Page 51 of Broken Mafia Bride (His to Break #2)

RAFFAELE

I come awake slowly, my eyes adjusting to the brightly lit room. I blink, trying to get my bearings. The last thing I remember is slipping through the false door in the kitchen, and then?—

I jerk upright as the memory of being knocked unconscious while trying to save Val flashes through my head.

Damn it. I can’t believe I was so careless. I should’ve been on higher alert. I don’t know how long I’ve been out or what moves Lucio made while I was unconscious. I start to get to my feet but quickly realize that there are cuffs around my wrists, connected to a hook on the floor.

“Ughhh.”

My head snaps to the corner where the pained groan comes from, and my eyes widen when I spot the last person I’d ever expect to see.

Enrico Montanari looks worse for wear. There’s dried blood on the side of his head, and the chains around his wrists are fastened to the ceiling. I wince at the position he’s in—it must be hell on his body.

“You’re awake,” he says. “Are you all right?”

I find myself at a loss for words at the concern in his voice. Since when does Giulia’s father not think I’m the devil incarnate sent to ruin his life and steal his daughter away? Giulia did mention something about her father finally supporting us, but I thought it was just bullshit.

“I should be asking you that,” I say. “What are you doing here?”

He should be back in Chicago—not facing Lucio’s psychopathic tendencies. And if he’s here, does that mean?—

As if he knows exactly where my thoughts are headed, he shakes his head. “It’s just me.”

My hope crashes to the ground. “What the fuck are you doing here? Tell me you didn’t just rush straight toward danger with no plan or army.”

The look he shoots me is frosty. “Did you really think I’d find out my daughter and granddaughter were being detained by that madman and just sit around doing nothing?

As soon as your men told me what was going on, I came here to reason with him.

After all, I’m the one he’s had a bone to pick with from the beginning. ”

Fuck my life.

The one time I want Enrico to be a calculating bastard, he ends up being sentimental. A humorless chuckle slips out of my mouth. Fate is such a cruel bitch.

I eye the older man with a brand-new perspective.

I don’t know what conversation he and Giulia had, but I’m not going to forgive Enrico as easily as she did.

I believe that if he hadn’t been such a shitty father, none of this would have happened.

We would never have had to arrange a secret wedding—the seed for Lucio kidnapping her, her memory loss, and then losing our daughter.

Bitterness fills me, settling in my stomach like dark, heavy ink.

“I know you hate me,” he suddenly says.

My head jerks up in surprise, and our gazes lock on each other.

A small smile curls one side of his mouth. “It’s obvious. Don’t look so surprised.”

“There’s no reason for me to hate you. I don’t even know you.”

He tries to shrug, but only ends up wincing when the cuffs dig into his wrists. “It still doesn’t change the fact that you hate me. You blame me for everything that’s happened. You think that if I hadn’t been such a piece-of-shit father to Giulia, none of this would’ve happened.”

I consider lying, but I don’t know if we’re going to make it out of this alive. The least I can do for Enrico is be honest with him—even if he deserves nothing from me.

“You’re right,” I say eventually. “I don’t fucking like you, Enrico. Sure, you’re not as bad as Lucio, but you’re not blameless in all of this—and you know it.”

“Of course I know it!” he snaps. “You think I haven’t blamed myself every day since I found out that she’s alive—after four years of feeling like I single-handedly murdered her?

I blamed myself for years after the accident on the bridge too.

I told myself that if I had just left Eleanora with her sick father, she would have been fine. ”

He breathes hard and fast. “But now that I realize all the evil Lucio’s done, it’s clear to me that taking her away from here was the best thing I ever did. My biggest mistake was spending so many years drowning in my own guilt.”

Enrico licks his dry lips. “I’m afraid of dying. And not because I haven’t lived a full life, or because of the judgment awaiting me afterward. I’m terrified that my El will never forgive me for what I’ve put our daughter through.”

I stare at him, trying to put myself in his shoes. The guilt and anguish are clearly written in the deep lines of his face, but a part of me still refuses to see him as anything but the first man who broke Giulia’s heart. I should take a page from her book and let the past go—but I can’t.

