Chapter 456/A Truth Heavier Than Bullets

Chapter 456

Julie’s POV

The two men stepped cautiously into the magnificent living room. I stood in absolute shock, my glare slicing through Violet as I demanded, "Who are these people?!"

She brushed past me with infuriating coolness. "Let’s step inside first."

The man who had kidnapped me stepped forward, his expression visibly rattled. "Julie..." he stammered, hesitation lacing his tone.

I glared at him, pure fire in my eyes, and screamed, "James!"

A sharp, mocking chuckle escaped Violet’s lips. "Did you meet her and tell her your name was James?!" she teased.

I whipped around to face him, eyes blazing. "You’re a liar... and a kidnapper!"

Violet knitted her brows in sudden intrigue. "He kidnapped you?"

"Yes!" I choked out, raw betrayal tightening my throat. "And like a fool, I actually thought he was the one who rescued me!"

The man retreated a step, a heavy look of regret overtaking his features. "I’m sorry... I had no idea back then that you were Mirdreth’s daughter."

Violet turned toward the other man—the towering, muscular presence—and asked sharply, "And why on earth did you kidnap her in the first place, Morgan?"

Morgan let out an arrogant scoff. "Because Robert is my enemy!"

"If he finds you here, he will kill you!" I shrieked into his face.

He smirked with cold, condescending pride. "Can that little boy really kill me?"

Violet burst into loud laughter. "This has exceeded my expectations!"

I stomped my foot hard against the polished floor, my voice rising in utter frustration. "What is he even doing here?!"

Morgan turned to Violet, his patience wearing thin. "Violet... hurry up and tell us! What is the secret?!"

She turned toward the second man, whose features were locked tight, and called out, "Come here, Snake."

I froze on the spot, the name Snake echoing through my brain like a thunderclap. My God! He was the exact same man who had shot Robert in the back three years ago!

My eyes caught the sudden movement of my mother’s unbuttoned coat, spotting the dark grip of a pistol tucked into her waistband. In a swift, reckless impulse, I snatched the weapon from her waist, flicked off the safety, and aimed the barrel straight at Snake’s head.

I ground my teeth, my voice shaking with pure hatred. "You’re the bastard who shot Robert!"

He took a cautious step forward, and I screamed in a frenzy, "One more step... and I swear I’ll put a bullet right through your skull!"

Violet spoke up with eerie calm, devoid of panic. "A impressive move... but you’ll have to put that on hold, Julie."

My finger trembled over the trigger, my eyes locked dead on the center of his forehead. "I think he’s dying right now!"

Then Violet dropped her bomb with absolute, terrifying coldness. "Are you really going to kill your brother’s father?"

The heavy firearm shook violently in my hands. Shock drained the strength from my fingers, and the gun slipped, crashing onto the plush carpet with a dull, heavy thud.

Snake stood completely paralyzed, his breath catching. "What?!"

Violet gestured toward him with her index finger, declaring offhandedly, "You are the father of my son, Steve."

I whipped around to look at Steve, who stood frozen like a stone statue behind me. He let out a low, ragged gasp. "Is he my father?!"

Morgan’s face flushed deep red with explosive rage. "What kind of bullshit is this?!" he roared.

Violet turned to him, laying out the unvarnished truth without a shred of hesitation. "Snake slept with me once."

Every muscle in Morgan’s body locked up in terrifying fury. In a fraction of a second, he drew his weapon, leveling the barrel straight at Snake’s forehead. His roar rattled the room. "You treacherous bastard!... You touched my woman?!"

Snake threw his hands up in panic. "I swear to you, Morgan, I was with her long before she ever met you!"

Violet stepped forward with slow, steady authority. "Lower your weapon, Morgan."

"He touched my woman!" Morgan snarled, his eyes blazing with lethal intent. "And I kill anyone who touches what’s mine!"

"It was before your time!" she commanded firmly.

His chest heaved with ragged breaths. "How did this happen?!"

"Lower your weapon first!" she ordered again, her voice cutting through the tension like steel.

My head spun wildly as I struggled to process the nightmare unfolding around me. That meant Violet had been with Morgan too... Does that mean... he’s my father?!

I backed away a step, terror clutching my chest. "Is he... my father?!"

Morgan snapped his head toward me, utter shock washing over his features. "What are you saying?!"

Violet offered a cold, satisfied smile. "She is your daughter."

The realization hit me like a devastating storm. I couldn’t accept that my father was the very man who had kidnapped me the arch-nemesis of the man I loved! My God, what kind of sick madness was this?!

"He can’t be my father!" I screamed in hysterical denial.

Morgan whipped back to Violet, every nerve in his body taut. "Are you playing games with me, Violet?!"

"I never joke," she replied with absolute firmness.

Morgan turned his entire body toward me, staring into my face with raw, unfiltered shock. "You... are my daughter?!"

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Morgan’s POV

I stared at the girl standing before me, frozen like a statue. She was the spitting image of Violet.

