Page 95 of Mafia King's Forbidden Obsession

Slitting my eyes, I reach out and cover the beard with my hand. My brows furrow as the man becomes even more familiar.“Matteo…” His name pops into my head. “Elio, grab the picture of Matteo for me.” My heart races as I squint at the picture.

Elio covers the distance in and out of the room in seconds and hands the worn-out paper to me. I look intently at both men, their features aligning remarkably.

“This man looks so much like Matteo… Could it really be him?” I voice, as I look from one picture to the other.

Elio frowns, disbelief clear in his voice. “Matteo? No way he’s alive.”

Anyone taken by the American cartel is never seen alive again. I searched for him for years with no success. There’s no way he survived.

I grind my teeth. “I could be wrong. The picture’s too blurry to say for sure,” I conclude, pushing aside the memories of that incident from fifteen years ago that the name Matteo drags up.

My mind spins as I stare at the picture again. I can’t shake the uneasy feeling in my gut. Just then, Elio’s phone pings, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“The footage,” he says, clearing his throat as he pulls up a chair beside the bed.

He holds the phone up sideways so we can both see. Then he clicks on the play button. The time stamp shows it’s the first day I let Raven out of the mansion.

My heart pounds harder when Elio fast-forwards, stopping when Raven enters the frame. She moves through the aisles, grabbing medical supplies. But then, she pauses at one shelf, glancing around before discreetly slipping a pregnancy kit into her basket, burying it beneath other items. I let out a quiet chuckle, unable to help myself.

From the corner of my eye, I see Elio raise a brow at me. I clear my throat and continue watching when I see Raven pause in her shopping.

She glances toward the corner of the store, hidden from the camera. Her lips move, murmuring something under her breath, and her eyes flick nervously between the door and whatever she’s staring at off-screen. Something is definitely off.

“Can we get another angle? Something that shows what she’s looking at?” I ask, my frown deepening.

Elio swipes through the video files, fingers moving quickly. “Let me see...” A few seconds later, he pulls up more footage. “Ah, here it is.”

The footage, this time, captures a man standing a few feet from Raven, his face coming into sharp focus. I lean in closer, my heart pounding in my chest.

“Elio…” I barely breathe the words.

“Mio Dio, è lui(My God, it is him),” he whispers, his voice grim.

The beard and build matches the man in the blurry photo. His face is more rugged, but I recognize him. It’s Matteo. He’s alive. Alive and with Raven.

“Elio,” I say, my voice tight with rage. “Find him.”

I glance at the footage once again. “Track them both. I believe if we find one, we’ll find the other.”

“Sì, Capo(Yes, Boss).” Elio nods, already turning to leave.

But just as he reaches the door, a wave of dizziness hits me hard. My vision begins to blur, and I frown, confusion flooding my mind as Elio seems to spin in front of me.

“Elio…” My words drag out as I lift my hand, extending it towards him.

“Boss…?” He turns around, his voice echoing like I’m underwater.

Elio blurs further and I shake my head in an attempt to clear the fog clouding my vision.

“I don't… feel right…” My words slur as my body stumbles to the side.

The last thing I see is Elio running towards me, everything slowing down.

Chapter twenty-nine

Raven

I let my head hang low as I feel beads of sweat trickle down my temples. It’s the tenth day I’m held captive in a small, dark room with just a bed, a sink, a toilet in the corner, and a tiny window high up against the wall for ventilation.