Page 41 of Broken Mafia Bride (His to Break #2)

GIULIA

C aterina has been saying something for the past half an hour or so, but I’ve been half tuned out, half asleep. The weather is nice and airy, and I can smell the salt of the ocean. I readjust myself on the lounge chair, sinking deeper into it.

“Giulia! Giulia!”

My eyes flutter open, and I stare at her. “What?”

There’s a gleam in her eyes, and a giggle slips out of her mouth. “Now I see what the other women were yapping about. Honestly, I get it now.”

I follow her line of sight and stop at the sight of a figure pacing on the balcony below us. My eyes bug out when I realize that it’s Raffaele. A shirtless and sweaty Raffaele.

He has a phone pressed to his ear, and whatever news he’s getting, he doesn’t look too happy about it.

My gaze slides all over him, taking in the way muscles bunch and roll on his back and shoulders.

I’ve seen him naked countless times, but there’s something particularly naughty and thrilling about standing out here peeking at him.

“I’m almost tempted to whip out my binoculars for a better look,” Caterina laughs.

My neck snaps to the side, and I raise an eyebrow at her. “Seriously?”

The only response I get from her is more laughter.

It’s strange to me that I felt bothered when the other women were talking about Raffaele like he was a well-done steak, but I’m totally at ease with Caterina doing the same thing.

My eyebrows furrow in confusion, and I wonder if it’s because I barely knew those women.

But then again, I knew Isabella plenty, and hearing her gush about Raffaele used to drive me up the wall.

“Take a picture,” I tease her. “It’ll last longer.”

She laughs. “You know what? That’s a great idea. Why didn’t I think of that myself?”

Caterina whips out her phone, and there’s a sound of a camera click. I gape at her, then leap for the phone. “Oh my god! Delete that.”

“No way.” She laughs, twisting away from my reach. “You’re the one who came up with the suggestion. What are you complaining about now?”

“Is that a rabbit?” I stare off into the distance with a feigned look of shock. Just as I predicted, she spins around, immediately distracted.

“Where’s the rabbit? Where did you see it? We have to?—”

I snatch the phone out of her hand while she’s distracted. “You’re so easy.”

“You tricked me!” she accuses, cheeks flaming with emotion.

I throw my head back and let out a peal of laughter. It’s the first genuine one I’ve had since the night of Isa’s assassination. Even though things with Raffaele and me are on the mend, there’s just been a lot of tension and fear, and everybody’s been treating me with kid gloves.

Like I’m one bad joke away from having a meltdown of catastrophic proportions.

“How didn’t you see that from a mile away?” I ask her, shaking my head as I delete the photo of Raffaele. Instead of returning the phone, though, I find myself scrolling over to the next picture.

It’s a blurry picture of a rose garden; the next one is of a turtle, then a blurry candid of Pepe.

“Sure, just go through my phone or whatever,” she grumbles, settling back into her lounge chair. “And I’m not going to listen to you bitch and moan when you eventually see my nude photos.”

I snort. “Every single picture in here is super blurry. I wouldn’t even be able to differentiate a boob from another of your four-legged friends.”

She shoots me an unimpressed look, and I grin at her before turning back to the phone. I swipe the screen for the next picture. This one is of the gardens at the back of the house. I’m about to swipe when my eyes register someone standing in the background of the photo.

All the blood drains from my face, and my hands go clammy as I stare at the familiar face.

I still remember opening the door and thinking that that face belonged to a sweet, middle-aged woman with whom I could eventually become friends. My heart is pounding so fast, blood is roaring in my head.

No, no. It can’t be. There’s no way that ? —

“Giulia, are you okay?” Caterina’s voice cuts through my panic attack.

I raise my head and meet her eyes, wondering if I should pretend like I didn’t notice the woman who kidnapped my daughter in her picture.

“Uh, y-yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Her eyebrows are pulled down, worry written on her face.

Swallowing, I toss my leg over the side of the lounge chair, sitting up. I hold the phone out to her. “Who’s that? I haven’t seen her before in the house.”

Caterina takes the phone and peers at the screen. “Honestly, I haven’t seen her around in a while.”

“Oh?”

“She used to work for Re Ombra. I don’t know in what capacity, but I used to see her coming in and out of the house.” She shrugs. “My best guess is that she’s a manager of some sort.”

Her eyes meet mine. “Does she look familiar?”

“I was just surprised to see a human being that isn’t Pepe in your photos.”

She laughs. “Oh, shut up.”

My mind is running a mile a minute. How is this possible? I don’t understand. Why does Martina work for my grandfather? Does he have any idea that his employee is the same woman who kidnapped Noemi?

My stomach curdles, and it suddenly feels like a thousand eyes are watching me.

Can it be that this entire time we’ve just been pieces on a chessboard owned and played by Lucio Sanna? Acid rises in my throat, and I hurriedly swallow it back down. Why would Lucio do this, though? There’s no reason for him to take Noemi and then pretend like he’s helping us find her.

