My father sold me to the Mafia King

Chapter 48

Robert’s Point of View

Olivia was standing in front of my desk, astonishment etched on her face like a map of confusion following my sudden decision. She said in a voice trying to regain its professionalism:

”Fine, Mr. Robert... I will go immediately to tell Patricia and Sam to prepare Julie for the customer.”

I answered her with a cold calmness, without lifting my eyes from the papers in front of me:

”No need for that.”

A short silence prevailed before bewilderment became clear on her face. She said, stuttering:

”But... the customer is coming today!”

I took out my cigarette and lit it slowly, then replied with a single word that summarized everything:

”Yes.”

Olivia looked like someone who had lost the ability to speak; she was trying to understand how I would present Julie to a customer without any preparation. Then she added:

”I will ask the nurse, then, to give her birth control pills before his arrival.”

I puffed my cigarette smoke into the air, watching the gray circles vanish, and said icily:

”No.”

Olivia’s mouth dropped open in shock, looking as if she were about to object:

”But Mr. Robert... this is a huge ris—”

She didn’t need to finish her sentence; I shot her a piercing gaze that froze the words in her throat.

She understood the game immediately and shut her damn mouth. I followed up with my instructions in a decisive tone:

”Don’t do anything, Olivia. And don’t tell Julie that a customer is coming today.”

I took a deep breath of the cigarette and continued:

”Take a box of condoms and just place it in her room, and leave the rest to her.”

Olivia left the office, still unable to grasp the terrifying dimensions of what I had planned, but she didn’t dare ask a single additional question.

I remained alone in the stillness of the office, watching the ash fall from the tip of my cigarette.

I knew that today wouldn’t just be a meeting with a customer; it would be the finishing blow to Julie’s dignity the test that would make her realize her intelligence wouldn’t protect her when I decided to strip her of every means of defense.

I pressed the call button, and moments later, the guard ”Ron” entered the office with his disciplined, military steps. He stood before me respectfully and said:

”Hello, sir.”

I shifted my gaze from the papers and fixed my eyes on him, asking in a tone carrying the confidence of a strategist:

”Ron... did you do what I ordered you to do?”

Ron nodded seriously and replied:

”Of course, sir. I explained everything to him in detail, exactly as you told me.”

A cold smile played on my lips the smile of someone holding all the strings of the game, preparing to move the chess pieces toward the abyss.

I said to him commandingly:

”Good... now, go to the dressing room, take an elegant black suit, and go execute the final part.”

Ron nodded in agreement and withdrew from the office quietly. I was alone once again, surrounded by a silence broken only by the scratching of the pen or the rustle of paper.

I returned to the stacked papers before me, trying to drown in the details of work; I found in it the only way to kill the time passing slowly, and to silence the thoughts that began gnawing at me regarding Julie’s reaction when ”Marcus” stormed her small world.

After long hours of drowning in numbers and deals, Ron stepped into the office and said in a low tone:

”Mr. Robert... the customer is in Julie’s room now.”

I set the pen down slowly, feeling a pulse of poisoned excitement coursing through my body. I said, my eyes fixed on the door:

”That’s excellent... let’s see now how our dear rebel will behave.”

Ron left, and only a few minutes passed before the door opened again and Carlos entered, shouting with his usual cheerfulness:

”Hello, my friend Robert, how are you today?”

I wondered at Carlos’s daily visits, which had become a suspicious routine, and I was absolutely certain that Julie was the magnet drawing him here. I said in a voice trying to maintain its calm:

”Good morning, dear Carlos... I am fine, what about you?”

He sat on the chair with provocative ease and replied:

”I am fine too.”

I asked him in a tone dripping with sarcasm:

”I see you miss me a lot these days, don’t you?”

Carlos smiled, understanding my hints well, and replied coldly:

”A lot, my friend... a lot.”

Then he followed it with a sentence that hit me like a thunderbolt:

”I brought some things for Julie.”

