My father sold me to the Mafia King-Chapter 70 - 71/The Uninvited Guest

Chapter 71:

Julie’s Point of View

I swallowed hard, and felt a coldness in my fingertips while his hand remained hanging in the air waiting for my response.

My heart was pounding against my ribs so loudly that I thought Karl could hear those racing beats.

I lowered my gaze toward his hand, then lifted it toward my mother’s table in a fleeting glance; she was still absorbed in laughter with Gabriela,

her back to me, giving me a temporary sense of safety mixed with fear.

My hand moved very slowly, as if weighted by shackles, and I extended my trembling fingers to touch his palm.

As soon as his warm hand closed over my cold one, a shiver ran through my entire body.

This was the first time I had shaken hands with a strange man, and I felt as if I were committing a major crime.

Karl said with a calm smile in which I noticed the gleam of his white teeth:

"Don’t worry, I don’t bite."

I relaxed my grip slightly, but I didn’t smile; my jaw remained tense and my eyes watched the perimeter of the garden warily.

I withdrew my hand quickly and placed it over my lap, beginning to rub my fingers together as if I were trying to erase the trace of his touch.

I took a deep breath, trying to steady the vibrations of my voice, and said in a tone I tried to make harsh:

"Yes... what do you want?"

Karl’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and he tilted his head sideways while examining my rigid features, then said with light irony:

"Such a dry question? Without even telling me your name?"

I averted my face from him quickly, looking toward the trees in the corner of the garden to escape the sparkle of his eyes, and pursed my lips before whispering:

"Julie."

The echo of my name resonated on his tongue with a strange softness:

"A beautiful name, Julie... just like you."

In that moment, I felt a sudden heat erupt in my cheeks and spread to the tips of my ears.

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from becoming flustered, and said sharply:

"Yes, what do you want, Karl?"

He rested his back against the chair and answered simply:

"To get to know you... is that not allowed?"

I clenched my palm over my lap firmly and said in a resolute voice:

"No... it is not allowed."

He knitted his brows, a glint of genuine curiosity appearing in his eyes as he followed up:

"I thought we could become friends... why do you object?"

The word "friend" struck my ears as if it were a forbidden language; the idea of having a male friend was a form of the impossible that would lead me to hell.

I said in a sharp tone, my body poised to stand:

"I don’t want to!"

He suddenly leaned his body toward me, and my body instinctively recoiled until my back struck the wooden backrest of the chair with force,

trying to maintain that safe distance separating me from his danger.

He asked me in a low voice:

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

His question pushed me to the brink of explosion; in a swift and violent motion, I pulled the chair away from him,

making it emit a grating screech over the garden grass, and said with a rage that made my chest rise and fall violently:

"That is none of your business!"

A mysterious smile formed on his face, and he tilted his head slightly, lowering his voice saying:

"I won’t lie to you, Julie... I have been enchanted by your beauty."

At that moment, I felt my heart thumping against my chest wall violently;

they were racing pulses whose nature I didn’t understand was it terror from his words or agitation from their effect?

My fingers cramped over the table, and I said in a sharp tone with which I tried to regain my composure:

"Fine, Karl, if you have finished this confession... then get up from my table now."

He remained in his place, watching my agitation with a provocative coldness, tilting his head as he examined me:

"Are you playing the role of the difficult girl?"

I felt rage boiling in my veins, and I gritted my teeth hard.

He took out his phone in a swift motion and placed it on the wooden table surface, its screen lighting up with the dial pad, and said in a commanding tone:

"Go on, write your number... don’t be stubborn."

I suppressed a sarcastic laugh behind my rigid features;

I didn’t even own a phone, for my father sees the phone as a means that brings me closer to men, so he never bought me one.

Before I could open my mouth to respond, a voice cold as a blade pierced the air behind me:

"Julie."

My entire body jerked, and I turned with the speed of lightning as if I were facing a predatory beast.

My mother was standing there, her stature imposing and her emerald gaze piercing through me completely,

devoid of any expression except for that terrifying stillness.

I stood on my feet with a mechanical speed, feeling my knees strike the edge of the table,

while my hands fell by my sides in an instinctive posture of subservience, as if she had caught me red-handed in a murder, not just a passing conversation.

She didn’t even look at Karl; instead, she directed her order to me directly in a dead voice:

"Come... walk with me."

I moved behind her immediately, my head bowed down, while I felt the gazes of Karl and the guests following my hunched back,

and I felt my breath tightening with every step I took away from that table.

I walked behind her with stumbling steps, the silence of her straight back before me lashing me more than any reprimand. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

We bypassed the clamor of the garden and entered a narrow side corridor surrounded by ivy, away from the eyes of the guests.

She stopped suddenly without turning to me, and said in a tone as sharp as a sword’s edge:

"Go home... now."

I didn’t utter a word; instead, I shrunk into myself and walked away with quick steps as if I were fleeing an execution site.

All the way, my knees were knocking against each other from the intensity of the terror, and my father’s voice resonated in my ears like the roar of thunder.

I was squeezing my fingertips until I felt my nails digging into my flesh; how would I face him? Had my mother told him already?

As soon as I arrived, I threw myself inside the house and locked the door, leaning my back against it while panting deeply.

Only a few moments passed before a sharp knocking echoed over the wood, making my body jerk as if I had received an electric shock.

I whispered to myself in shock, my heart drumming the beats of war in my chest:

"My God... has my father come this quickly? Does he know everything?"

I moved toward the door with heavy steps, feeling a strange coldness running through the tips of my feet.

Although he possesses a key, my paralyzed mind found no explanation except that perhaps he forgot it in the heat of his anger.

I placed my trembling hand on the handle and turned it very slowly while my breath was trapped in my throat.

The door opened, and I froze in my place; my pupils dilated and I felt my jaw drop in shock, while I took a step back with a completely stiffened body.

It wasn’t my father, and his angry features were not what met me.

The word came out of me muffled and loaded with all kinds of shock:

"You?!"

Karl was standing there, wearing his grey suit with a suspicious dignity, the mysterious smile still etched on his lips, while he watched my terror with a strange coldness.