Chapter 264: 264/The Forbidden Zone
Chapter 264:
Carlos’s POV
It felt as though a lightning bolt had struck the room, freezing the very air in my chest. Did they truly break up this quickly? Robert the man who used to look at her as if she were his most precious possession was the one who discarded her? Julie’s shattered features were screaming with pain, her body trembling with small spasms she couldn’t control. Was she just a passing whim? Did he tire of her body that fast? And even worse, he wants to force her to work as a maid! The cruel Robert had reared his head again, but this time in an even more brutal version.
"What?" I asked in total disbelief, my eyes darting between Robert’s stiff face and Julie’s pallid one. "A maid? Have you completely lost your mind, Robert?"
He didn’t look at me. Instead, he kept his dark eyes fixed on Julie. I saw his jaw working powerfully as if he were grinding stone. "Julie... don’t force me to use strength and remove you from here in a way you won’t like," he said sharply, the veins in his neck bulging clearly against his shirt collar.
Julie replied with a bitterness dripping from her voice, a scathing sarcasm shaking her slender frame. "Oh, really? Are you going to hit me now? Will you complete the cycle of violence you started in the bedroom? Because I saw very clearly the amount of cruelty you can unleash upon my body!"
I felt my blood boiling in my veins like volcanic lava; those words lashed me like a whip. Did he treat her with cruelty in their bed? Did he dare to hurt that delicate body? I took a wide stride toward Robert, my chest muscles tensing as I confronted him. "Did you treat her with cruelty, Robert? Did you touch her violently? Answer me!"
He replied with an infuriating coldness, his eyes still frozen like ice. "Carlos... this is a private matter between her and me. Do not interfere in what does not concern you."
"How can I not interfere when I see a woman being humiliated before my eyes?" I shouted at him, my voice echoing sharply through the office. "How can I not interfere when you are destroying her like this?!"
He raised a warning hand, and I saw his fist clench tightly. "Carlos... stay away from this. This is the last time I warn you."
Julie stood between us with a wounded pride. Though tears were drowning her eyes, her gaze burned with defiance. Her chest heaved rapidly behind her shirt. "Listen to me well..." she said, her voice trembling but sharp. "I will not be a maid for you or anyone else, and I will not allow you to humiliate my dignity any further. If you are finished with me, let me leave this goddamn prison now!"
A heavy silence fell for a second, then Robert uttered words that were like a bomb shattering what remained of the calm. "I bought you with my money, Julie... and you are mine, legally and in reality. Therefore, you cannot go anywhere without my permission."
I was completely shocked, a profound disgust crawling up my throat. After all those feelings, after all those nights where I thought he loved her, was he back to treating her like mere merchandise he bought from the market? Had the mask finally fallen off the monster?
"So that’s it..." Julie said, her voice shaking, her lower lip trembling visibly. "We’re back to square one. You haven’t changed; you’ve gone back to seeing me as just a slave, just like in the beginning."
I turned to him in condemnation, feeling a desperate urge to punch him right in the face. "What is this nonsense you’re spewing, Robert? How can you humiliate her like this?"
Julie looked at me, and the brokenness in her eyes tore my heart apart. "You haven’t heard anything, Carlos..." she said in a tearful tone. "He hurled insults at me that burn the soul things no self-respecting man would ever say to a woman who shared his bed."
Suddenly, Robert moved toward her like lightning, grabbing her arm with excessive force that made Julie gasp in pain. I couldn’t restrain myself; I immediately stood between them, shoving his solid chest with both hands. The force made him recoil a step. "What is wrong with you, Robert? Have you gone mad? Let go of her hand now!" I shouted.
He growled at me, sparks flying from his eyes, the veins in his forehead looking as if they were about to burst. "You will stay away from us! You have no right to interfere in my business with her. Understand this!"
He yanked her behind him violently, ignoring my pleas and my rage, and forced her out of the office while she stumbled behind him. I followed him, my heart ablaze with fury, and watched him drag her down the hallway like a prisoner of war. He took her to her room and shoved her inside so sharply she fell onto the edge of the bed. Then he stood at the door, his massive frame completely blocking the exit. "I’m locking the door on you," he said in a commanding tone that sent chills down the spine. "You will stay here. You are forbidden from crossing the threshold of this room until I order it."
Julie screamed from inside, the sound of her sobbing piercing the silence. "Is this your only solution? To lock me up like an animal? What will you do next? Will you deny me air too?"
"Robert... you’re exaggerating," I said, trying to curb my rage and de-escalate before things spiraled out of control. "You can’t imprison her like this!"
He stepped out of the room and addressed me with an uncompromising sternness, his eyes gleaming with a strange malice. "Carlos... get out of here now. This conversation is over!"
I left under the pressure of his lethal gaze. He locked the door with the key, and the lock emitted a cold, metallic sound that announced the end of Julie’s freedom. I confronted him in the hallway, both our chests heaving from the violent physical tension.
"Listen to me well, Robert," I said with blatant defiance, raising my eyebrows and leaning into his face. "If you truly don’t want her, and you won’t treat her like a woman, then why did you ask me yesterday to stay away from her? Why all this sick possessiveness?"
He pointed a finger in my face in an explicit threat, leaning in so close I could smell the tobacco and whiskey on him. "You will stay away from her, Carlos," he hissed terrifyingly. "Whether I am with her or not, Julie is a forbidden zone for you. Do you hear me?"
I let out a bitter, mocking laugh and lifted my head in defiance. "Really? You broke up with her, you humiliated her dignity, and you locked her up... so why do you expect me to remain a spectator while I watch her wither away? Why should I stay away from her now, when she is in desperate need of a human heart?"
