Vanquished (The Encounter #3)(28)

I owed him so much, and I truly felt bad that he, without a doubt in my mind, saw me as a slut who had fancied his friend while I was with him. Obviously, it would seem that way, though it was far from the truth. As much as I wanted to uphold my honor and his view of me, keeping him from what the real truth was the only thing that mattered. Therefore, I would let him go on with his anger and accusations, despite the fact that it would hurt. As much as it would pain me, protecting the twins was the priority.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked yet was met with a wall of nothingness.

Watching him pull out of the marina before driving into traffic, I half expected him to take me to the hotel or somewhere familiar so he could get on with degrading me with accusations and what not, but I was surprised when he took another route, one that was unfamiliar to me.

“Where are you taking me?” I nervously asked again, feeling light-headed and breathless as I cocked my head to the side so I could see his gorgeously handsome profile with his well-honed jaw, darkly arched brow, and perfect nose. The sight of him—being this close to him—made me ache something fierce deep within. I loved him still. No man could compare. And he loathed me … I supposed it was just as well. There was no hope for us. There never had been to begin with.

Hugo’s continued silence was becoming deafening to my ears. There was no music to mask the tension that crackled between us. With his jaw locked and the acute way he executed shifting gears, one would not question whether he was on a warpath. The sound of the engine roaring didn’t help at all. I was on pins and needles as I tried to gather my wits.

As crazy as it seemed, I had to stop myself from reaching out to him. It was such a wild, forbidden thought, but seeing him in such a wound-up state made me feel awful. He was my everything … before I found out about the babies. Then everything changed.

Where was he taking me? I wondered as I nervously took in the darkness of the night. It seemed that he was hell bent on punishing me by keeping silent, so I decided to rest my head against the headrest, close my eyes, and pray for this madness to end or to have some kind of resolution.

I couldn’t stand another moment this close to him. It would unlock something I had kept at bay, and I couldn’t afford to go down that path again. It would end me.

I had never seen him this way, and I wasn’t sure how to push my boundaries with him. No man who meant to forgive would dare threaten what he had. I could only hope for a backlash I could endure. Keeping my secret safe was all that mattered now.

How long had it been since we left? It had to have been over an hour or more. With each passing second, it seemed as if we were driving away from the cities, away from the coastline, and heading somewhere around Provence. It was the only indication from the long stretches of fields and bushy landscape.

To make my already aggravating situation worse, the familiar nausea was surfacing, making me bite the inside of my cheek as I protectively wrapped an arm around my stomach, hoping the warmth would make it go away.

God, please don’t do this to me right now, I quietly chanted, hoping the man above could hear my pleas.

“Are you ill?” Hugo’s husky voice cut through my thoughts, instantly making me open my eyes.

I blinked a few times before slowly turning my head to look at him. “It’s nothing,” I murmured back.

Without glancing back at me, he responded, “It doesn’t seem like it’s nothing to me. You look as though you are in pain.”

There was something about how he said it that made me snap a little. “It doesn’t matter. Don’t act as though you care if I’m in pain or not.” The second the words came out of my mouth, I immediately regretted it. I knew I had opened myself to a barrage of arguments. It wasn’t wise on my part, but it couldn’t be helped. I was frustrated and needed to vent how his actions were affecting me.

“You have the gall to accuse me of not caring?” he rumbled out like thunder looming in dark clouds before a tornado, throwing me a look that slashed me to pieces. “If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t make sure that you’re living in a safe, lofty flat or about you worrying over school expenses. If I didn’t care, I would’ve taken that wanton body of yours and f*cked you until you screamed in submission. But I didn’t because I respected you even though the contract you signed stated otherwise. So you don’t get to declare such rubbish proclamations that I never bloody cared. I did. At one point in my foolish life, I f*cking did!”

The pin dropped, as did my common sense. “How dare you? I never asked you to do any of that, so don’t throw this bullshit in my face!”

“Bullshit? Bullshit?” he bellowed before drastically screeching the car to a full stop on the side of the road. The engine was still running when he furiously stepped out of the car then marched to the front of it, raking a hand through his hair. He went a couple of meters before he spun on his heels and marched back towards the car. Then he halted his steps right against the hood of the car, standing between the headlights as he stared at me.

His eyes went through me, penetrating my heart, my soul, before twisting my heart in all the ways that hurt. That was too intense to comprehend at the moment.

“Why Julien, Isobel?” he thundered out, his wildly dark eyes locked on mine.

Why? Why did he care so much?

Licking my lips, I took a breath then decided to come out of the car. My nausea still lingered, but it wasn’t as severe as before.