My father sold me to the Mafia King

Chapter 403

Julie’s POV

My gaze hardened, slicing through Olivia with a cold glare that made her confident facade falter in visible anxiety. "Don’t you ever speak about my son," I rasped, the warning thick and jagged in my throat. "Do you understand me? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Olivia recovered quickly, her lips curling into a forced, dismissive sneer as her shoulders shrugged with artificial nonchalance. "Fine by me. My only concern is that you keep your mouth completely shut about anything regarding this matter."

The sheer weight of her arrogance was impossible to stomach for another second. I cut her off, my voice sharp and unyielding. "Keep your own mouth shut. And don’t you dare interfere in my business ever again."

Without waiting for whatever venom she had left to spew, I turned on my heel and bolted from the room. My breaths came in ragged, fractured gasps, my chest heaving violently under the immense pressure suffocating my lungs. Then, like a sudden bolt of lightning crashing through my skull, Max flashed across my mind. I needed to see him. I needed to look at him, to confirm he was real, and somehow draw the lingering agony straight out of his eyes.

I sprinted down the corridor with reckless speed, completely ignoring the startled stares of the passersby until I reached the door to his room. I didn’t bother knocking; I threw my weight against the heavy wood, shoving the door open violently and bursting inside.

Max was sitting on the edge of his bed, his face completely drained of color. He stood up in sheer bewilderment the second his eyes landed on me, but I didn’t give him a single chance to speak. I lunged forward, throwing my arms around his neck and clinging to him with everything I had. His arms wrapped tightly around my waist in response, lifting me off my feet with a heavy, raw emotional desperation.

"Julie..." he whispered, his voice thick and muffled against my shoulder. "I... I can’t believe my own eyes."

I slowly unclasped my frantic grip, pulling back just enough to look directly into his eyes, my face burning with longing. "Max... I missed you so damn much."

His hands trembled slightly as he cupped my face, a buried, suffocating ache pulling at his features. "Me too. You have no idea... you have absolutely no idea how empty everything felt after you left."

I forced a deep, stabilizing breath into my lungs, desperate to unburden the crushing weight inside me all at once. "Robert found me, Max. He tracked me down at the village."

Max’s eyes dilated in pure horror, his hands dropping from my face. "Oh my God... did... did he hurt you? Did he do something terrible?"

I shook my head rapidly, trying to ease his sudden panic. "No, not physically. But... he has Steve. He’s holding my brother captive right now."

Max stumbled back a step, the shock hitting him like a physical blow. "Jesus... that’s impossible."

"He knows," I continued, my voice cracking, the vulnerability tearing through me. "He knows Steve is my brother now, and he’s using him as leverage. He’s forcing me to do exactly what he wants by threatening to mutilate or kill him. I’m terrified, Max. I am so deeply terrified."

He stepped back in, gripping my shoulders firmly, his thumbs digging in to anchor my shaking frame. "If he wants you by his side, he won’t destroy his only winning card. He won’t touch a single hair on Steve’s head."

I bit my lower lip, a bitter, helpless resentment pooling in my chest. "Robert is a faceless monster, Max. No one knows what twisted games are running through that sick mind of his."

He stared at me, his gaze shifting into an intense, desperate determination. "Robert is obsessed with you, and that obsession makes him blind to reality. Does he know about... about your son?"

My eyes dropped instantly to the floorboards, my voice sinking into a barely audible whisper. "No. And I don’t think I will ever, under any circumstances, reveal that to him."

Max let out a heavy, exhausted sigh that seemed to rattle his entire chest. "Julie... please, you need to talk to him. There might be a massive misunderstanding here. There has to be a way out, a solution. Don’t just leave things bleeding like this."

The silence stretched between us for a few agonizing seconds, Max’s words echoing in my ears like a desperate plea for sanity. I gave a slow, heavy nod. "I’ll think about it. I’ll try to talk to him."

A short while later, I stepped out of his room, making my way up toward the top floor with heavy, hesitant steps. Halfway down the main hallway, the blood completely froze in my veins and my legs locked in place.

Carlos was standing right there. He was immaculate in his sharp grey suit, holding the heavy gold cane that he carried everywhere like an extension of his own unyielding pride. The exact moment he lifted his eyes and saw me, his grip failed. The cane slipped from his fingers, hitting the floor with a sharp, echoing metallic clang that shattered the silence of the corridor.

His eyes widened in a state of absolute shock a vulnerability I had never once witnessed on his usually guarded face. He lunged toward me at a frantic pace, completely ignoring the cane discarded on the floor. He threw his arms around me, pulling me into a violent embrace so tight it felt as though my ribs were on the verge of cracking.

"Julie..." he murmured, his breath hot and ragged against my ear. "I don’t believe it... are you real? Are you actually here?"

The tears finally broke through, choking my throat as I gasped for air against his chest. "Carlos... I can’t breathe... you’re squeezing me too hard."

He released me instantly, his hands flying up to cup my face with an undeniable, frantic eagerness. His eyes shimmered with a raw, unmistakable longing. "I missed you so incredibly much."

A bitter, sorrowful smile touched my lips. "I missed you too, Carlos."

Suddenly, a deep, raspy throat-clearing cut through the air from directly behind me. The sound sent a violent shiver down my spine. I turned around with agonizing slowness.

Robert stood there in his looming, dark authority, watching us with eyes that gleamed like shards of ice. "Am I interrupting this touching little reunion?" he drawled, his tone dripping with a dangerous, razor-sharp sarcasm.

Before Carlos could even open his mouth to fire back, Robert took a calculated step forward. But Carlos was faster. He aggressively grabbed my wrist, twisting me behind his back, and dragged me forcefully down the hall toward my room, completely disregarding the lethal glare that felt hot enough to burn holes straight through my skin.

The moment we crossed the threshold, Carlos slammed the door shut with a deafening bang. He whipped around to face me, his features twisted in a volatile mix of anxiety and fury as his hands clamped onto my shoulders.

"Where the hell were you?! Why did you vanish in such a manic, reckless way? What the fuck happened to you, Julie?!"

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