My father sold me to the Mafia King-Chapter 49 - 50/The War Began

Chapter Forty ninth:

Julie’s point of view

I stared at Robert, trying to read any expression behind his features, but as usual, he maintained his customary coldness that provoked my dignity. He said in a calm, steady voice:

"He is just a waiter."

I took a step back and replied in total disbelief and without realization:

"What are you saying?!"

Then I followed it with a cry of oppression:

"Is this how you punish me?"

He looked at me with unshakeable coldness and said:

"It’s not a punishment... it’s just a result of your actions."

I jolted upright, sparks flying from my eyes, and screamed with a rage that shook the corners of the office:

"I almost became a killer today because of you! Do you realize the ugliness of what you’ve done?"

With utter coldness, he took out his damn cigarette and lit it, then puffed the smoke slowly and said:

"I didn’t tell you to shatter the man’s head."

Carlos intervened, trying to contain the exploding situation, and said in a calm tone:

"Calm down... the man didn’t die, and you didn’t kill anyone. Forget the matter and it’s over."

But my fires were not to be extinguished by cold words of pacification. I approached Carlos where he sat, and said to him bitterly while pointing at Robert:

"This idiot made me live a real nightmare today!"

Carlos’s features suddenly changed; perhaps because he wasn’t used to hearing anyone dare to describe Robert this way in front of him.

As for Robert, his hoarse voice emerged from behind his cigarette smoke, asking in a tone that maintained its calmness, yet suppressed rage was boiling between his letters:

"What did you say?"

I didn’t back down; instead, I stepped toward him with steady strides until I was right in front of him.

I placed my hands on his luxurious desk, leaned in slightly to face his eyes directly, and said to him with all the malice I possessed:

"You are stupid, vile, cursed, indifferent, cruel, and unbearable... even the air vanishes and suffocates in your presence!"

I realized perfectly that the words I hurled in his face were suicidal, but at that moment, there was no place for reason; my consciousness was completely eclipsed under the weight of a wild rage that took over my being.

Just minutes ago, I was staggering under the weight of a terrifying certainty that I had taken a life, and that I had become a killer because of his ridiculous theatrical play that almost turned into a real tragedy.

Robert remained seated on his "throne," not a hair of him shaking, and he showed no physical reaction, but his stillness carried a terrifying noise a silence that precedes the storms that leave nothing behind.

Carlos broke the barrier of this heavy silence and said in a warning tone:

"Julie... you are crossing your boundaries now."

I turned to him, sparks flying from my eyes; this was exactly what I was missing this damn friend defending his companion! I replied to him with a scream filled with oppression:

"Boundaries? Hah! The boundaries were crossed by your friend sitting in front of you when he brought me a stranger to simply tell me that he bought me!"

Here, Robert finally spoke, and in a tone as cold as a razor blade, he said:

"A real man will come to buy you, Julie... just be patient."

Then, I felt the volcanoes in my chest explode, casting their lava onto my tongue, and I said in a sharp, decisive voice like an omen of doom:

"I will kill him! I swear to you... I will kill him too!"

I saw a ghost of a cold smile forming on his mouth, then he signaled with his hand in a theatrical gesture toward Carlos and said:

"He is in front of you... kill him."

I turned toward Carlos and saw signs of bewilderment had frozen his features. I felt a massive disorientation; did he mean that Carlos is the real customer? Had he been planning all this time to sell me to his friend? I asked Carlos in confusion dominated by terror:

"What does he mean?"

Carlos smiled tensely, looking at Robert as if trying to grasp if this was another joke, and said:

"Robert, my friend... do you want to act for her again that I want to buy Julie?"

I shifted my gaze to Robert, who still held that provocative smile, and he replied with a decisive question:

"Don’t you want her?"

At that moment, I could no longer stand the idea that I was just an object whose price they negotiated in my presence, as if I were a piece of furniture with no soul.

I struck the desk with my fist with all the strength I possessed and screamed in their faces:

"Enough nonsense! No one will buy me, and you will never be able to sell me, Mr. Robert... you won’t be able to!"

Then I continued, my voice carrying a terrifying certainty that made silence loom over the room:

"And if you do... I swear to you that I will kill him, and I will kill myself too!"

Robert smiled again, but it was a cold smile devoid of any feelings, and he directed his gaze toward Carlos, saying mockingly:

"Did you hear her? She says she will kill you."

Carlos jolted and replied with clear anger, his patience beginning to run out from his friend’s games:

"Stop this nonsense, Robert!"

I was completely distracted; I no longer knew if Carlos was truly the real customer, or if this was just another play Robert carefully designed to provoke me and make me lose my temper time and again.

I decided to ignore Carlos’s presence entirely and addressed Robert in a tone I tried to make decisive:

"Listen to me well... since you won’t let me leave this place, forget the idea that you can sell me. I will live here in peace without disturbing you, provided you stop disturbing me with these games."

He puffed his cigarette smoke into the air coldly, until I felt a fire had broken out inside my nose from the density of the smoke, and looked at me with eyes that read nothing but cruelty and said with a brevity that shattered all my hopes for a truce:

"You’re dreaming."

I replied, trying hard not to lose my temper again, my voice coming out like a snake’s hiss:

"So you want war then?"

Robert gave a provocative smile, as if my question was nothing but a passing joke, and said coldly:

"You are the one fighting me, Julie."

I shifted my gaze to Carlos, who was watching our dialogue with great interest, placing his golden cane over his feet in a position suggesting relaxation.

In a swift moment no one expected, I snatched the cane from his hands with amazing agility and pointed its sharp head toward Robert’s face.

The cane was separated from his eye by only a few centimeters, but he didn’t blink, nor did he retreat; instead, he continued to stare at me with silent defiance.

I held the cane steady with my hand, which was trembling from sheer anger and adrenaline, and said to him in a decisive tone:

"Yes, me... and we shall see who among us will win in the end."

Silence pervaded the office, and breaths stopped. Carlos froze in his place from surprise, and Robert continued to watch me from behind the cane with cold eyes, as if seeing in this threat the peak of the pleasure he was seeking.

I felt Carlos’s hand extend from behind me like a snake; he snatched the cane from me with swift speed then tightened his grip on my arm firmly, and said in a sharp tone:

"Who allowed you to take my cane?"

At that moment, a bitter truth dawned on me: the confrontation was never fair. Here I stood alone against two monsters, one wearing a mask of calmness and the other wearing a mask of madness.

I pulled my arm away from him violently, looked at him with blatant defiance, and said:

"You can speak to me without touching me, you maniac!"

His eyes widened in shock, and he seemed to be preparing to declare war; he gritted his teeth until they almost shattered, and said in a low, dangerous voice:

"Leave here now, if you don’t want to see my other face, Julie!"

I shifted my gaze to Robert; he was sitting in his place like a wax statue, watching the scene with a suspicious calmness as if we were just an entertainment show in his monotonous evening.

I said to Carlos bitterly:

"You know what? You’re right, I should get out of here... for you and your friend are mentally deranged; you don’t know how to speak without touching!"

I headed to the door with quick steps and grabbed the cold iron handle, then turned to them one last time.

Carlos was standing in his place, astonished by my audacity, and Robert was still on his chair watching me in silence.

I screamed at them a single word that summarized all my disgust:

"Molesters!"

I went out and slammed the door behind me with a force that shook the hallway, and headed to my room.

I entered gasping, finding it clean and tidy, smelling of air fresheners as if nothing had happened and as if my screams a short while ago were nothing but an illusion.

I threw myself onto the bed, and the silence of the room was screaming in my face that the real war had only just begun.