Chapter 35: Chapter 35 Raw Hatred
Seraphina’s POV
Everything became a blur as Julian dragged me from the living room. His fingers clamped around my wrist like a steel trap, merciless and bruising. This wasn’t the tender touch I’d grown accustomed to over recent weeks. This was pure dominance, a harsh reminder of the man I’d married years ago.
My feet barely touched the ground as he hauled me down the corridor. The silence between us crackled with tension so thick I could taste it. My pulse hammered against my throat, each beat echoing the dread building in my chest. The Julian who had been trying, who had shown glimpses of warmth, had vanished completely.
He threw open his bedroom door with violent force, the wood slamming against the wall. Then he released me so abruptly I nearly collapsed, my legs trembling from the sudden freedom. I caught myself against the doorframe, my wrist throbbing where his grip had been.
When I finally looked up at him, my world crumbled.
The man standing before me was a stranger wearing my husband’s face. Gone was any trace of the softer version of himself he’d been revealing lately. Instead, his eyes held the same glacial indifference that once made enemies cower. But this time, that arctic stare was reserved entirely for me.
Worse than the coldness was what lay beneath it. Fury burned in those dark depths, transforming his features into something almost unrecognizable. And cutting through it all like a blade was something that made my soul bleed.
Hatred.
Raw, undiluted hatred directed at me.
The fragile progress we’d made over the past weeks disintegrated in an instant. Every tentative smile, every careful conversation, every moment where I’d dared to hope we might actually build something real together, all of it reduced to nothing by that single look.
"I never intended to deceive you," I whispered, my voice barely audible. "But it wasn’t my place to share that information. It never belonged to me."
He moved closer, his presence suddenly overwhelming and menacing. "You didn’t think I had a right to know?" His voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "You didn’t think I deserved to know I was going to be a father?"
The unfairness of his accusation ignited something fierce inside me. "How exactly was I supposed to handle that?" I shot back, my voice gaining strength. "Tell me, Julian, how would you react if someone forced you to inform your mate that he’d fathered a child with someone else? With someone who wasn’t you?"
A harsh laugh escaped my lips, devoid of any humor. "You betrayed me," I stated simply, the words cutting through the air like shards of glass. "Yet somehow I’m the one expected to apologize. Because you’re upset." My gaze locked with his, refusing to back down. "I don’t owe you explanations about anything. Not after what you did. I wasn’t the one who chose to sleep with my mate’s sister. I’m barely keeping my head above water while my entire existence falls apart around me, and yet you somehow manage to make this about your wounded feelings."
The silence stretched between us, heavy with unspoken truths and years of accumulated pain. Something flickered across his expression, maybe remorse, maybe just more anger. He opened his mouth as if to defend himself, to offer justifications I’d heard too many times before.
I held up my hand, stopping him cold.
"Don’t," I said firmly, shaking my head. "Just don’t. You’ll never change, will you?" My voice wavered but I refused to let it break completely. "I can see it written all over your face, Julian. The disappointment. The resentment. That same coldness you used to reserve for your enemies, now you’re directing it at me." A single tear traced down my cheek before I could stop it. "This is how it’ll always be, isn’t it? Every conflict, every problem, somehow it’ll always be my fault. Always my burden to carry." My voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "I can’t exist in a relationship like that anymore."
His expression shifted dramatically, anger replaced by something resembling panic. He reached toward me desperately. "Seraphina, please, don’t say that. Wait, just listen to me for a moment."
I stepped backward, putting distance between us before his touch could weaken my resolve. After seeing that hatred in his eyes, the thought of his hands on me felt unbearable. "I need distance, Julian," I said, my tone flat and emotionless. "I need room to think."
Part of me had convinced myself that maybe she’d been lying, creating drama where none existed. But deep down, I knew better. She’d been telling the truth, and her timing had been calculated to cause maximum damage between us.
I turned toward the door, my legs feeling unsteady beneath me. Just as my fingers closed around the cool metal handle, his voice stopped me in my tracks.
"Where do you think you’re going?" he demanded, a mixture of fear and possessiveness coloring his words.
The audacity of his question almost made me laugh.
I looked back at him over my shoulder, meeting his gaze steadily. "Don’t worry yourself," I replied, an strange sense of calm settling over me despite the chaos raging inside. "I won’t disappear on you." The truth fell from my lips like stones. "You’re holding my father prisoner somewhere, and I’d never abandon him to whatever fate you have planned." I managed a cold smile that felt foreign on my face. "So relax, Julian. I’m not going anywhere."
With that, I opened the door and stepped into the hallway, leaving him alone with the wreckage of whatever we’d been trying to build together.
