Page 25 of Broken Mafia Bride (His to Break #2)

RAFFAELE

“ W hat do you mean, our child has been kidnapped ?” I grit out, trying to process this new information.

“Noemi was kidnapped about nineteen days ago.” Tears well up in Giulia’s eyes, and she hurriedly wipes them off, sniffing.

“When were you going to tell me about this? You should have led with that.” My fingers close into fists at my sides.

“I didn’t know how to tell you,” she says softly. “You’d just stepped into Casa Bianca, and suddenly I was supposed to explain that you have a daughter—and that she’s been taken.”

“And whose fault is that?” I snort.

She jerks back like my words just slapped her across the face. While a part of me is apologetic, another small, horrible part wants to hurt her, wants to see her as broken and miserable as I have been for years.

I want to lash out, blame her, tell her that Noemi would never have been taken if she were with me. But I know that’s not fair, and regardless of everything, my feelings for Giulia are still more than whatever hurt I’ve felt.

I drag a hand over my face. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have?—”

“Do you have any leads about who took her?” Isabella steps forward, brows drawn together.

I spin around to face Isabella, something clicking at the back of my mind—her last statement hadn’t held an ounce of surprise.

“You knew she was pregnant. You knew she’d been carrying my child, and you never thought to tell me.”

“I had no idea if she was alive, Raff,” Isabella points out. “What use would telling you have been? You’ve been off the deep end since you lost Giulia. The last thing I wanted was to make you live with not just one, but two losses.”

A humorless laugh escapes my mouth. “Is there anything else you’re keeping from me for the sake of protecting me from going off the deep end?”

Her mouth tightens into a thin line. Something flashes in her eyes, there and gone for barely a second. And just when I think she’s going to speak, she sighs and turns back to Giulia.

“How did this happen?”

Giulia’s face pales, her hands suddenly trembling.

“There was a woman… she came to the door asking for help, and I let her into my house.” Her voice cracks. “I let that monster in with a smile, and she took my baby.”

The fury that rushes through me is staggering.

It’s a combination of the betrayal I feel at all the secrets between Giulia and me, and the fact that someone has our daughter.

In the space of a day, I’ve found out that Giulia is alive, we have a daughter, and that daughter, whom I’m yet to meet, is missing.

“I can’t believe it didn’t even cross your mind to reach out to me after she was taken.” I try to keep my voice calm, but it comes out angry and hurt. “I could have been helping you to search for her this whole time. She’d have been home by now.”

“I didn’t have a choice!” She suddenly takes a step forward, eyes flashing. “You think I wanted this? You think I wanted to wake up one day with no memory, to have my child taken from me, and to be alone in this nightmare?”

My mouth curls up into a small, mocking smirk. “You were hardly alone. Or are we really going to act like the fisherman wasn’t there the whole time, trying to take my place?”

I regret the words the second they leave my mouth—but it’s too late. Giulia sucks in a breath. “You’re an asshole. Maybe I was right not to bring you into her life.”

“You couldn’t have hidden her from me forever, and you know it.”

“I wasn’t hiding her from you,” she clarifies. “I was hiding her from this life, not you.”

“And yet here you are.” I spread my arms out. “Seeking help from the very place you’ve been running from for the past few years. Ironic, isn’t it?”

Her eyes narrow to slits. “I was doing what was best for my child.”

“No, Giulia,” I tell her. “Let’s face it. A part of you was doing what was best for you.”

She goes still, eyes flaring. “Th-that’s not true. I was protecting her. If I’d brought her back to Chicago, what do you think would have happened? Well, let me tell you exactly what would have happened. The Montanaris and the Gagliardis would have used her to play tug of war.”

She continues before I can retort.

“You think this was easy for me? You think that being away from you was easy? That I was living my best life while you were falling apart? Doing what was best for me would have been barging right back home, fuck the risks, and coming right back to you.”

Her voice breaks, and she wraps her arms around herself.

“You don’t know how many times I almost did that. How many times I nearly convinced myself we’d be fine back home.”

She lets out a shaky breath. “There were nights I had our bags packed, sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the door and trying to work up the courage to walk through it—then I’d fall apart before I could even stand.”

Her eyes glisten as she continues, “Once, I even took the train. I stood outside your apartment building, Noemi in my arms… but I couldn’t make myself knock, I couldn’t face you. I just stood there, frozen, until the sun started rising. And then I left.”

Her hazel eyes meet mine, searching. “Can you honestly say we would’ve been safe if we’d come back?”

I open my mouth to give her an instant yes, to tell her that it’s not like we planned to stay there forever, and that I’d have kept us safe, but the words die on my tongue.

A memory of Gino’s cold body lying in a box flashes in my head. That could have easily been me if he hadn’t stepped in.

And then I remember how Giulia had been kidnapped. The echo of that gunshot at the cliff still rings clearly in my head up until now. I hadn’t been able to save her, nor had I been able to save my cousin, so what assurance can I honestly give her that Noemi would have been safe?

