Chapter 399 The Kiss

    Chapter 399 The Kiss

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    Quinn stared at him. The polished, aloof magnate from the ballroom had vanished; in his ce stood a man torn by warring impulses, phoenix–like eyes burning with suppressed anger and impossible yearning.

    “Answer me! Why did you show up in front of me again?” His voice pitched higher, raw with

    outrage.

    A few minutes earlier, he had watched her chat andugh with another man, interacting intimately. The scene had detonated inside him, jealousy shredding thest threads of restraint.

    “I… I only came to apany Laura,” Quinn stammered.

    But as she answered him, another voice echoed within her. I ialso /iiwanted /iito /iisee /iihim/ii, /ito ilearn /iithe /iitruth /iiof /iimy /iown iheart/ii. /iiDo /iiI /iireally /iihave /iithe /iicourage /iito /iitrust /iihim /iiagain/i? iAnd /iiwhat /iiabout /iihim/ii? /iiDoes he /iistill /iilove /iime/i?

    “Just here to apany Laura?” Julius let out a bitterugh.

    How pathetic he was, still clinging to the foolish hope that she might havee for him.

    “Your hand! What happened?” she cried.

    Moments ago at the banquet, his hands had been immacte, yet now his right was wrapped in pristine gauze, a faint rose stain blooming through the fibers.

    Quinn lifted the bandaged hand with deliberate care. “When did this happen? Is it serious?”

    “I told you. If you can’t stay by my side, then spare me your pity. It only lets me believe I still have a chance.”

    Hope, once kindled, could deepen the hollowness when it died.

    “Julius, I-” Quinn lifted her face, barely shaping his name when his left hand closed around her jaw, abrupt and unyielding.

    His mouth crashed onto hers, fierce and hungry, a devouring storm that tasted of desire and

    ruin.

    She froze, palm braced against his chest. At the instant she meant to shove him away,

    snared her wrist.

    doubt

    17:59 bTue/bb, /bSep 16

    Chapter 399 The Kiss

    She possessed the strength to end the kiss, to end everything.

    But did she truly want to?

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    His lips pressed on, hot yet hopeless, pouring every throttled emotion into that single union.

    Something invisible twisted her heart, and pain bloomed.

    Slowly, almost trembling, she threaded her arms around his neck and offered herself to the ze.

    He went rigid. Then greed overtook him. Terrified she might change her mind, he sought more, deeper, now.

    Only after an endless stretch did the kiss finally break. Quinn drew ragged breaths, lips smarting under the cool air.

    He breathed against her ear, “Is this your pity too?”

    She blinked, bewildered. “What?”

    “Why didn’t you shove me away? Do you understand what that does to me? It lights a useless hope I cannot afford. Quinn, you have already cast me into despair. Please, don’t hurl impossible dreams after it.”

    She swallowed. “Julius, it isn’t what you think, I just—”

    “Just what? Do you pity the pathetic man in front of you? Or do you need something from me -a favor, help? Is that why even a forced kiss is eptable?”

    She shook her head hard. “No! That’s not it!”

    He narrowed his eyes. “Do you perhaps still love me, Quinn? Is that why you let me touch you?”

    Silence fell; her throat locked around every possible reply.

    Disappointment flickered across his gaze, dim and unmistakable.

    She had sworn she despised lies and secrets. One lie from him had ended them, so how could she still love him?

    Throughout their story, he alone had been the one under someone else’s control.

    He, and only he, had pleaded for love.

    Chapter 399 The Kiss

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    “Quinn, if you don’t love me, you should never have swallowed that kiss. You should have beaten me back—hit me until I had no strength to lift a hand, until I was too broken to ever dare reach for you again. You should’ve done that.”

    Julius pivoted sharply, giving her nothing but the rigid line of his back. “Next time, don’t appear before me again. Unless you truly wish ito /iwatch mee undone,” he warned, each syble vibrating with reined–in fury.

    Without another word, he yanked open the lounge door and strode away, letting it swing shut behind him.

    Quinn stared at the door as it thudded closed, then lifted two trembling fingers to her lips.

    His breath still clung there—warm, haunting—and regret tunneled through her chest because she had let his question die in the thick silence.

    I still love him. Yet doubt gnaws: once trust is ibroken/ii, /iican /iit iever /iistand /iiagain/ii? /i