My father sold me to the Mafia King novel Chapter 437

Chapter 437: 437/You Don’t Have the Right to Refuse

Chapter 437

Julie’s point of view

I squeezed my eyes shut in raw pain, a burning tear spilling over to brush against his steel thumb as he gently wiped the tracks of my crying away a sharp tenderness that contradicted the harshness of his words.

He added in a low hiss against my ear: 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"I don’t know the meaning of forgiveness when it comes to you walking away from me... But I know one thing and one thing only; you are here now, in my arms, and I will never let you run again even if I have to burn the entire world down to keep you in my chest."

My gut twisted with an agonizing ache at his words. I cupped his sharp jaw with my trembling palm, burying my face back into the slope of his neck, inhaling the heavy, woody scent of his cologne that had always been my sanctuary and safety.

I wished in that moment that this silence would last forever, that time would freeze within the boundaries of this embrace, so I would never have to face the dark ghost choking my throat... the ghost of the secret burning in my chest about our departed child, and the guilt that would haunt my soul for as long as I lived.

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand, taking steady gulps of air to regain a sliver of composure.

I pulled my exhausted body back from his chest, rising from the plush carpet with hesitant steps. Robert instantly towered to his full height, locking his dark eyes on me like a hawk watching its prey, refusing to let much distance expand between us.

All traces of fleeting tenderness vanished from his sharp face, replaced once more by an intimidating coldness. He took a single step toward me, his voice coming out in a dry, low rasp a toxic hiss from the deepest depths of his chest:

"And now, Julie... tell me, who the fuck is this damned Ethan?"

The blood froze in my veins, the world spinning once again. My mind raced into a frenzy... (How the hell am I going to answer him?! How do I pull myself out of this trap without opening the gates of hell upon myself?!)

Terror seized my chest; if I uttered a single word about the truth that Ethan was our baby, that I got pregnant and ran away, only to lose him because I originally wanted an abortion... that my son Ethan passed away because I didn’t want him at first, and even though I changed my mind and wanted to deliver him, he died during childbirth... he would destroy me! He would blame me for his death, despise me, and hold me responsible for robbing him of his child of my own free will!

I gripped the fabric of my pajama top with freezing, trembling fingers until my knuckles turned stark white, making a desperate decision to fabricate a lie that would save my soul and keep the dark secret buried deep.

I considered making Ethan a passing figure; a former friend of my brother who tried to get close to me and asked me to be his girlfriend, but I rejected him completely and severed all ties.

Yet... even this simple lie terrified me! Robert was an obsessed man, possessive to the point of madness... If he found out another man had dared to even ask to come near me, he would hunt him down to the ends of the earth and kill him in cold blood!

I looked into his icy eyes, which were scrutinizing my distraction and prolonged silence. I swallowed hard, a bitter lump forming in my throat as my heart rate surged once more.

My jaw trembled as I swallowed my raw pain, facing the harsh stillness carved onto his steel features. There was no other desperate way out... every road was blocked, and the dark secret would consume me whole if I didn’t bury it under this lie!

I clutched my pajama fabric with cold, bare fingers, forcing my pain-clouded eyes to look directly into the depths of his dark pupils.

I dragged in a ragged breath, whispering in a broken voice trembling with weakness:

"Ethan... was just a friend of my brother, Robert."

Robert narrowed his icy eyes dangerously, lowering his face toward mine slowly, holding his breath to catch every single letter, muttering in a sharp hiss:

"Your brother’s friend?! And what the hell makes his name linger on your tongue in such sheer panic and breakdown?!"

I took half a step back, but his steel palm clamped with lightning speed over my wrist, locking me in place. I squeezed my eyelids shut for a second, completing in a fractured tone floating over fear and anxiety:

"He... he just liked me in the past... He asked me to be his girlfriend, but I rejected him immediately! I swear to you I rejected him and cut him off completely!"

Every single muscle in his towering frame locked rigid for a second, a terrifying silence settling over the room like the calm before a storm.

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