ONE NIGHT STAND WITH HOT DUKE-Chapter 78: Protect myself

The words fell into the room.

And something inside Demian shattered.

"CRASH!"

The bottle flew from his hand, smashing against the floor. Glass shattered everywhere, small pills scattering in all directions, clinking softly as they bounced across the marble.

Demian stood rigid among the shards.

His breathing was heavy. His chest rose and fell sharply.

Valerie stared at the broken glass and the small pills now laid bare.

Her secret.

Her fear.

Her decision.

And now it was all exposed before Demian.

"You..." Demian’s voice was low, trembling, "you’re rejecting me."

Valerie lifted her face. Her eyes were wet, but she didn’t beg.

"No," she said quietly. "I’m protecting myself."

The words were not shouted. Not thrown like an accusation.

And yet, because of that they struck harder than any blow.

The room was filled with fractured silence, amid shattered glass, contraceptive pills, and two people who were finally seeing each other clearly

not as ruler and possession, but as two souls who had never truly agreed on the same future.

Demian stared at Valerie as if she’d just slapped him across the face. His eyes burned with disbelief, wounded pride twisting his features.

"Protect you from what?" he growled, voice low and dangerous a warning rumble, like a cornered animal.

Valerie lifted her head, cheeks streaked with tears, lips trembling, breath ragged. But her gaze didn’t waver. She refused to back down. Not this time.

"From you," she spat. A single line short, sharp as a blade, slicing clean through Demian’s pride.

The words hit like a hammer crushing something inside Demian that he’d guarded fiercely. His whole world seemed to collapse, all the control he’d worn like armor shattered by this one woman.

"Do you even realize," Demian hissed, each syllable quivering with barely leashed rage, "what this means to me?"

He jabbed a finger at the smashed bottle and scattered pills on the floor undeniable evidence of insult thrown right in his face.

"What do you think I am? A monster? A threat? You stomped my fucking pride to pieces, Valerie."

Valerie met his stare. Her chest heaved, throat tight, but she didn’t retreat for a second.

"I’m not your wife," she said voice shaky, but steady. "I have no obligation to carry your child."

The words landed dead center. Demian’s face changed instantly every ounce of control he prided himself on crumbling in a single exhale. His anger exploded, wild and raw and dangerous.

"YOU—!"

The curse caught in his throat.

In one violent motion, Demian seized Valerie’s wrist and yanked her with all his strength. She stumbled, thrown off balance, hitting the mattress hard.

The sheets twisted beneath her; air rushed out of her lungs. Her back throbbed, the world tilting as Demian’s shadow loomed over her, swallowing the light.

Valerie froze not out of fear, but because she was too painfully aware of everything unfolding in that moment. She knew Demian’s rage wasn’t about the pills anymore. It wasn’t about children.

It was about control about the power he felt slipping through his fingers.

"Demian..." Valerie’s voice cracked, rough with warning. She wasn’t begging. But Demian didn’t even register it.

His jaw was clenched, eyes black with fury, breath labored. His grip was iron like if he let go now, he’d lose something he’d never truly owned.

And on that damn bed the place that was supposed to be safe Valerie realized, A man who wants you with that much hunger doesn’t always know how to protect you. And the line between desire and destruction can be thinner than a single honest word.

Demian’s grip turned savage, fingers digging into Valerie’s wrist so hard it bruised.

His face twisted with a rage that had crossed over into something colder something utterly ruthless. He yanked her closer, mouth pressed to her ear, voice a venomous whisper.

"You think you can just say no to me now?" he snarled, shoving her flat against the mattress. "You think you have that power? Not tonight."

Valerie’s body arched and twisted in panic, nails raking at Demian’s forearms, legs kicking in frantic, useless protest.

"Let me go! Demian—stop! Please, just—" Her plea was strangled by his weight pinning her down, his free hand forcing her hands over her head.

But Demian was beyond listening. His eyes were wild and glassy, teeth bared in something between triumph and fury. Every word Valerie spoke only seemed to fuel him further, to push him somewhere even darker.

"Beg all you want," he spat, voice low and guttural. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Scream if you like. I don’t give a damn." He tore at her clothes without care, fabric ripping under his fists, exposing flesh that trembled, not with anticipation, but with raw terror.

Valerie bucked and writhed beneath him, sobs choking in her throat, the taste of humiliation bitter on her tongue.

"Stop! Please—Demian, please, don’t do this—" Her voice broke, desperation cracking her words into jagged pieces.

He only laughed, a sound that chilled her blood.

"You wanted control? This is what you get. You’re mine tonight, mine to ruin, mine to break!" Each thrust of his body was violent, cruel, meant to punish more than to possess. Valerie’s cries became weaker, turning from defiance to pleading to broken, whimpering submission.

"Please... I’m begging you... please, stop... I can’t—" She sobbed beneath him, voice hoarse and raw, but Demian didn’t pause, didn’t soften. He plunged deeper into brutality, using her body as both outlet and weapon, every movement a declaration of shattered trust.

She felt herself breaking body battered, spirit crushed under the weight of his rage and need for dominance. Her pleas dissolved into helpless gasps. Shame and terror warred inside her until only numbness remained.

When he finally finished, Demian collapsed atop her, chest heaving, sweat dripping onto her skin. There was no apology in his eyes, only the hollow aftermath of violence and something even crueler: indifference.

Valerie lay there motionless, staring past him into the darkness above, tears streaking down her cheeks her voice gone, her body and mind reduced to ruins by the man who once promised to protect her.