My father sold me to the Mafia King-Chapter 36/Ladies first

Chapter 36

Robert’s Point of View

I stood in the hallway; the silence around me was broken only by the ticking of my watch and the sound of my thoughts.

I raised my hand to glance at the time; it was exactly six o’clock in the evening. I was eager to see Julie, not out of love, but to see the effect of my choices upon her.

I wanted to see her wearing that dress I had chosen with such precision; I wanted to see the traces of brokenness in her eyes as she realized I had stripped her of her last veil of modesty before everyone.

I caught sight of her coming from afar behind Olivia.

Her pinned-up hair highlighted her neck with a regal beauty, and that golden mask sat on her face as if it were part of her genetic makeup... it suited her perfectly.

As for the dress, the emerald color embraced her slender body in a way that would make any man lose his mind.

But, with every step she took closer, something was missing.

I focused my gaze downward... the train.

The long train of the dress that was supposed to drag behind her as a sign of her subservience to me had disappeared.

I realized immediately that something was wrong, something I hadn’t accounted for. She stood directly in front of me, and at that moment, Olivia gasped in shock behind her, screaming words that confirmed my suspicions:

"she had torn the train."

I took a single step toward her, wanting to feel her tension, but she surprised me. She didn’t look away; she didn’t bow before my sharp gaze.

Instead, she fixed her eyes on mine with a blatant defiance that sparked my astonishment.

I tilted my head slightly to the left and looked past her shoulder to see what she had done.

The fabric covered her back perfectly and securely. If I hadn’t chosen the dress myself, if I didn’t know every thread of it, I would have thought this was its original design from the start. Her touches were precise, clever, and born of an iron will.

I straightened my head and looked into her eyes again, and I felt something strange invade my features... I smiled.

Yes, I smiled because I liked this rebellion. Julie always shatters my expectations; she deviates from the path I draw for her to build a path of her own.

The rage that was supposed to ignite in my chest vanished, replaced by a strange enjoyment a feeling I had never experienced before with any "merchandise" or any other woman.

I have begun to enjoy facing her, enjoying seeing how she will try to defeat me every time.

I moved closer to her until the distance between us evaporated, and the strong yet calming scent of lavender invaded my breath.

The scent was like her: soft yet commanding its presence. I spoke in a low voice, a whisper that reached only her ears:

"Is there anything you aren’t good at, Julie?"

She didn’t shiver, and she didn’t retreat. Instead, she smiled behind her golden mask and whispered in a cold, confident tone just as I had:

"Killing you."

A silent laugh echoed in my chest; this type of answer is what makes the game with her worth the effort.

The sound of her footsteps on the marble echoed deep within me like a rhythmic cadence of an army preparing for an invasion.

I looked at her out of the corner of my eye; she walked with her head held high, as if she were not a prisoner being led to her doom, but a queen visiting her subjects.

Lavender was not the only scent filling the corridor; there was another fragrance the scent of defiance emanating from her very pores.

I felt a sudden urge to grab her arm, not to crush her this time, but to make sure she was real and not a mirage created by my diseased imagination.

How did this girl, in just a few short hours, manage to turn her brokenness into this loftiness? I watched our reflection on the glass panels decorating the walls; we looked like a couple attending a royal wedding, but the truth was far darker.

We were two bitter enemies wearing the finest clothes to hide a mutual desire to destroy one another.

The light from the crystal chandeliers reflected off her golden mask, casting mysterious shadows on her alabaster neck, which only increased my desire to decode the mind that resided within her head.

I knew the guests inside were waiting for "the body," but I was the only one who realized they were about to face a "hurricane" wrapped in emerald silk.

The closer we got to the massive door, the more the tension grew not out of fear of failure, but out of anticipation to see how this hall would burn with her beauty and stubbornness.

I turned toward Olivia, who stood frozen, waiting for a signal from me to strike her or punish her for ruining the dress, and I said coldly, to her disappointment:

"You may go now, Olivia."

Olivia left the hallway with angry steps, so I turned my gaze back to the one standing before me and asked seriously:

"Are you ready to sing?"

She adjusted her golden mask gracefully and said briefly:

"Of course."

Her easy answer raised my suspicions; Julie never submits this way, and her calm always precedes the storm. I continued, trying to test her pulse:

"I didn’t ask for a specific song, but sing something romantic... that’s what the girls here usually do."

She nodded in agreement and said in a suspiciously obedient tone:

"Yes, as you wish."

I extended my hand toward the void, gesturing toward the hallway leading to the stage, and said in a tone of feigned nobility: 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Ladies first."

I saw a trace of a smile pass over her lips; she must have remembered that day I deliberately insulted her and didn’t say that phrase to her.

We walked down the hallway side by side she with her slender stature and her rebelliously redesigned dress, and I with my suit and my calmness that hid an infinite anticipation.

We reached the large theater door. I placed my hand on the massive handle, opened it slowly, then stepped aside and asked her to enter.

The lights were dim inside, and the noise emanating from the hall suggested that the guests were all present.

I looked at her "covered" back as she took her first steps toward the stage, and I felt that this night would not just be a "show," but the confrontation that would determine which of us truly holds the control.