There are too many questions.

For a split second, I consider running off to tell Raffaele everything, but I change my mind. What if this is all a big misunderstanding? What if Lucio has no idea that he has a snake working for him? She could have been planted here by La Rete Rossi or the Syndicate.

I have to find out the truth, and I have to do it myself.

This concerns my family, and so, I’m going to figure it out on my own. I can’t keep letting people risk their lives for me and coming to my rescue. I’m not a damsel in distress. Far from it, in fact.

I rise to my feet, stretching. “I’m getting sun sick.”

“You should eat something and try to get some sleep,” Caterina says.

“What about you? You coming?”

“I’m going to stay here and wait for Pepe. He went to view a property for a new seafood restaurant with Re Ombra. They should be back any minute.”

If this isn’t a sign from the universe, I don’t know what is. I don’t know when else I’ll have free access to Lucio’s office. It’s now or never.

Fixing a small smile on my face, I nod and then walk back into the house. Instead of heading to the staircase leading to my bedroom on the first floor, however, I continue down the hallway in the direction of his study.

I push the door open and slip in, heart racing. On the outside, though, I’m as cool as a cucumber. Shutting the door behind me, I make my way to his desk, pulling out the drawers to carefully rifle through them.

There are lots of documents, and I have to fish them out and skim through them carefully. Most are profit and revenue files, contracts for business deals—a whole lot of stuff I’m not interested in.

Groaning in frustration, I hurry to the shelves pushed up against the wall. I go through the hardback books, pulling out random ones and flipping through them. I don’t know exactly what I’m searching for, and that’s the problem. It’s not like there’s some big book titled Evidence of Foul Play .

“This is stupid,” I mumble under my breath. There’s no way that my grandfather is involved in Noemi’s kidnapping. I’m sure as soon as I tell him that the woman who worked for him is the same one we found dead in the tub, he’ll be just as horrified as me.

I suck in a deep breath, about to turn away and go back to my room, when I notice a side of the shelf that appears shallower than the rest. Confused, I pull out the books in that segment, and note that they’re much smaller. I feel around the now-empty side and feel a handle in the wood.

Breath held, I pull on the handle, and a compartment opens.

I swallow back my surprised gasp and reach inside, pulling out a single file. It’s large and heavy, and my muscles strain to carefully bring it down to the ground. Dropping down to my knees, I hurriedly tear the file open.

My breath stutters in my chest as I take in the photo—it’s of Noemi and me at an ice cream stand.

The second one is of Noemi seated in her classroom, taken from what seems to be the top of a nearby building.

The third is of me, heavily pregnant, waddling down the street with Sienna on one side of me and Marco on the other.

I quickly flip through the rest of it, my stomach sinking deeper and deeper. There are hundreds of photos of us, from just around the time Marco fished me out of the lake, right to the day I arrived in Sardegna. There’s only one explanation for why my grandfather would have this.

He’s been stalking me.

The kind, loving grandfather I thought I knew doesn’t exist. Martina worked for him, and not only did he betray her to protect his reputation as one of the good guys, he had her killed. The thought makes me sick. To him, a human life is that easy to discard?

All my beliefs and hopes are crumbling to pieces in the space of seconds.

Just then, I hear the sound of car tires screeching into the driveway. I jump into action. Pulling out my phone, I snap some of the photos in the file, then quickly stuff it back into the hidden compartment.

Sweat pools down my spine as I start arranging the books back into place. It takes too long to set them right, and by then, footsteps are already coming down the hallway toward the study. My eyes jump around the room in panic.

What now?

Just as the door starts to open, I crawl halfway under the table. “Come on out, Cherie! God help me if you make a mess under there, I’ll make rabbit stew out of you!”

Behind me, I hear a low chuckle. “Using threats to coax an animal out? Has Caterina taught you nothing?”

I spin around, feigning surprise. “Lucio, you’re back. Oh my god, I’m so sorry about this. I didn’t think one bunny would cause so much trouble. I was supposed to be watching it.”

With a frustrated groan, I climb to my feet, dusting off the leg of my pants. I can’t help but look at him in a new light. Is there a hard glint beneath his brown eyes, or is it just my imagination?

My skin crawls, and I have the overwhelming urge to get away from here.

“Any luck finding my daughter?” I ask.

He sighs, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Giulia. I’m trying everything I can, but…” He trails off, looking apologetic.

Fury rises inside me like a volcano, but I tamp it down. Does my father know something about Lucio? Is that why he hates him so much? Is it possible that my father saved Mama from this life, after all?

“I see.” I swallow. “I don’t think Cherie is here. I think she’s left. I’ll check the kitchen.”

He nods. “That will be wise.”

Fixing a smile on my face, I walk past him and out of the room. I only start breathing again when I’m behind the closed door of my bedroom, and even then, I don’t even let myself relax completely. I don’t know if he’s watching me inside here too.

Lucio Sanna is the enemy, and I delivered myself right into his hands.