SHE BELONGED TO MY BROTHER

CHAPTER TWO

Julia POV:

Five years ago ….

I turned slowly. Now face to face with my mother who did not seem pleased

Her hand landed painful on my face with a sharp crack that echoed louder than anything else in the corridor. My head snapped to the side, pain shooting hot across my cheek as a gasp escaped my lips. For a second, the world tilted, and I felt unsteady.

“You foolish girl!” she cried, her voice trembling as her fingers dug into my arm. “What have you done?”

I pressed my hand weakly against my cheek, the sting pulsing beneath my skin. “Mom, I—”

“What did you think would happen?” she demanded, shaking me slightly. “That you could stand in there, humiliate the Salvatores, and walk away ?”

“I told the truth,” I said trying to sound brave, but my voice came out fragile, uneven. “He’s a criminal. You know what he did—”

“And you think that matters?” she snapped.

Then approaching footsteps echoed around us, before a shadow fell over us.

My body reacted before my mind could catch up. Every muscle tensed up and my breath stalled. My heart slammed painfully against my ribs.

I didn’t need to turn to know my father was already there. But slowly, I lifted my eyes.

He stood a few steps away, composed as ever, his dark suit clean, his posture rigid, and his presence swallowing the air around him. Men like him didn’t need to raise their voices to be feared. They simply existed… and the world adjusted.

“Leave us,” he said quietly.

My mother hesitated, her grip tightening on me. “But—”

“Now.”

Her fingers lingered on my arm for a moment longer before she stepped back, her expression turned from anger to fear, before letting go completely and leaving me alone with him.

My stomach dropped.

“Dad…” The word felt too small, too fragile for the distance that now stretched between us.

He studied me in silence, his gaze slow and deliberate, not like a father looking at his daughter, but like a Don assessing a liability.

“You stood in that courtroom,” he said at last, his voice calm in a way that felt far more dangerous than anger, “and you spoke against the Salvatore family.”

I swallowed hard. “Against Dominick.”

“Dominick is the Salvatore family,” he replied evenly. “Or did you forget who you were meant to marry?”

The words hit harder than the slap earlier.

“I didn’t forget,” I said, forcing my voice to be steady. “I just refused to become part of it.”

A faint, humorless smile touched his lips. “You already were.”

Silence prevailed, thick and almost suffocating.

“You think that engagement was about love?” he continued, taking a slow step closer. “You think I handed you to him because I trusted him with your happiness?”

My chest tightened painfully.

“That marriage,” he said, his voice dropping, “was a contract. An alliance. Power tied to power. The Salvatores expand east, we secure our interests, and you…” his gaze flicked over me, coldly, “…you become the bridge that holds it together.”

My throat burned. “You sold me.”

“I positioned you,” he corrected smoothly. “For your future. For this family.”

“For your empire,” I shot back before I could stop myself.

Something dangerous flickered in his eyes.

“And today,” he continued, ignoring my outburst, “you didn’t just betray your fiancé.” He stepped closer. “You betrayed me.”

“I saved us,” I insisted, even as doubt clawed at the edges of my resolve. “If I married him, if I stayed silent—”

“You would have secured our place beside one of the most powerful families in the country,” he cut in sharply. “Instead, you stood under oath and tore that alliance apart.”

“I wasn’t going to marry a monster!”

“And now,” he said, his voice turning ice-cold, “you’ve made enemies of monsters.”

The truth almost seemed choking. Because somehow this sounded worse.

“You think the law will protect you?” he asked quietly. “You think a new name and a plane ticket will keep you safe from men like them?”

I didn’t answer. Because I didn’t know.

“Naive,” he murmured.

Then, without warning, his hand slipped inside his jacket.

My breath caught, when he pulled the gun out, the world seemed to stop.

“No…” The word barely made it past my lips.

He raised it and pointed it directly at me.

My heart slammed violently against my ribs as panic surged through my veins, my body instinctively stepping back even though I knew there was nowhere to go.

“Dad—”

“Do you understand what you’ve done?” he asked, his voice steady, almost conversational. “The Salvatores will come for us. For me. For your mother.”

His finger rested against the trigger.

“For you.”

“I was trying to protect us,” I said, my voice shaking now, tears blurring my vision. “I couldn’t live like that. I couldn’t wake up every day next to someone capable of—”

“You were not meant to live,” he snapped, the first crack in his composure, “you were meant to endure.”

The words knocked the air from my lungs.

“You were a sacrifice,” he continued, quieter now, far more deadly. “A necessary one.”

Something inside me shattered completely.

“I’m your daughter,” I whispered.

He held my gaze.

“No.”

“My daughter would have understood her duty.”

The gun lifted slightly.

A sob caught in my throat. My legs trembled beneath me, but I couldn’t move. Couldn’t run. Couldn’t breathe.

“Stop!”

My mother rushed forward, grabbing his arm, her nails digging into his sleeve as she tried to force it down. “What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?!”

“Let go,” he said, his voice low with warning.

“She’s our child!” she cried, her entire body shaking. “You can’t—”

“She made her choice!” he snapped. “She chose them over us!”

“I chose right!” I shouted, the words breaking out of me. “For once, I chose something that wasn’t built on blood!”

Silence fell again and my father stared at me.

Then, slowly… the gun lowered.

My mother sighed in relief, still clutching his arm, her tears falling freely, but he didn’t look at her.

He only looked at me. His eyes emotionless.

“You’re no longer my daughter,” he said.

Each word landed with quiet, irreversible finality.

“You walk away now, you walk away from this family. From my name. From everything I’ve built.”

My breath hitched. “Dad…”

“You don’t call,” he continued. “You don’t ever return. You don’t exist to us.”

My mother shook her head weakly. “Please…”

But he didn’t waver.

“You were meant to strengthen this family,” he said. “Instead, you’ve made us vulnerable.”

A pause.

“And I don’t keep weaknesses.”

The words sank deep, causing my eyes to water again.

“Get out.” he said with finality in his eyes.

I stood there for a moment too long, my chest tight, my vision blurred as the tears flowed freely. My entire world collapsing inward.

I opened my mouth to speak but couldn't, if I knew one thing about my father, is that he never went back on his words. So when I stood there staring at him with pleading eyes and he tucked his gun back and turned his back at me.

I knew he meant it. So I turned.

And walked away.