Chapter 6 - The Apology Demand
The entire luxury ballroom was plunged into a heavy, dead, and absolutely suffocating silence. Even the string quartet in the corner had completely stopped playing, too terrified to make a single sound.
James Castalano stopped right beside the marble steps. The towering, incredibly intimidating mafia boss looked down at the tiny, trembling seven-year-old girl in the patched yellow dress.
Then, performing an action that absolutely shocked every single hardened criminal and elite socialite in the room, the terrifying billionaire slowly and smoothly crouched completely down, bringing his massive, powerful frame directly down to Lucia's eye level.
He didn't yell at her. He didn't grab her.
James reached out with his large, strong hands. Moving with incredible, unexpected gentleness, he softly took hold of Lucia’s tiny, trembling wrists. He gently, carefully lowered her small hands away from the patched fabric of the yellow dress, silently telling her that she had absolutely no reason to hide or feel ashamed in his house.
Lucia sniffled, looking up at the scary man in the black suit with wide, tear-filled blue eyes.
James didn't break eye contact with the child. He simply turned his head slightly, slowly looking back up at his arrogant fiancée standing frozen in her expensive ivory gown.
The dark, lethal anger radiating from the mafia boss was absolutely palpable.
"Apologize," James commanded. His voice wasn't a shout. It was incredibly deep, cold, and vibrating with an absolute, terrifyingly lethal authority that left absolutely zero room for negotiation. "Now."
Camille gasped, her perfectly contoured face turning paler than a sheet. The humiliation of being ordered to apologize to a filthy child in front of the entire city's elite was completely destroying her toxic ego.
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Just as Camille opened her mouth to argue, Elena finally burst through the front of the crowd, stopping dead in her tracks directly behind her daughter.
👉 Read Part 7 to discover the massive, devastating secret hidden in the child's eyes.
