Chapter 262:

Julie’s POV

I couldn’t believe what was hitting my ears. Did he truly say I would work as a maid? Did all that passion turn, overnight, into this contempt? Was he mocking me? I rounded the executive desk with quick strides and stood right beside him, while he remained seated in his leather chair like a king passing a death sentence on his subjects.

"Robert... are you joking with me?" I asked, my voice trembling with a shock I had never known. "Tell me this is just a sick prank, that you only want to test me!"

He raised his gaze to me, and the frost in his eyes was enough to kill any shred of hope in my soul. He replied in a tone as dry as timber: "I am perfectly serious in what I say... and I never joke."

I moved closer, my heart screaming in pain, reaching out my hand like a drowning person searching for a straw. "Robert, please... look into my eyes. If this is just a heavy-handed joke, stop now. I’ve reached my limit."

He responded with a coldness harsher than before: "I told you, I am not joking. My word is final."

I felt my heart trembling behind my ribs like a caged bird. "But I love you, Robert!" I said with quivering lips, tears welling in my eyes. "We were one body last night. Our breaths were mingled, and your promises filled my ears... What has gotten into you? Why are you turning on me in this brutal way?"

He averted his gaze as if the sight of me had become painful to his eyes. "I will ask Olivia to hand you the maid’s uniform," he said with unbearable coldness. "Now, get out of my office at once. I don’t want to see your face in front of me."

I exploded with bitterness, screaming as tears scorched my face in torrents. "Is this your plan?! You caught me in the webs of your love, made me surrender my body to you and fuck you with all my soul, then you simply decided to discard me and throw me to the servants?! Are you a monster?!"

He rose from his chair with a terrifying slowness. "I didn’t make you fall in love with me, Julie," he said with a cruelty that made me reel. "You threw yourself into my fire; do not blame me for your burning."

I couldn’t believe these words were coming from the mouth of the man who had kissed me so tenderly just last night! He continued with words that sank into my chest like poisoned daggers: "And let me remind you of something else so you don’t play the victim... You are the one who stripped off your clothes with your own hands. You are the one who touched me and asked, with your own tongue, for me to fuck you and possess you... So don’t claim now that I forced you into anything."

I felt a moral slap that stunned me. How did he dare throw my weakness and desire in my face in such a repulsive way? Did he feel no shame in violating my secret? But in that moment, a sudden shift occurred deep within me; the fires of grief were extinguished, and in their place ignited a wounded pride that refused to break. No, I will not cry before him again. This is not the time for a breakdown. Julie... return to that strong woman who entered this club. Fight as you used to.

I harshly wiped away a rebellious tear, etching features of stone onto my face. "So... Mr. Robert wants me to work as a maid?" I asked with blatant defiance.

"Yes," he answered curtly, watching me. "That is your new job."

I smiled a cold smile the smile of someone with nothing left to lose. "You forgot a very important detail, Mr. Robert... and that is that I am Julie, and I do not execute orders that humiliate me."

"You will execute them whether you like it or not," he countered, tightening his grip on the arm of his chair until his knuckles turned white. "And with my full obedience."

I let out a scathing laugh that shook the corners of the office. "Oh? Well... you’re about to see how I execute them in my own way."

I walked toward the luxury bar with confident steps, defying his tyranny. I picked up a crystal glass and held it high before his eyes. "For example... since my role as a maid is to clean, let’s start by creating something worth cleaning."

I coldly loosened my grip. The glass crashed against the floor, shattering into hundreds of scattered shards. I saw flashes of shock and rage cross his face, but I didn’t stop. I picked up an expensive bottle of whiskey and raised it high. "And as an obedient maid, I must gather the mess... shouldn’t I?"

I slammed the bottle onto the floor with force. It exploded, and the golden liquid flooded the expensive carpet he took such pride in. "What do you think you’re doing?!" he roared in stifled anger, standing up. "Have you gone mad?!"

I looked him directly in the eyes without blinking. "I’m just showing you my primary skills... You can’t turn me into a maid without tasting my special service!"

"Are you trying to provoke my rage, Julie?" he asked, clenching his jaw so hard I could almost hear his teeth grind. "Do you think this will benefit you?"

"I don’t care if you’re angry or if you’re burning," I replied with icy stillness. "Your anger no longer has power over me."

I stepped toward him until only inches separated us. I felt the heat of his furious breath. "I fought you here," I said clearly. "I fought your laws and your chains. I refused to be a mere commodity to be bought and sold... and I will fight you now with everything I have because I refuse to let you trample on my dignity and humiliate me like this."

I placed my hand on his desk, and with one violent motion, I swept everything off it. Pens fell, important papers scattered, and a small decorative statue shattered. "If you think you owned me because you took my virginity," I panted with emotion, "or that I will submit to you because we fucked, you are dead wrong. My body was yours for a night, but my soul never was, and never will be."

He leaned his head back against the chair and watched me with a cryptic gaze—a look that held a mixture of hidden admiration behind the cruelty. Then he spoke with a terrifying calmness: "You will submit in the end, Julie... I will break this stubbornness."

I stood tall before him, my chest heaving sharply. "There is only one way to make me submit to you and your pathetic orders," I said with lethal stillness.

"And what way is that?" he asked in a husky voice full of desire and rage.

"Kill me," I said, my words as sharp as a sword. "Pull the soul from this body. Otherwise... keep dreaming of my submission."

I turned and walked out of the office with wide strides, my feet hitting the floor hard. I slammed the door behind me with a violence that shook the entire corridor. I couldn’t stay for another second; my pride was keeping me from collapsing, but I knew that as soon as I was alone, I would break.

As I descended the stairs, my body shaking from the intensity of the confrontation, I collided with Carlos. He stepped back in shock at my state. "Julie! What’s wrong? You’re as pale as death!"

"Nothing... leave me alone," I said, my voice choked as I tried to push past him.

"Please... you don’t look well at all," he said, gently catching my arm.

In that moment, I felt an overwhelming urge to scream until my throat tore. Instead, I threw myself onto Carlos’s chest and hugged him with desperate strength. I just needed any human embrace, any warmth to make me feel like I still belonged to the world of the living. He placed his hands on my back in confusion and concern. "What happened? Tell me, and I’ll do anything for you."

I pulled away, wiping my face with a trembling hand. "Nothing... forget it, Carlos. And thank you."

I let him go and rushed down the rest of the stairs, heading to my room, nearly tripping over my own shadow from the dizziness. As soon as I closed the door behind me, his words began to lash at me like whips. How did he dare say that I was the one who asked to fuck him? How did he cheapen me like this and make me a maid? How did I surrender my heart and body to this monster who knows no mercy?!

I collapsed onto the bed and burst into bitter weeping, sobs that tore at my chest and made me feel like I was suffocating. After a long bout of crying that drained all my energy, I harshly wiped my face and made a final, irrevocable decision: "I have to escape. I will leave this hell. I can’t stay here and see the look of contempt in his eyes. I cannot be his maid."

I left my room and went toward the large door the door that opens with a passcode. My hand was shaking as I entered the numbers I had memorized by heart. But the device emitted a sharp red sound and said: "Incorrect code... access denied."

Damn him! Damn Robert! He changed the code! So, he refuses to even give me the chance to escape. He wants me as his prisoner; he wants to force me to endure humiliation under his watch and in his club... but he is wrong.

He doesn’t know yet what Julie is capable of, nor does he know the lengths I will go to reclaim my freedom and the dignity he thought he stripped away from me with a single word I said in a low voice, "You want to play with me, Robert? Fine, I’ll play with you too."