Chapter 202:
Pa!
The crisp sound echoed in the air.
Herbert didn’t retaliate. He simply stared at me.
Fury burned inside me as I shouted, “Have you and Caroline made some kind of agreement? She came to insult me, and now you’re here to humiliate me too? What do the two of you want from me?”
Herbert’s expression darkened.
“Did she cause trouble for you?”
I scoffed.
“Are you pretending? Do you really not know what your woman has done?”
His frown deepened. After a moment of hesitation, he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll warn her to leave you alone, but you need to stay away from Klein.”
“You have no right to control me!”
Of course, I had no intention of getting involved with Klein, but I refused to let Herbert think he could dictate my actions.
His voice turned cold.
“My patience has limits. Don’t test me.”
My stubbornness flared. The more he tried to command me, the more I wanted to defy him.
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“Herbert, I’m divorced from you. We have nothing to do with each other. What right do you have to interfere with who I date? Let me tell you something—I will keep seeing Klein. In fact, I like him. Maybe I’ll even move into his house. I—”
Pa!
Before I could finish, his hand struck my cheek.
A sharp pain spread across my face, and for a moment, I felt dizzy. But what hurt more than the slap was the deep ache in my chest.
Slowly, I turned my head and locked eyes with him, my heart filled with disbelief.
Herbert’s POV:
Hearing Bella say that she had nothing to do with me, that she wanted to stay with Klein, sent a surge of uncontrollable rage through me.
I was always a rational person, but with Bella, I lost control too easily. She had a way of unraveling me—of stirring emotions I didn’t know how to contain.
I hadn’t wanted her to continue speaking, but I hadn’t realized how hard I had hit her.
Regret struck me instantly.
Reaching out, I tried to touch her, to hold her, but she pushed me away.
She clutched her cheek and glared at me, her eyes filled with pain.
“Herbert, I hit you first, and now you—”
“You hit me, and now you’ve hit me back. We owe each other nothing. From now on, I don’t know you. If we cross paths again, I will treat you as nothing more than a stranger.”
With that, Bella covered her face and turned to run.
I lowered my gaze, staring at my palm. A wave of emotions crashed over me—regret, anger, frustration. I worried about the mark I had left on her face, but at the same time, her indifference toward me fueled my fury.
