Page 19 of Broken Mafia Bride (His to Break #2)

GIULIA

I haven’t slept in three days. I see her in every shadow, every dream, and every corner of this goddamn house.

“Any leads?” Sienna asks.

I shake my head, scrubbing a hand over my face. “Nothing. Or at least nothing yet.”

On the screen, I see Sienna’s face screw up in confusion. “Your daughter couldn’t just have disappeared. Someone had to have seen something. The airport guys, a driver, a random passerby.”

She leans forward, bringing her voice down to a whisper. “And didn’t you say your grandfather was like The Godfather ?”

“He’s been searching,” I tell her.

“And?”

My shoulders slump even more. “Nothing so far. It’s like she vanished.” My eyes sting, my whole body heavy with helplessness. My sleep has been fitful, nightmares rousing me in the middle of the night.

I haven’t even slept a wink for the past three days. My eyes are raw and gritty, and everything hurts. I’ve cried until my eyes physically can’t force out another drop of moisture.

“I’m so sorry, Giulia, I’m sure you’ll find her soon,” Sienna says.

That’s what everyone keeps saying. They keep on telling me to calm down, to get some rest, to do anything but worry about Noemi twenty-four hours of the day, but they don’t know what it feels like. I brought that monster into my home and let her take my baby.

I can’t even imagine how scared she is right now, and the thought of the horrors she’s going through…

Every time I close my eyes, I see her face behind my eyelids, calling for me in a weak voice, big, blue eyes filled with terror. I shake the image away.

“I, uh, need to go,” I tell her, blinking back my tears.

“Are you okay, Giulia?” she asks softly.

“Yeah, I?—”

“Mama,” a sweet voice calls from the screen, and I watch Sienna’s eyes widen. She stares at me like I’m a loose cannon that’s about to go off, and I can’t stand it.

I know she’s been keeping her kids off the call because she thinks seeing them would be too much for me—and maybe she’s right.

Offering her a stiff smile, I say a hurried goodbye and shut the laptop screen. I bury my face in my hands and take several deep breaths, trying to steady my shot nerves. My grandfather’s wine bar is starting to look like a good idea.

The sound of cars pulling into the driveway snaps me out of my daze, and I jump to my feet and rush out of the dining room. I race into the foyer just as my grandfather and his men walk in.

Lucio Sanna isn’t what I thought he’d be. I spent years building him up in my mind as this large, monstrous, cruel man who ripped my family apart, but he’s nothing like that.

I’ve had to revise everything I know about him since I arrived at Casa Bianca. As soon as he saw me, he wrapped his arms around me and welcomed me to his home.

“You would have always had a place here,” he told me on the first night, clasping my hands in his rough, callused ones.

Even though he still blames Papa for dividing his family and for all the years lost, we’ve managed to bond—through the pain of my mother Eleonora’s death, and through the loss of Valentina. We’ve shared stories about the women we both loved but never truly got to keep.

He’s been working overtime, using every resource at his disposal to help me find Noemi—even though he owes me nothing.

“Lucio,” I say, stepping up to him, the name feeling awkward on my tongue. I still haven’t been able to bring myself to call him grandfather.

He offers me a soft smile. “Giulia, how are you doing?”

“I’m fine, I guess,” I say impatiently. “What’s going on now? Did you find any leads?”

His face falls. “I’m sorry, child. I’m doing my best. We interrogated some of the La Rete Rossi members who were caught at the airport last week, but none of them budged. I honestly believe they don’t know anything about what’s going on.”

My throat tightens. My hands twitch at my sides. I want to scream, to shake someone— anyone —into telling me where the hell she is.

How can no one know? La Rete Rossi doesn’t make moves without reason. This wasn’t random. It wasn’t a mistake.

“It’s not possible,” I insist. “There’s no way no one knows anything.”

“That’s another thing I need to ask you,” he says. “Think, child—what you said at the shed that day. Is it possible you were mistaken about La Rete Rossi?”

“I’m sure of what I saw, Lucio. I’ve seen their flags in town, and it was definitely their coin I found.”

