I'm considering breaking up with my fiancé (29M) after he raised a baseball bat at me (26F) in anger. Help?

I (26F, Korean) have been with my fiancé (29M), who is also Korean, for three years. We've had our ups and downs, but nothing prepared me for what happened last night. Now I’m questioning everything and I really need an unbiased perspective.

A bit of background, my fiancé is usually calm and not the type to explode/have sudden outbursts. However, he does have a temper when pushed too far and he grew up in a very strict household where displays of anger weren’t uncommon. But despite this, he has never been violent toward me. We moved in together last year and while we have had our share of fights, we’ve always worked through them.

Last night, we were arguing about something that started relatively small. I’ll admit that I was being persistent. I was upset because I found messages on his phone that while not outright cheating, they were inappropriate.

He had been texting a female coworker, and while he insisted it was friendly, some of the messages felt too flirty for my comfort.

It included him complimenting her dress saying it "really suited her figure" and that she "always had a great sense of style." There was also a message where he commented on how nice she looked on certain days and that he could be in trouble if she keeps this up ???

I'm sorry but what's that supposed to mean? It wasn’t outright cheating but it felt like a boundary had been crossed. He doesn't even say those things to me. Not phrased that way at least

I confronted him and he immediately became defensive. The argument escalated quickly. He accused me of being controlling and insecure, while I accused him of being dismissive and emotionally unfaithful.

At some point, I got up and grabbed his phone saying I wanted to see more of their conversations from before. He lost it then. He snatched the phone back and in a split second, he turned to the corner of the room where his baseball bat was leaning against the wall. He then grabbed it and raised it at me.

For a moment, I think I lost the ability to breathe. He looked very clearly upset and angry. He just gripped on the bat and I wasn’t sure if he intended to hit me, hit the wall, or just scare me, but that genuinely sent chills down my spine.

I stepped back and told him "are you serious right now?" He didn’t say anything and he just dropped the bat onto the couch and turned away muttering a curse in Korean that basically says "F*cking b*tch."

I grabbed my purse and walked out without another word. I drove to my best friend's place and told her everything. She was horrified and told me I should consider calling off the engagement because you never know what happens in the future.

But this morning he called me repeatedly and sent me texts apologizing, saying he lost control and that he would never actually hurt me. He said that he only picked up the bat out of frustration and that he just needed something to hold onto to release his anger. He swore he wasn’t going to use it on me, and he begged me to come home so we could talk things out.

I haven’t responded yet because I genuinely don’t know what to do. I love him, but I also can’t ignore what happened last night. My friend says I would be stupid to go back, but I wonder if this was just a one-time mistake he had done because of his outburst.

I have never seen him this serious before and it's not like we haven't been through each of our texts or phones. It's only recently he's been acting less "open" if that makes sense. Honestly, I'm not even thinking about the texts right now. I'm thinking about the fact that he raised that bat at me. It hurts the more I think about it. Idk what I'm supposed to do.

EDIT

Hello, okay, wow. The comments are really overwhelming. I honestly forgot I made this post. At the time, I wrote this to get my head clear and I don't think I was expecting a lot of replies. But wow. Thank you so much for all the comments. I was feeling down and honestly, hurt, but the comments have been uplifting.

After I made this post, some other things have happened as well. I need at least 4-5 days before I make an update since currently, I'm not in the mental state to write it down and a lot of things aren't confirmed yet.

I'm still at my friend's place and I'm taking the advice of not going back to my fiancé. Thankfully, my fiancé doesn't have my friend's address, although he has been here before, so I'm not sure if he remembers this place. But just to be safe, I'll be visiting my family tomorrow. They live far from here and I don't have anything with me right now. My purse and car (which belongs to my fiancé) are the only things on me.

I've contacted my parents and my brothers. My oldest brother said he'll pick me up but I told him I'll come by instead. My friend said she'll come with me, so I'm not alone.

Thank you for all the comments. I will try to give a good update after some days. I appreciate the concerns.