Chapter 320:

Julie’s POV

I remained standing in my place in genuine astonishment, watching his hysterical emotion and sudden rebellion; my limbs froze for mere seconds and I felt fear, for they were supposed and known to be close friends with a solid relationship! Mike turned to me suddenly with highly tensed facial features, the veins of his neck protruding terrifyingly, and asked in a sharp voice: "Jake... he is present now at the house, isn’t he, Julie?"

And before I could move my lips with a single letter, he turned his entire body and ran at a crazy, raging speed away from the lake’s banks like an arrow. My heart was ripped out from the terror of the sight; I rose from my place with intense momentum, gathered the edges of my long coat with my hand, and ran at the top of my strength and speed behind him. I did not know why I ran after him in particular or what pushed me to pursue him, but my mind was completely paralyzed at that moment, and I no longer understood what hidden enmity was occurring between them.

Mike arrived at our wooden house’s door a few paces before me, and I saw him raise his iron fist with malice and bring it down, knocking on the door like a madman with successive, violent strikes that shook the walls and almost uprooted the lock. At that moment, I saw Steve open the door with surprised and disapproving facial features.

Instantly and without permission, Mike lunged his torso forward and entered inside the hallway with a blind momentum preceded by his rage.

I finally arrived at the doorstep of the house, catching my breath with extreme difficulty, my chest rising and falling violently from running.

I stepped with wavering strides into the living room and froze in my place with eyes widened in shock blended with numbness when I found Mike throwing his entire weight and massive body over Jake on the living room floor, enclosing him tightly between his long arms and hugging him with strength and violence while shouting with a torrential, loud, and crazy emotion: "Jake... I will kill you with my own hands, you cursed man! Where the hell did you disappear throughout these years, you idiot?!"

I stopped in my place while resting my trembling palm against the wall to catch my interrupted breath. In a single second, a sweeping rage possessed me and the lines of my face tightened with vexation. Damn them both! Mike’s hysterical and dramatic way of expressing his feelings made me flinch and tremble in that ugly manner without any real reason!

I watched Jake laughing faintly and exchanging the embrace with him with the same strength, patting his back violently, saying in a choked and raspy voice: "I have missed you indeed, buddy... I missed you, Mike."

I turned my face away from them in disgust and revulsion, left them in the living room, and headed with angry steps directly to my room to isolate myself. Only a few seconds passed before Steve stepped behind me into the room with surprised features, tilting his head sideways to ask with curiosity: "What is wrong with you, Julie? Why did you come running behind Mike with this panic?"

I turned to him with intense emotion and waved my hands in the air, saying with sharpness and a raised tone: "That cursed Mike truly terrified me! He told me at the lake that he would kill Jake... and I thought, to my stupidity, that this was true and one of them would indeed die!"

Steve’s countenance burst with amusement and he laughed with a loud, roaring voice. Then he crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me with cunning and malice, saying: "I do not truly think that you feared for Jake’s life... certainly you were running and wanted to watch his corpse while he died in cold blood to enjoy the view."

The features of my face relaxed with a scathing sarcasm, and I shrugged my shoulders, saying with coldness: "Fine... indeed, it seems like a thrilling cinematic show that cannot be missed, to see blood."

Steve moved his head with a light smile and left the room, completing his work in the house, while I moved and sat heavily on the edge of the bed. I drew my phone with slightly trembling fingers and pressed Max’s name to call him quickly, for he was the only one who linked me to my past. The phone rang for seconds, then his warm, affectionate voice came to me across the line to soothe my chest: "Hello, Julie... how are you, girl?"

I smiled with intense emotion and rested my back backward against the pillows, saying with tenderness: "I am fine upon hearing your voice, Max... how are you? And how are your affairs?"

He answered me in a sincere tone stemming from his heart: "I miss you so much, Julie... the place here is dark without you."

My heart constricted with burning longing and ache, and I said faintly: "I also miss you... intensely."

Max asked with haste and interest, changing the context: "And Steve, how is he?"

I said: "He is fine, do not worry."

Max cleared his throat across the line and asked with curiosity and caution: "And what is the news there in the village? Are you still training on a daily basis as we used to do together... or have you stopped and become lazy?"

My smile widened with hope upon restoring the memories of the past and the grueling training, and I adjusted my seating, saying with a slight pride filling my tone: "I still train regularly, Max, of course; I will not abandon my strength... not in the same harsh and professional manner with which you used to train me yourself, but I do my best on my own to maintain my fitness and capability."

Max laughed lightly across the phone and asked with joking and amusement: "What the hell are you planning to do with all this strength? Will you become a mafia boss in that remote village?"

I chuckled in a low voice and shook my head, saying with sarcasm: "In truth and reality, this village is highly peaceful to the point of boredom; there are no dangers or gangs in it... but I merely got used to the harsh pattern of physical training to protect myself."

And suddenly, in an abrupt manner, Max’s tone changed completely to become serious, deep, and charged with hesitation and fear, and he said with extreme caution: "Julie... I will tell you something important regarding what is happening here... but please, do not get angry with me or shout."

My entire body stiffened over the bed, and I narrowed my eyes with apprehension and a deep-seated internal dread, saying with fear: "Will you tell me again that Robert is looking for me?"

Max sighed with a heavy weight across the phone and answered with an insistence filled with sadness over his companion’s state: "Yes, indeed, Julie. He is looking for you frantically in every inch... and he is completely broken and destroyed since you left and fled. I swear to you by my life, he is a dead man who cannot tolerate your absence at all."

The features of my face paled rapidly, and my grip on the mobile phone tightened and ignited with pain and hatred. I ground out in a cutting, sad tone loaded with bitterness: "Max, please, shut up! I have told you and reproached you hundreds of times not to mention his name before me! He is a despicable man who was going to sell me like a commodity! I heard this conversation with my own ears myself!"

Max tried to calm my rebellion and anger, saying in defense: "Perhaps you heard his words and understood the situation in a wrong or rushed manner, Julie... Robert adores you."

I shook my head in a cutting, violent refusal and cried out with a sharp convulsion, the hot tears congesting in my eyes and refusing to fall out of pride: "Max, please do not try to convince me of these lies again... you already know that I get annoyed and lose my mind from his mention!"

He loosened his tone in surrender and disappointment, saying with regret: "Fine, fine... I will not do that again, calm down."

I took a shaky, deep breath to gather the shards of my lost self, then asked with a trembling voice carrying the yearning of my broken heart: "Max... tell me honestly, do... do you visit the grave of my departed son?"