My father sold me to the Mafia King-Chapter 19/Rare Antique

Chapter Nineteen:

Robert’s Point of View

She stood before me, disappearing completely inside my silk shirt, her slender body drowning in a space that did not belong to her, yet my scent that besieged her did not succeed in stifling her pride.

I watched her eyes; they were not the eyes of a broken girl, but rather they spoke the language of deals that do not accept loss.

She demanded ’sovereignty’ in the heart of my own home; she demanded a key and a lock, as if she realized that I am a hunter who prizes rare melodies more than gold bars.

At that moment, while she was setting her conditions with coldness, a poisoned question invaded me: which of us is truly the prisoner in this room? Is it I, who owns the walls, or she, who has begun to own the keys to my astonishment!!

I looked at her, trying to hide my admiration for her request, and said:

"The key to your room requires a lot.... your sweet voice cannot buy it."

She knitted her brows tightly and replied in her calm voice, believing I hadn’t noticed her trembling lip:

"Since my voice pleased Mr. Robert himself, I am sure it will be enough to get what I want."

She was very intelligent and knew how to use words in their correct place; she is now making me accept the fact that her voice is a rare jewel because I am the one who noticed it. I said to her as I walked toward her until the distance between us grew narrow:

"And if I refuse your request?"

She smiled and said:

"Search for another girl to sing for you, for books and a watch are a price that does not suit me."

She turned away with force, where the strands of her wet hair brushed my face and the scent of lavender pierced my nose.

She walked and sat on her bed, trying to pull the shirt downward as if it would stretch by magic from her hands.

I came to her room to make her sing on that stage, but she presented me with her requests which were a bait she swallowed herself, so I used them to force her to sing, but she shattered my expectations; this little girl is much smarter than I thought.

I said to her as I passed my hand over my face, wiping the trace of her hair from it:

"You know that you won’t be able to escape, so what is the use of the key?"

She was placing her hands on the bed, looking at me with her burning green eyes, and said:

"I know that I cannot; for when I entered here, there was a secret elevator that works with a card, and also a door that opens with a password, and your guards change every time, and when I went to the doctor, I saw surveillance cameras in the hallway even though they were small, I saw them."

It is impossible for her to notice all these things; even the well-hidden cameras she noticed from the first time.

I realized she was not a girl collapsing because she was imprisoned here; rather, she possessed a mind that could not sleep. Every time I see this rebellion, a part of me admires it greatly, while the other part wants to see the moment I break it.

I smiled coldly despite the storm her words created inside me; she was reading the place like a war map, not a bedroom.

I approached the bed with confident steps and remained standing over her head, enjoying the sight of the defiance in her eyes despite her desperate attempt to cover herself with my shirt.

I said to her in a low voice carrying a tone of admiration that no one could mistake:

"You have many advantages, Julie.. you make your value increase more every day."

My words did not please her, as they determined her price and reminded her of her true status here; her tensed neck and her lips, which she pressed together firmly, completely exposed what was inside her.

Nevertheless, she smiled, and her dimple appeared on one side, while the other was a prisoner under her bandage, and she said mockingly:

"How lucky you are, Mr. Robert.. your bank balance will fill up even more."

I leaned down slightly until the air of my breath brushed her face, and said in a whispering voice carrying a hidden threat:

"I do not care about the bank balance, Julie.. but I care about rare antiques."

She passed her hand over her neck with a tension she failed to hide, then raised her eyes toward me and said in a tone dripping with defiance:

"Rare antiques can be dangerous, Mr. Robert.. so watch yourself while dealing with them."

A sudden desire for a silent laugh ignited within me; her threat only increased my determination. Is she warning me about herself? Or is she trying to convince herself that she has claws?

I approached her again until I felt the stiffening of her body, and replied to her in a calm voice resembling a hiss:

"And I am a man who has never known safety in his life.. so, do not worry about me."

She leaned her back slightly, trying with a desperate effort to create a larger safety distance between us, and looked at me with a gaze that pierced all my armor and said:

"You haven’t known many things in your life, it seems."

I smiled with biting sarcasm and said:

"Those things that make you a weak person do not interest me, Julie.. if something does not increase my strength, then I simply do not need it."

She blinked her thick eyelashes several times, as if rearranging her thoughts to fight a final round in this verbal duel, then said in a calm but knife-sharp tone:

"And do you call your threat to kill people and rob them of their freedoms.. strength?"

I placed my hand on the bed; her body shrank and she leaned her back further until it pressed against the mattress, and her defiant looks vanished to be replaced by a mixture of fear and anticipation.

I was besieging her with my body, and despite the height difference between us, the distance was narrow enough to hear her turbulent heartbeats.

I smiled coldly and said:

"In this world, Julie, the strong is the one who sets the rules.. perhaps my strength does not please you, but it makes others kneel, and the result is what satisfies me, no matter how you see it."

I paused for a moment observing her confusion, then completed with a lethal hiss:

"No one asks the sword why it cuts off heads.. because it was made for this only."

I heard the sound of the door opening, so I raised my hand calmly from the bed and stood up straight, straightening my black jacket coldly as if nothing had happened.

The cook was entering, dragging the cart, and as soon as her eyes fell on me, the blood froze in her veins and she said in a trembling voice:

"Excuse me, Mr. Robert.. I didn’t know you were inside, I’m sorry!"

She left the cart in the room and departed quickly as if fleeing a certain doom.

I returned my gaze to Julie, who surprised me by regaining her composure with amazing speed, as her confident voice echoed in my ears saying:

"You can leave now.. I want to eat my breakfast."