I sigh. “You were right to keep her away,” I finally admit. If I weren’t so blinded by rage from the beginning of this conversation, I’d have realized that.

“But after she went missing, there was nothing else keeping you from telling me the truth,” I point out.

She shakes her head. “I didn’t know how to tell you. I was scared, and ashamed, and a coward. Telling you about her in these conditions felt wrong. I was already worried sick about how to break the news of my being alive, and I didn’t want to cause you more pain.

“Giulia—”

“I didn’t want you to hate me,” she finally admits.

“I don’t hate you. I could never hate you.”

Our eyes meet and hold, and something moves between us. I want to close the gap, take her into my arms and hold her, reacquaint myself with the feel of her slight figure against me, taste her, just once more.

The world is a blurred image around us as our gaze stays locked. The ever-present hole inside my chest is being glued together slowly.

“Who took her?” Isabella’s words are like cold water doused over us, and she tears her eyes away, trying to look anywhere but at me.

Giulia clears her throat. “I don’t know. Or maybe I do.”

“What does that mean?” I ask her, confused.

“We tracked the woman who took her to an abandoned house, and found a coin with a symbol that I was told belonged to La Rete Rossi,” she explains.

My blood runs cold at the name, stomach churning with horror.

“ Mio Dio ,” Isabella exclaims, doing the sign of the cross.

“You know about them?” she asks.

“Who doesn’t?” Isabella exclaims. “Everyone in Sardegna knows about them. And they’re not just local to the island. They’re popular in other places in Italy.”

“A pack of money-hungry bastards who treat people like livestock,” I tell Giulia. “Are you sure about what you saw?”

She nods. “I know exactly what I saw. It was the sign for La Rete Rossi. I’ve seen it in several places around Sardegna—it’s the same one. Lucio’s been tearing the island apart searching for her, since it’s their base, but there’s been nothing. It’s like they took her and vanished.”

“That’s not possible,” I tell her. “This isn’t random. I don’t believe for one second that they took Noemi because she was convenient. This was a targeted move, and the question is, why do they want her?”

“I’d have said money, but it’s been weeks, and there’s been nothing from them,” Giulia adds. “I’ve kept my phone glued to my side so I won’t miss a ransom call.”

I don’t think it has anything to do with money, either. Trafficking is where even a lot of men in the mafia draw the line—even though it’s one of the most profitable businesses in the world.

La Rete Rossi may be a powerful group, but there’s no way they aren’t aware that Noemi is connected to a man like Re Ombra, and know the risks of messing around with him. Generally, different organizations or families in the same area try as much as possible not to step on each other’s toes.

There’s a balance to stuff like this, and it’s disastrous when it gets disrupted.

“I’ve called my father too,” she sighs. “He’s going to help.”

Ah yes. She’s called everyone to help except me. I almost say as much, but decide to swallow the bitter words instead. This isn’t a competition of who finds her first or anything like that.

We’re all going to have to be a team, for Noemi and Giulia’s sakes. The sooner we find the girl, the better. I don’t even want to think about how terrified she’ll be right now without Giulia.

I step closer and grab her hand tightly. “We’ll find her together. We’ll bring Noemi home.”

The tremble in her hands gradually fades, then stops completely as I hold them. She watches me in silence, eyes fixed and intent. After what feels like hours, she nods.

I reach forward and brush a loose tendril of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. She sucks in a breath when my fingers brush against the shell of her ear, watching me with a quiet yearning.

It would be so easy to seal the distance between us, take her into my arms, and comfort her.

The pain, the heartbreak, the misery, none of it matters right now. I can’t imagine what it’s been like for her, how helpless she must feel. It’s an echo of how I’ve felt these past few years, blind hope and pure spite urging me forward every time I tried to give up.

It’s only when Giulia’s gaze shifts to something beyond my shoulders, and guilt washes over her expression, that I remember we’re not alone.

I reluctantly step away from her. Giulia has nothing to feel guilty about—it’s not like her cousin and I are a real couple.

I think about confessing my drunken mistake, but stop myself.

It was a mistake.

One that meant nothing.

There’s no use digging up things better left buried.

“I need to talk to Re Ombra, see what he’s heard so far,” I say. “I’ll pass his findings to Matteo and see what he can find.”

“Thank you,” Giulia tells me earnestly.

With a nod, I begin to make my way toward the door. Isabella’s gaze tracks my exit, and there’s something in them, something that makes a cold shiver run up my spine. I blink, and when I look at her again, she’s offering Giulia a soft, supportive smile.

I must have imagined that look.

I’m not leaving until I find my daughter, and when I find the bastards that took her, I’ll make sure there’s nothing left of them to bury.

Nobody fucks with my family and gets away with it. Absolutely no one.

Whoever took Noemi is about to learn that bitter lesson.