Seattle was not Isabella's hometown.
She feared Alexander would find her if she returned there.
So she chose Seattle, not too close and not too far from her hometown.
Julian helped her rent an apartment.
It was a small city, so the rent wasn't expensive.
Money wasn't really an issue for her.
Daniel had left her over ten thousand dollars in savings.
The coffee shop Alexander set up for her had earned her nearly ten thousand dollars.
Raising Jacob alone would be challenging, but she wouldn't struggle to survive.
The only thing she needed to resolve now was making Julian leave.
This was the third time she was telling him to go.
Each time, she used him and then sent him away.
Though it was always difficult to say the words, she always managed to speak them.
Inside a shopping mall, there was a playground.
It had trampolines, inflatable slides, and a sandbox.
Children were playing noisily and happily.
They had taken Jacob to the mall's supermarket to buy groceries.
On their way out, they saw the playground.
Isabella let Jacob go play.
She and Julian sat on the benches surrounding the playground fence.
At one point, a mother sitting next to Isabella ran out of tissues.
Her child had wet his pants.
She asked Isabella if she could borrow some.
Isabella gave her the entire pack.
The mother got her child sorted and sent him back to play.
She returned to her seat and handed the remaining tissues back to Isabella.
"Thank you."
Isabella smiled. "You're welcome."
The mother tried to make conversation. "Which one is your child?"
Isabella pointed at Jacob, who was happily jumping on a trampoline. "That one."
"He looks just like you! So adorable!"
Isabella smiled.
The woman then noticed Julian sitting beside her. "Wow, is he your husband? So young and handsome!"
Isabella shook her head. "He's not my husband. He's my brother."
"Oh, I see."
Julian's expression darkened slightly. He looked away.
After a while, the mother's child moved to another area, and she followed.
The corner was left with just Julian and Isabella.
Isabella turned her head to look at him. "When are you planning to go back to the UK?"
Julian lifted his gaze to meet hers. "Did I say I was going back?"
Isabella was speechless for a moment. She paused. "You asked about my plans. What about you? What are your plans?"
Julian didn't speak, just looked at her.
"Are you going to follow me forever?" Isabella adopted a rejecting attitude, pressing him aggressively. "I escaped the Sullivan family. I won't have any more connections with anyone named Sullivan. I'm a woman eight years older than you. What is there about me worth your attention? Please leave. Go anywhere. Just stop following me."
Julian's face grew even more unpleasant. He let out a cold, angry laugh. "Isabella, you're really something. You use me and then discard me every single time." He slowly leaned closer to her, his voice a low whisper near her ear. "If I didn't care about you, how could you use me? You'd probably still be trapped by my brother. You would never have seen Jacob again."
He pointed to his own face. "Do I look too young and harmless? Do you think you can use me and never pay any price?"
Isabella was stunned. "What do you want?"
He leaned even closer, his voice low and laced with a mocking laugh. "Let me fuck you at least once."
The rented apartment had two bedrooms.
Isabella and Jacob shared one room.
But Jacob still wasn't used to sleeping with her.
She also thought it was good for the child to be more independent.
They didn't share a bed; she slept on a mattress on the floor.
Julian occupied the other room.
That night, after returning home, Jacob fell asleep early, tired out from the day's fun.
After he was asleep, Isabella left the room and went to the living room.
Julian was already there waiting for her.
He strode over quickly, cupped her face, and kissed her, pushing her against the wall.
The kiss deepened.
When it ended, Isabella breathed heavily, her voice soft. "Let's go to the room."
Julian pushed her into his room.
At first, he didn't turn on the light.
His desire for her made him unwilling to let her go for even a second.
He pushed up her shirt, kneading the soft flesh of her breasts.
He lowered his head and captured her nipple in his mouth, unable to get enough.
"Mm—" A moan escaped her lips as he pulled painfully on her nipple.
His raging desire and wounded feelings made him like a crazed beast.
He ripped her thin trousers.
Pulling aside the edge of her panties, he aligned his erection with her slit and pushed himself inside.
"Ah!—" Isabella shuddered violently from the pain.
But because he truly cared for her, he didn't continue thrusting brutally.
He lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist, pinning her against the wall, and entered her slowly.
The change in position made her legs spread wider.
Combined with his deliberate grinding with his cock, she grew wet.
Once the movement became smoother, Julian's thrusts grew increasingly forceful.
Shallow withdrawals, deep penetrations.
Finally, he thrust so hard it felt like he was nailing her to the wall with his cock.
Isabella was fucked into a mess of wanton moans.
"No… Stop… It's too deep…"
She cried out. "Julian… Julian… I'm begging you…"
"You're clamping down on me so tightly inside. Do you really want me to stop?" Julian held her, breathing heavily, thrusting upwards fiercely. "I love this feeling of fucking you. How can it feel this good? I want to fuck you forever, fuck you to death…"
His thrusts grew harder and more forceful.
A wave of panic rose in Isabella's heart.
She struggled. "Please, no more, let me go…" she cried.
Julian lifted her away from the wall and carried her to the bed.
He laid her upper body on the mattress, grabbed her legs, and folded them open to the sides.
Standing by the bed, he plunged into her fiercely again.
Isabella didn't last long.
When her climax hit, she futilely covered her stomach with her hands.
Her body convulsed.
A gush of honeyed liquid sprayed from her core.
Her inner walls tightly clenched the invading flesh, gripping him from tip to base.
"Fuck!" Julian was utterly helpless against her tightness.
He had intended to hold back, but now he could only surrender.
Holding her, he thrust wildly a dozen more times and came.
He reached to touch her face and felt wetness. He froze.
Pulling out, he went to the door and turned on the light.
Sure enough, he saw her tear-streaked face.
"Damn it!" He cursed again.
He returned to her side and pulled at her arm in frustration. "Why are you crying?"
Isabella curled up on the edge of the bed like a shrimp.
Julian sat beside her, silently watching her with helpless resignation.
Why did his heart feel like shattering whenever she cried?
Why did he feel like he had committed an unforgivable sin?
"My brother said you're that kind of woman," he said quietly. "Once a man has you, he never wants to let go. Because he knows if he lets go, you'll just fall into the next man's hands. He becomes jealous of every man who had you before, and every man who will have you after. You're like a drug. Incredibly hard to quit."