My father sold me to the Mafia King novel Chapter 404

Chapter 404: 404/Why Did I Choose Robert?

Chapter 404

Julie’s POV

I looked up at Carlos. He stood mere inches from me, his features intensely strained with a heavy, protective anxiety, his eyes overflowing with a raw, genuine devotion that he couldn’t possibly hide. In that exact second, a devastating question sliced through my mind like a jagged blade: Why couldn’t I have just loved him? Why the hell did I choose Robert? Why did my wretched, broken heart have to beat for Robert alone, shattering me completely while leaving a man like this behind?

I forced a deep, stabilizing breath into my lungs, desperate to drive away the suffocating thoughts distracting me, and forced my voice into a flat, quiet register. "I just left, Carlos. That’s all there is to it."

His tone shifted instantly, dropping into a deeper, more resonant frequency as he locked his gaze onto mine, refusing to let me look away. "There is a definitive reason, Julie... you... you still love Robert, for God’s sake. I know you too well to believe anything else."

The final words left his throat with a slight, vulnerable tremor, a minute crack in his armor that caused a sudden spike of doubt to creep deep into my veins. Was it actually possible? Did he still carry a flame for me in the deepest corners of his heart after all this time, despite everything I had put him through? I swallowed the thick lump in my throat, bracing my spine as I forced a definitive, artificial firmness into my voice. "I don’t love him anymore."

Carlos’s eyes dilated in sudden, stark bewilderment. He leaned in slightly, his tone laced with deep, intuitive suspicion. "Do you truly not love him anymore? Or are you simply pretending to be numb to the pain, Julie?"

My muscles locked in sheer panic. It was terrifying how effortlessly he could dissect my armor and read the chaotic mess churning inside my soul with such lethal accuracy. I forced my chin up, meeting his gaze with a faint, defiant tilt of my head. "How do I look to you?"

He shook his head with a heavy, helpless sigh, his shoulders dropping slightly as he replied in a rough whisper, "I honestly don’t know anymore... but four years ago, your love for him was so pure, so absolute, it burned in every single look you gave him."

I aggressively wrenched my face away from his stare, a suffocating weight tightening around my throat as I whispered a desperate plea, "Enough, Carlos... can we please just bury this topic completely?"

He held my gaze for a fraction of a second before giving a slow, subdued nod. He took half a step back, intentionally granting me space as he asked quietly, "Fine... tell me about yourself then. How are you holding up?"

The familiar, acidic bitterness pooled in the back of my throat again. I looked away, my voice cracking with a wounded, raw honesty. "I am not okay, Carlos. Not even close. Robert tracked me down and dragged me straight back into this living hell by brute force, completely against my will."

His gaze locked back onto my face with unyielding, solid intent, his voice dropping into a low, fiercely authoritative register. "I can get you out of here, Julie. I mean it."

I stared at him, my eyes narrowing with intense scrutiny and heavy skepticism. Sensing my immediate doubt, he stepped closer, his eyes flashing with a sudden, competitive fire. "I know what I told you in the past, and I know I failed to pull you out back then... but things are completely different now. The power balance has shifted."

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