He Never Loved Me Until the Day I Finally Left Him novel Chapter 548

In the past, Julian had never interfered with her dealings with The Hayes Corporation.

But given the explosive tension between the two men tonight, she felt an overwhelming need to explain herself.

"He sent that message just to get under your skin," she pointed out sharply.

Julian grunted softly but said nothing else.

His hands remained tightly gripped on the steering wheel, completely still.

The engine roared as they pulled away from the light and headed toward their destination.

Back at the hotel, Sebastian was still standing in the parking lot.

He didn't casually get into his own car until Julian's taillights disappeared into the distance.

He had always harbored a vicious resentment over the bond between Julian and Helena back then.

He firmly believed that if Julian hadn't interfered, he and Helena would never have ended up destroying each other.

It was Julian's meddling that gave her the hope and courage to fight back against him.

For the past five years, the two men had completely ignored each other on the surface.

They certainly never considered doing business together.

But the vicious, invisible war between their empires had never stopped.

Julian had just never mentioned it to her.

He had kept their marriage out of the press, aggressively suppressing any leaked photos of her.

Not because he was ashamed of her, but because he didn't want Sebastian to find out she was alive.

Yet the one person he couldn't control was Helena herself.

Furthermore, his current dynamic with her only fueled his dark mood.

They were husband and wife.

But they were completely unable to consummate their marriage.

She was inherently repulsed by intimacy—repulsed by men.

And that included him.

She never brought it up, but he knew exactly what was wrong.

He had discovered it by accident.

Whenever they visited the Campbell estate, they were forced to share a bedroom to keep up appearances.

Simply being trapped in the same room with him drove her to secretly take sedatives.

It was the only way she could prevent a full-blown panic attack from accidental physical contact.

He had noticed it shortly after they got married.

She never explicitly rejected him.

But he could always feel the sheer terror radiating off her body.

In their three years of marriage, she had never seen him exude such dark, oppressive fury.

Because of that, she was too afraid to speak.

The elevator dinged as they reached their penthouse.

He stormed in first.

She followed cautiously behind.

"Julian—" she gasped.

The moment the door slammed shut, he lunged, pinning her aggressively against the hard wood.

She instinctively brought her hands up to his chest to shove him back.

But she didn't fight him too violently.

Blinded by raw possessiveness, he didn't say a single word.

He just smashed his lips desperately against hers.

It was a frantic, dominating kiss.

Trapped between his body and the door, she had absolutely nowhere to run.

Her breathing grew ragged and short.

Her senses were overwhelmed by his scent—a faint, masculine hint of sandalwood.