My body stiffened, and I placed my hand on my jaw, trying to process what I was hearing. I said with muffled amazement:

”What things?”

He pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it slowly, and looked at me through the smoke, saying:

”What she asked of you yesterday... a desk, a bookshelf, papers, and pens.”

I felt a sudden tightness in my chest, as if the oxygen had been withdrawn from the room. How dared he cross my boundaries?

I adjusted my posture and said sharply:

”I think you are exaggerating, Carlos... exaggerating a lot.”

Carlos looked at me while gripping his cane firmly and said with a quiet challenge:

”You’ve always allowed bringing gifts for the girls here, Robert... what changed now?”

I puffed my cigarette smoke violently and said in a strained voice:

”Jewelry, clothes, perfumes... these are acceptable gifts. But a desk and a bookshelf?”

Carlos replied in a calm but subtly challenging tone:

”But Julie doesn’t care about jewelry and clothes, Robert... that’s why I brought her what truly interests her.”

I looked at him deeply, trying to probe the depths of this sudden change in my old friend, and said:

”Don’t you see, Carlos, that you are doing crazy things because of this girl?”

He didn’t shy away from my gaze but fixed it on my eyes and said with startling honesty:

”I won’t lie to you... she truly drives me crazy.”

Then he followed his words with a request I didn’t expect at this exact moment:

”I want to see her.”

I leaned back in the leather chair, feeling a sadistic pleasure as I uttered the words I knew would burn him:

”Julie is with a customer right now.”

Carlos lunged from his chair violently, shattering his usual composure, and shouted in my face:

”What are you saying, Robert?! You told me she wasn’t for sale... are you mocking me?!”

I was truly surprised by his violent reaction; how could a girl he’s known for only two days make him lose his mind like this? I said to him, trying to calm him down:

”Calm down, Carlos... he is not a real customer.”

Bewilderment appeared on his face, and he asked in a lost tone:

”How is he not real?”

I signaled to him with my hand to sit so I could tell him the matter calmly:

”He is just a waiter from the restaurant upstairs; I assigned him the task of acting the role of the customer... for you know I wouldn’t let a real customer into her room; her behavior is crazy and unpredictable.”

Carlos looked long at the shark tank, as if seeing in its struggle a reflection of what was happening in this palace, then he asked me, his eyes shining with anxiety:

”And what will he do? Will he touch her?”

I replied with cold confidence:

”Of course, I won’t let a filthy waiter touch my precious commodity, Carlos...”

then I finished explaining the plan:

”He will only get close to her so we can test her reaction, to see if she responds or submits.”

Carlos seemed to be analyzing the situation in his mind, then suddenly asked:

”How much time has passed since he entered?”

I looked at my watch and said indifferently:

”Twenty minutes.”

Here, Carlos lunged again as if stung and said in a sharp voice:

”Twenty minutes?! That’s a very long time! Let’s go check what happened immediately.”

I laughed out loud at his overreaction, which revealed all his cards to me. I stood up, adjusting my jacket, and said:

”Let’s go, Carlos... let’s go see the result of the test.”

Carlos and I walked down the hallway, and nothing broke the silence except the sound of Carlos’s golden cane tapping the marble with clear tension, reflecting what was going on in its owner’s mind.

Even I the tension had reached its peak inside me, but I was, as usual, better at hiding it behind a mask of stoicism.

We reached the door, and as soon as I opened it, I was slapped by shock. The strong smell of wine wafted out to fill our chests, and the scene before us surpassed any expectation: the waiter was stretched out on the floor like a dead corpse, pieces of broken glass scattered everywhere, and red wine staining the luxurious carpet like a pool of blood.

As for Julie, she was far from him, collapsed on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest in a state of total bewilderment.

As for Carlos, his shock was no less than mine; I never expected Julie to behave in this savage way in self defense.

Julie slowly lifted her head; her eyes were red from crying.

She looked at me with lost, scattered, and incomprehensible gazes, then said in a hoarse voice:

”I killed your customer, Mr. Robert.”