The image of that coin flashes through my mind again. I still can’t believe I lost it in my luggage on my first day at Casa Bianca.

He nods. “I’ll continue looking. I won’t stop until I find her. I’ve already lost my family once, and I don’t intend on doing that again.”

Lucio grips my shoulders firmly, his eyes are full of promise as he stares at me. A little bit of relief washes through me. Just knowing that a man like Re Ombra is taking charge of this search allows some hope to remain inside of me.

On my own, I wouldn’t have even known where to begin. I’m truly grateful to him—and I really should’ve listened to Isabella years ago and reconnected with him.

“Have you spoken to your father yet?” His voice turns a little frosty, and he clasps his hand behind his back.

“Not yet,” I tell him. “I’m not ready to speak to him.”

I know he’ll come storming in like a hurricane—guns blazing, orders flying. But this isn’t about pride or power. This is about my daughter. And I don’t trust him to understand that.

The last thing I want is my father showing up here, trying to take over the search, and ending up ruining everything. Or worse—running his mouth to the Gagliardis just to antagonize them, and dragging the war right to our doorstep, using my daughter as yet another excuse to hate each other.

So far, Lucio has been careful, keeping the search as quiet as possible, doing everything he can to avoid provoking La Rete Rossi into something drastic.

“It’s fine, child,” he assures me. “I believe you’ll do it when the time is right.”

“Boss,” one of his men says, stepping into the foyer. “You’ve got a call.”

“Excuse me.” Lucio nods, walking off with the man following close behind.

With a defeated sigh, I make my way out of the house, walking through the beautiful field behind the house.

My second day in the house, I was too depressed to even get out of my bed.

Lucio took me on walk through the field, telling me stories of how my mother loved picking flowers and using them to create head crowns.

And now every time I feel unsettled, I find myself recreating steps that my mother must have taken more than thirty years ago. It makes me ache for her… and yet somehow feel close to her too. The entire house has that effect on me.

It feels oddly like home.

Like I’ve been here before, walked the halls that smell like aged wood, and stood at my bedroom balcony where the smell of grass and flowers and the sea float up and fill my lungs.

I push through a fence of tall grasses and nearly trip over a figure hunched low to the ground. The woman turns, catching my eye, and a smile blooms across her face.

“Ah, Giulia,” Caterina calls, motioning me closer. “You have to see this.”

I drop to the ground beside her without hesitation, not caring about the dirt staining my dress.

Caterina was one of the first people I met when I arrived at Casa Bianca, and within just a few days, we grew unexpectedly close, drawn together by something unspoken.

There’s a natural warmth about her, a grounding presence I didn’t realize I needed.

Being near her feels like standing beside a familiar fire—comforting, safe, known.

Though technically she lives in her husband’s villa across the road, Caterina is almost always at Casa Bianca. The staff joke that she spends more time here than at home, and honestly, I’m glad for it. Her lightness cuts through the heaviness that hangs over this place.

I remember what she told me when I first arrived:

“I didn’t grow up with a proper family. I don’t remember my childhood—just vague fragments, shadows.

For as long as I’ve been able to hold onto memory, Lucio has been my guardian.

He took me in when I was barely more than a child myself, pulled me out of the streets where I’d been abandoned, and gave me a name, a life.

He raised me under this roof, and no matter how complicated our dynamic has grown over the years, Casa Bianca is the only home I’ve ever known.

Still, there are times—quiet, aching times—when I long for something more.

For the warmth of a mother’s arms, the comfort of a voice soft with love.

Sometimes I wonder who my real family was, where I came from, and if someone out there once missed me.

But those are questions I’ve never had the courage to ask aloud.

So I hold onto what I do have. Even if it’s borrowed.”

And now, somehow, with all the chaos swirling around me, Caterina’s presence here—her steady, irreverent, nurturing self—has become a lifeline. She doesn’t tiptoe around me like the others do because of Noemi. She doesn’t fill silences with pity or walk on eggshells. She just… shows up.

Her short, inky-dark hair is tied into a messy ponytail, and she’s dressed in simple jean shorts and a floral shirt, completely at ease in the soil and sunlight.