A rush of memories flooded my mind with blinding speed. I recalled that strange, suffocating sensation in my chest the very first time I laid eyes on her that unexplainable pull I had dismissed as a ghost from my past with Violet reopening old wounds.

Now, the brutal truth was poured over my head like boiling water. She was my daughter!

Was this girl truly my own flesh and blood? My God!

At first, suspicion flared inside me. Violet was cunning, and I assumed this was just another one of her masterfully crafted schemes to break my composure. But in this exact moment, all logic evaporated. My instincts took over, demanding to be heard.

I lost control. My grip loosened, and my handgun slipped from my fingers, clattering onto the floor with a muted thud.

I stepped toward her, my legs trembling for the first time in my life. Raising my large hands, I cupped her cheeks, searching every detail of her face in frantic wonder.

"You’re my daughter... really?" I whispered, my voice thick with raw emotion.

She stared back with wide, terrified eyes, completely speechless. But inside my chest, my heart pounded with unprecedented force. A wave of fiercely protective instinct surged through me—a desperate need to shield her with my own body, to hide her away from every threat in this world. This feeling was real... terrifyingly real. It couldn’t be a lie!

I pulled her toward me, wrapping my arms around her in a crushingly tight embrace. A tempest of regret, love, anger, and awe exploded inside me a storm I couldn’t translate into words.

I held her close, tasting the overdue sensation of fatherhood that time had stolen from me. Slowly pulling back, I kept my hands rested gently on her shoulders before raising my eyes to Violet, who was watching the scene with a cold, triumphant smirk.

"Why?..." I roared, my voice hoarse with fury and disbelief. "Why did you keep my child hidden from me all these years, Violet?!"

Violet waved her hand dismissively, completely unbothered. "Because you weren’t ready back then... just like Snake didn’t deserve his."

She turned her head toward James (Snake), who stood rooted to the spot, blinking slowly as if trying to grasp that the young man beside him was the result of a past encounter.

"I... I have a son?" Snake stammered, his voice trembling.

Violet looked at Steve, who was biting his lower lip in absolute shock. "Yes, Snake... this young man is your son."

Steve stepped forward slowly, his eyes darting between Violet and the man his sister had nearly shot moments ago. "This is impossible!..." he yelled, his voice boiling with rejection. "You’re playing mind games with us! How do you expect us to just accept this farce?!"

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Steve’s POV

It was completely beyond anything a normal human mind could comprehend or endure.

Violet stood right in the center of the hall, her voice terrifyingly serene, dripping with absolute coldness. "I know this is shocking... but these are your fathers."

I shook my head violently, stepping back in fierce rejection. "I can’t accept this!"

The blue-eyed man overcame his initial daze, stepping toward me with hesitant, rigid strides. He stopped right in front of me, searching every line of my face for seconds that felt like an eternity.

"I can’t believe this is real..." he rasped out, his voice trembling under a tidal wave of conflicting emotions.

He reached out a shaking hand, his breath catching in his throat. "You’re... my son."

Before I could even choke out a word to push him away, he surged forward. His fingers dug into my shoulders as he pulled me into a sudden, overwhelming embrace.

My entire body locked up, completely frozen. Is this what it feels like when your father holds you? Is this actual warmth?

In all my twenty-six years, Stewart had never held me with an ounce of this ferocity, nor had he ever made me feel, even for a single second, that I was a part of him. Seeing this absolute stranger do it right now rendered my tongue useless and paralyzed my body from pulling away.

Thoughts battered the inside of my skull with brutal force. Was it possible that the man I spent my whole life wishing would grant me even a speck of affection was never my real father to begin with?! And only today... I discover that this stranger, who didn’t even know I existed, is my actual father?!

I might be a grown man today, but in this exact moment, wrapped in his arms, every sense I possessed made me feel like nothing more than a lost six-year-old child.

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Violet’s POV

A wide, triumphant smile spread across my lips as I watched the tearful reunions unfold. Finally, my two children were gathered under my roof alongside the men who helped give them life. Every single piece of this chaotic puzzle had finally fallen right into its proper place.

Suddenly, an agitated, breathless voice shattered the heavy silence from the front foyer.

"Violet... you called for me!"

I turned around slowly to find Thomas standing near the entryway, his posture rigid and trembling. The very second his eyes locked onto Morgan, Snake, Steve, and Julie, the blood seemed to drain instantly from his face. He froze on the spot like a carved statue, asking in a panicked, fractured breath, "What is going on here?"

I offered him a coy, poisonous smile, answering with complete smoothness. "A reunion... of fathers and their children."

His lips parted in absolute horror. "What?!"

I gestured fluidly with my hand, pointing first to Steve, then to Julie. "My son Steve... his father is Snake. And my daughter Julie... her father is Morgan."

I closed the distance between us with slow, deliberate steps, staring straight into the depth of his terrified eyes. Leaning in, I dropped my voice into a low, lethal whisper that obliterated the very last shred of his sanity:

"Aren’t you going to ask me about your child too, Thomas?"