When She Ended It With Divorce (Chiara and Titus) novel Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Titus reached out and turned off the running water, yet he didn’t release Chiara from his embrace. Her body, warm and tender against his, felt like a fragile flame he didn’t want to extinguish. Leaning closer, he pressed his lips gently to hers, savoring the moment.

“Titus…” Chiara’s voice was barely audible, a soft breath escaping her lips.

“Shh,” he whispered, his tone low and intimate. “Keep it down. Do you want the whole house to hear what we’re up to?”

She pulled back slightly, turning her face away from him. “No,” she said firmly, “please, let me go.”

“Still thinking about divorce, huh?” he asked, his voice laced with a hint of challenge.

Chiara didn’t answer. The silence between them was heavy, louder than any words she could have spoken.

Surprisingly, Titus didn’t seem angry. Instead, a humorless chuckle escaped him. “You really are stubborn,” he said softly, “refusing to give up even when you’ve lost all hope.”

Though she remained silent, Chiara understood her own heart clearly. The very reason she wanted to leave was because she had already given up on him, on them.

“Grandma cares about you more than you realize,” Titus continued, his voice soft but edged with a quiet insistence. “Do you want to burden her with worry in her old age?”

Chiara’s eyes flickered with a mixture of guilt and resolve. “That’s not my intention,” she murmured.

“Then what was that just now?” he pressed gently.

“Adele isn’t like Debby,” Chiara explained quietly. “Since we’ve decided to separate, I think we owe them the truth.”

Titus tightened his arm around her waist, his fingers pressing lightly. “You’ve lost weight. Why choose to suffer when you could live comfortably?”

She took a steadying breath. “I want to stand on my own two feet.”

He scoffed, turning her to face him and lifting her chin with a firm hand. “Are you sure you’re not just making things harder for yourself?”

Recognizing the teasing edge in his voice, Chiara’s determination only grew stronger. “You don’t get to decide that. Now, please, let me go.”

A dark intensity flashed in Titus’s eyes as he studied her. “Fine,” he said at last.

Confused, Chiara looked up at him, frustration mingling with uncertainty. “Then let me go.”

“Not until you kiss me,” he replied, a playful challenge in his tone.

“You’re impossible,” she snapped, her temper flaring.

“Since when did kissing my wife become ‘impossible’?” he retorted with a grin.

“Let me go. Now,” she demanded, pushing against his chest with firm hands.

“We have all night,” he murmured, his voice low and steady. “I can wait.”

Chiara froze, staring at him as if seeing him for the first time. There was something different in his gaze—something both familiar and strange.

“What?” he asked, raising an eyebrow under her bewildered look.

A humorless smile curved her lips. “I’m just wondering what happened to the real you,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Titus stiffened, catching the unspoken accusation in her words. Holding her close, he suddenly realized how strangely he had been behaving.

Feeling his arms loosen, Chiara pushed away. Just as she turned to leave, his hand closed around her wrist.

“No kiss, no leaving,” he whispered, pulling her back and capturing her lips in a deep, demanding kiss.

“Stop it,” she protested, struggling just enough to show her resistance.

At that moment, the door swung open and a maid stood frozen, gasping at the scene before her.

Flushed with both anger and embarrassment, Chiara reacted instinctively—stomping on Titus’s foot.

Her small frame made the gesture almost playful, which only seemed to encourage him further.

Her heart pounded wildly in her chest, a sudden fear rising that he might actually act on his reckless impulse.

And moments later, that fear was confirmed.

Even Titus knew he was crossing a line, but the sight of her—so beautiful and flustered in his arms—made it impossible to stop. His voice was rough as he murmured, “Tell me you liked it.”

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