The Illegitimate Flame: Bride of Ashes-Chapter 138- The Bitter Edge of Love

Charles’s warm palm froze mid-motion.

Janet could feel the way his entire body stiffened.

But only after a brief pause, that familiar hand gently pressed against her forehead, and he let out a low chuckle—calm, steady, masking everything.

"No fever... So why are you talking nonsense?"

It was his usual tactic—deflect and dismiss.

He had sensed something off about her these days.

And Charles knew—Janet wasn’t the kind to joke.

"I’m serious. I’m sorry."

Janet looked up, her eyes shimmering like stars in a moonless night.

She pulled down his hand and gripped it tightly.

"Why?"

One word. Cold. Dangerous.

He was angry now.

He could indulge her, spoil her, and even forgive her recklessness—

But this? This was a line she couldn’t cross.

"Because we’re not right for each other.

Charles... let me go."

Janet raised her face toward the darkness, unable to see his expression,

but she could feel it—the drop in temperature, the way the entire room seemed to freeze over.

His rage was radiating from his skin like a blizzard.

"Not right for each other?

Can’t you think of a more ridiculous excuse?"

Charles’s voice rose sharply.

He turned with a harsh pivot, fist slamming against the wall.

In the silence that followed, the chandelier above them suddenly flared to life.

Light exploded into the room.

Janet squinted—her eyes stung—

but Charles could finally see her tear-streaked face.

"Janet," he said, voice cracking now. "Tell me... what’s going on?"

The fury in his chest dissolved into panic.

He held her shoulders gently but firmly, searching her eyes for something—anything—to make sense of this.

But there was nothing.

"I’m just tired," she whispered.

"Tired of feeling unsafe around you.

Let’s get a divorce, Charles. I mean it."

Charles flinched as if slapped.

He saw the pain in her face, but what shattered him more... was the resolve in her voice.

She wasn’t bluffing.

She was serious.

"Do you even know what you’re saying?"

His grip on her shoulders tightened, as if he were trying to anchor her to him.

Why? Why was she doing this?

Why now?

Her gaze—once filled with warmth—was now distant. Empty.

"I don’t love you," Janet said, the words like daggers.

"From the beginning, I was forced into this.

Ever since I entered the Elwin family, I was just a pawn in your and August’s game.

I was married to Philip... yet became your woman.

I hate it.

I hate being manipulated. I hate how you took me by force.

I hate your coldness, your cruelty—

I hate everything about you."

Her chest rose and fell with each breath, trembling from emotion.

"I stayed by your side just to watch you fall for me,

just so I could throw you away.

I never loved you. Not even a little."

Charles stood there, stunned.

"Shut up!" he roared.

"Even if you don’t love me... I’ll tie you to me forever!"

His face twisted in pain and rage.

Her words—those cruel, precise knives—had found their mark.

She’d never said those three words to him. Not once.

Not even when he was at his lowest, when he was trying to build a future for them both.

But Charles couldn’t believe she felt nothing.

If he had forced her in the beginning...

Then why had she stayed, through all the suffering?

Why had she comforted him when he was most vulnerable?

Paris...

Hawaii...

That couldn’t have been fake.

It couldn’t.

"Is this all you know how to do?

Say you don’t love me, say you want a divorce, and expect me to just let you go?"

Janet’s voice barely escaped before Charles’s broad frame slammed down on her, pinning her hard.

He couldn’t stand hearing those words come from her luscious lips.

These days, her health was fragile, and he had held back from touching her.

He took down every enemy from the Louis family, all for her.

Could she not feel the sincerity behind it?

This woman... she had a talent for driving him insane.

"I don’t care what tantrum you’re throwing.

Divorce? Don’t even think about it!"

Charles’s sudden kiss fell like a whip—fierce and punishing—on her face and neck.

Janet barely had the strength to struggle.

"Stop, don’t—"

She tried to dodge, but his strong arms spun her around twice and slammed her onto the wide bed behind them.

His relentless kisses burned with a possessive fury, pressing hard against her tender skin—painful in its intensity.

"Charles, please don’t... it hurts..."

Janet hadn’t expected such an extreme reaction.

Though she had predicted this outcome, his loss of control terrified her.

If she had a choice, how could she ever want to leave him?

Every moment with him should be cherished, especially now.

"Still feel pain?

Good.

I want you to remember this feeling—pain!"

Charles ripped at her clothes.

His body pressed down on hers, his lips moving from her neck to her chest, sucking harshly.

One hand quickly undid more buttons, rough but slowing.

Janet’s body twitched as she tried to recoil.

She could feel the hardness pressing between her legs.

The burning desire in his eyes was unlike anything she’d seen—wild, desperate, terrifying.

She was scared.

In this moment, she couldn’t let him have his way. freewebnσvel.cøm

For the baby’s sake, Janet fought with all her strength.

Just as he was about to settle fully on top of her, she opened wide eyes and, without hesitation, slapped his handsome face hard.

"Charles, this is rape!"

Her hand trembled, the slap not too hard, but it shattered the man above her.

Charles looked into her fearful, trembling eyes, biting his lip.

The fire in his heart vanished instantly.

"Rape?

Janet, you’re my wife.

And now you don’t even want me to touch you?"

Charles stood, cold as ice sharper than December’s chill.

Janet said nothing, her lips pressed tight.

Her disheveled clothes and the marks on her skin—those raw, bare accusations—spoke louder than words.

Charles’s heart grew colder as he stared at her desperate face filled with rejection.

He was on the edge of collapse.

He had hoped to clear every last barrier between them.

And now, she told him she didn’t love him?

How cruel.

This failure cut deeper than learning about Derrick’s betrayal.

Janet—the only woman he ever truly cared for—was she really going to trample on his heart like this?

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