now, in my arms, and I will never let you run again even if I have to burn the entire world down to keep you in my chest."

My gut twisted with an agonizing ache at his words. I cupped his sharp jaw with my trembling palm, burying my face back into the slope of his neck, inhaling the heavy, woody scent of his cologne that had always been my sanctuary and safety.

I wished in that moment that this silence would last forever, that time would freeze within the boundaries of this embrace, so I would never have to face the dark ghost choking my throat... the ghost of the secret burning in my chest about our departed child, and the guilt that would haunt my soul for as long as I lived.

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand, taking steady gulps of air to regain a sliver of composure.

I pulled my exhausted body back from his chest, rising from the plush carpet with hesitant steps. Robert instantly towered to his full height, locking his dark eyes on me like a hawk watching its prey, refusing to let much distance expand between us.

All traces of fleeting tenderness vanished from his sharp face, replaced once more by an intimidating coldness. He took a single step toward me, his voice coming out in a dry, low rasp a toxic hiss from the deepest depths of his chest:

"And now, Julie... tell me, who the fuck is this damned Ethan?"

The blood froze in my veins, the world spinning once again. My mind raced into a frenzy... (How the hell am I going to answer him?! How do I pull myself out of this trap without opening the gates of hell upon myself?!)

Terror seized my chest; if I uttered a single word about the truth that Ethan was our baby, that I got pregnant and ran away, only to lose him because I originally wanted an abortion... that my son Ethan passed away because I didn’t want him at first, and even though I changed my mind and wanted to deliver him, he died during childbirth... he would destroy me! He would blame me for his death, despise me, and hold me responsible for robbing him of his child of my own free will!

I gripped the fabric of my pajama top with freezing, trembling fingers until my knuckles turned stark white, making a desperate decision to fabricate a lie that would save my soul and keep the dark secret buried deep.

I considered making Ethan a passing figure; a former friend of my brother who tried to get close to me and asked me to be his girlfriend, but I rejected him completely and severed all ties.

Yet... even this simple lie terrified me! Robert was an obsessed man, possessive to the point of madness... If he found out another man had dared to even ask to come near me, he would hunt him down to the ends of the earth and kill him in cold blood!

I looked into his icy eyes, which were scrutinizing my distraction and prolonged silence. I swallowed hard, a bitter lump forming in my throat as my heart rate surged once more.

My jaw trembled as I swallowed my raw pain, facing the harsh stillness carved onto his steel features. There was no other desperate way out... every road was blocked, and the dark secret would consume me whole if I didn’t bury it under this lie!

I clutched my pajama fabric with cold, bare fingers, forcing my pain-clouded eyes to look directly into the depths of his dark pupils.

I dragged in a ragged breath, whispering in a broken voice trembling with weakness:

"Ethan... was just a friend of my brother, Robert."

Robert narrowed his icy eyes dangerously, lowering his face toward mine slowly, holding his breath to catch every single letter, muttering in a sharp hiss:

"Your brother’s friend?! And what the hell makes his name linger on your tongue in such sheer panic and breakdown?!"

I took half a step back, but his steel palm clamped with lightning speed over my wrist, locking me in place. I squeezed my eyelids shut for a second, completing in a fractured tone floating over fear and anxiety:

"He... he just liked me in the past... He asked me to be his girlfriend, but I rejected him immediately! I swear to you I rejected him and cut him off completely!"

Every single muscle in his towering frame locked rigid for a second, a terrifying silence settling over the room like the calm before a storm.

His left jaw clenched with brutal intensity, his icy gaze transforming into a black, burning ember fueled by absolute denial and lethal possessiveness as if the mere mention of the word "girlfriend" directed at me from another man’s mouth was enough to make him burn the world and everyone in it to ash!

Robert clenched his jaw with brutal intensity, the thick veins in his neck bulging as he squeezed his eyes shut. He dragged in a heavy, jagged breath, visibly wrestling with the volcanic surge in his chest and the murderous impulse to crush any man who had ever dared walk near me.

Slowly, his eyelids lifted.

The blazing fury in his dark pupils receded, replaced instantly by a stone-cold, unforgiving stillness. He locked his gaze onto my terrified face, forcing a low, controlled rasp through his teeth:

"Fine..."

He paused, exhaling slowly as his broad shoulders settled into a rigid posture:

"...I won’t lose my temper right now, Julie."

His hand reached out, his heavy thumb lightly brushing my trembling lower lip before pulling back:

"Because I just got you back... and I refuse to ruin this moment over trivial past trash."

I nodded frantically, my back pressing flatter against the wall as I swallowed the knot in my throat.

"He... he really isn’t worth getting angry over..." My voice cracked, stammering with a desperate plea for safety: "...I swear it."

Robert offered no response.

He simply broke eye contact, towering over me as he bent his large frame to retrieve the velvet ring box from the plush carpet. Rising back to his full height, he popped the lid open with a quiet, icy click.

His thick fingers pinched the glowing emerald ring.

Without a word, without a single muscle shifting on his hardened face, his broad palm shot out and clamped firmly around my left hand. He adjusted my ring finger with a precise, unyielding grip, then drove the band down my skin in one smooth, direct motion sealing the gesture like an inevitable, binding contract.

I froze, staring down at the deep green stone heavy on my hand. A disorienting wave of shock washed over me.

(This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen...)

I had envisioned a completely different moment poetic romance, a knelt knee, breathless promises whispered in warmth like the stories I read. But he had done it with a terrifyingly clinical coldness, treating our union not as a proposal, but as a non-negotiable decree.

I forced my shocked eyes up to meet his.

"What..." My voice faltered, entirely disoriented: "...what did you just do?!"

Robert stood completely immovable. His dark, unblinking eyes pinned me to the spot.

"What should have been done four years ago," he rumbled in a deep, dry tone.

My pupils dilated with rising panic.

"But... you didn’t even ask me!" A stunned, breathless outburst escaped my lips: "You didn’t ask if I agreed!"

He tilted his head slightly, leaning his towering frame down toward my face until his shadow engulfed me completely.

"And you don’t have the fucking right to refuse or ask, Julie."