The Billionaire Ex-Wife and the Beggar He Became novel Chapter 263

Though she was enveloped in Julian's coat, Winona could still hear the cacophony of voices from the media scrum. "Let me go!" she said, pushing against his chest. "I don't need you to protect me! I'm not afraid of them! Please, let me go!"

She didn't want his protection. She couldn't remember when she had started to see him as a stranger, but his touch felt alien now. His embrace, which she had once craved, now felt suffocating.

The difference between love and the absence of it was a vast chasm. When she had loved him, she had longed for his hugs, his kisses, his presence beside her in bed. She had wanted to be the delicate woman nestled in his strong arms.

But that love was gone. Now, the mere brush of his hand made her skin crawl.

Winona pushed against him with all her might. Julian could feel her revulsion, her desperate need to get away from him. When he had been the one to treat her with disgust, to ignore her, to act as if she were less than human, he had never imagined what it would feel like to be on the receiving end.

Now he knew. It was a terrifying, humbling feeling. A primal urge to hold on tighter, to possess her, rose within him the more she tried to push him away. He suddenly realized that while he had allowed himself endless indifference and cruelty toward her, he could not accept the same from her.

And so, no matter how hard she struggled, he held her tighter.

The questions from the reporters continued to fly.

"Mr. Nicholson, are you publicly defending a homewrecker?"

"Mr. Nicholson, what does this mean for your fiancée?"

"Isn't Mr. Nicholson unmarried?"

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