We quickly became friends. The kind that feels like something older than time.

Every time I look at her, I think how lucky Pepe is for snatching her up—her husband, one of Lucio’s most trusted men, who clearly worships the ground she walks on.

I follow her gaze down to where a tiny kitten is snuggled on top of a wide leaf. A small gasp escapes my mouth as I stare at the cute creature.

“Where’s his mother?” I ask worriedly.

“No idea,” she tells me. “I’ve waited for hours, and there’s been no sign of the mother. I think maybe he got separated from his family and left behind. Poor thing.”

I stare at its tiny, trembling body and feel my chest ache. Everything small and soft in this world always ends up at the mercy of something cruel.

I shoot her a small smile. “Oh, come on, we both know you already plan to take it home. This will make it the, what…” I pretend to count on my fingers, and she lets out a snort.

“Shut up.”

“Tenth animal you’re adopting?” I blink at her. “Or is it eleventh? You know, eventually Pepe is going to decide he’s had enough and leave you and your four-legged children.”

She gives me a look. “I have two birds.”

I raise a hand in surrender. “Didn’t mean to pick favorites.”

Laughing, she gathers the kitten into her palms, and we start making our way back toward the house. “Any dinner requests?”

“You’re making dinner?” I ask with some amount of panic. I’ve eaten Caterina’s food before, or more accurately, I’ve gagged my way through a plate of her spaghetti, and I don’t ever want to have a repeat experience.

“Not you too,” she pouts. “I’m not that bad. Kids actually like my cooking. I bet Noemi would love my mac and cheese.”

I let out a quiet breath, part laugh, part ache. “Let’s wait until she’s back before we test her resilience like that.”

Caterina falls silent for a beat, then turns to me, her voice soft but sure. “She’s coming back, Giulia. You’ll bring her home.”

My bottom lip begins to tremble. “It’s the same story every day. No leads, nobody’s talking. Nothing. It’s like she never existed, Caterina, and I—” I falter. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring the mood down.”

“Talk about her as much as you want,” she retorts. “And if you want, we won’t talk about her at all. I’m just here for you, Giulia. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”

“I let them take her, and now I can’t even bring her home.”

“You’re trying your best.”

I snort out a humorless laugh. “I’m not doing anything at all. I’m just here, falling apart and trying too hard to hold the pieces together.”

“Giulia—”

“No,” I hold up a hand. “I don’t know if I want to talk about it anymore. Just distract me. Please.”

By then, we’ve gotten to the steps leading up to the front door of the house. We sit down on one of the stairs at the top, the sun sinking slowly on the horizon, casting Casa Bianca in an ambient glow.

“I like it here,” she says quietly. “I’ve lived at Casa Bianca for as long as I can remember. Not once have I wanted to be anywhere else.”

Caterina sets the kitten on her lap, absently stroking its fur.

“I have Pepe here. I’ve loved him since I understood what love was.

Even before Re Ombra suggested him, we were together in secret.

” She smirks, but there’s something tender in her eyes.

“Your grandfather would’ve had his head if he’d known. ”

“But he didn’t,” I murmur, smiling faintly.

She exhales, gaze drifting toward the house. “This place… It’s home, Giulia. It holds all my pieces in one place. And even though sometimes it feels like my soul gets pulled thin…” She trails off, then looks back at me. “I wish you’d stay. Noemi would love it here.”

I raise my head to the sky, staring at the last streaks of sunlight. I’m envious of her because she knows all the answers. Her soul is whole, where it’s supposed to be. And then there’s me, with pieces of my soul scattered across the earth.

With my daughter and with the man I love.

The man I’ve never learned how not to love. I don’t know if there’s any hope of all the pieces ever coming back together, but I have to believe I’ll find Noemi—and that we can be happy again. Or at least as happy as I can be, with my heart still bleeding out.

I shut my eyes and, just like seven-year-old me did on the drive away from that retreat all those years ago, I pray.

Not to be forgiven. Not to be redeemed.

Just to see her face again.