Unlike her, I never saw the man who was the perfect husband and father—only the part that hurt her over and over again, the part that took advantage of her repeatedly just to fuel his baseless hatred and war against my family. I don’t trust that he’s suddenly a changed man.

Perhaps now that he’s facing his own mortality, he’s desperate to make peace with everyone he’s wronged so his soul can find rest.

Well, fuck him.

Maybe after all of this is over, and he proves that he’s ready and willing to truly know Giulia and be there for her, I can start to think of him as something other than a sorry excuse for a father. But until then, I’m anti-Enrico.

“I know you don’t trust me?—”

“You can bet your ass that I don’t.”

He sighs. “I don’t know if you’re the best choice for my daughter.”

I bristle at that, a retort gathering in my throat, but he speaks again before I can spit out my acidic words.

“But she loves you, and it’s clear you feel the same,” he says. “I expected you to walk away—to give up on her—a long time ago.”

“That’s kind of your MO, not mine.”

His jaw clenches. “I’m not trying to manipulate how you feel about me, but I just want to point out the obvious: Giulia has forgiven me, and she wants me to be part of her life. Do you really want her to spend the next few months or years feeling like she’s caught between us all over again?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “You bastard.”

Just then, the door opens with a heavy creak, and three of Lucio’s armed men walk in—one taking a position in the corner of the room, aiming his gun at me. The other two go about undoing the chains the cuffs are hooked to.

As soon as we’re free, they drag us out of the room carelessly. I glance over my shoulder just in time to see Enrico stumbling weakly, nearly face-planting. One of the guards yanks him back up by the shoulder and shoves him forward.

I grit my teeth in anger. Even though I’m not Enrico’s biggest fan, the rough treatment still grates on my nerves.

“Where are you taking us?” I ask.

“Shut up. It’s none of your business,” the guard gripping me snaps. “Just come along quietly if you don’t want a bullet in your fucking spine.”

I snap my mouth shut after that—the seriousness in his voice a clear warning.

I have no doubt Lucio has already given them instructions: If we prove difficult, they should go ahead and kill us.

We’re not his priority. Which is the only reason I haven’t gone crazy with panic.

I don’t think Lucio will kill Giulia and Noemi while Enrico and I are still breathing.

We continue down the hallway, Enrico breathing hard behind me.

Finally, we stop at another thick metal door. The third guard steps forward and pushes it open, revealing a larger room with similarly whitewashed walls. Unlike the one we were in previously, this one is empty—except for three chairs situated in the middle.

Two of the chairs are positioned close together, facing the third one. I’m confused when I’m shoved down into the lone chair while Enrico is taken to one of the two placed together. He lets out a relieved groan as he’s dropped into it.

Before I can ask any questions, the door opens again—and this time, Giulia and Valentina stumble in.

“Giulia!” I cry as soon as I see her.

It takes me a moment to notice the dark-haired child clinging tightly to her. As soon as her big blue eyes meet mine, I know she’s mine. She’s a spitting image of me in my much younger years—right down to the floppy curls falling over her forehead.

“ Mio Dio ,” Enrico exclaims, staring at the child with wide-eyed wonder.

“Raffaele, are you okay?” Giulia starts to cross the room toward me, but the guard standing behind her stops her with the cock of his gun.

“Stand right there!” he barks.

“I’m all right, Giulia. Just do as he says,” I tell her.

Our eyes meet, an understanding passing between us before she turns to her father. A choking sound slips from her mouth as she catches sight of his bruised face.

But to all our surprise, it’s Valentina who rushes toward him. “Papa, are you okay?”

“Va-Valentina?” he croaks, eyes wide and haunted like he’s staring into the face of a ghost.

“You’re hurt,” she whispers, cupping his face in her hands. “Oh, Papa.”

“Val, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything,” Enrico rushes out. “I never meant for any of this to happen. If I had had an inkling that you were alive, I’d never have stopped searching for you. I want you to believe that.”

“I believe you,” she sobs, falling into his arms. “I can’t believe this whole time I had a family. I can’t believe I missed out on so much because of that bastard.”

Giulia and I exchange a glance at her words. For all Lucio’s faults, he seems to have raised his granddaughter with love and care—more than I can say for Giulia. The only thing Val missed out on was being ignored by Enrico.

“Mama, what’s going on? Where’s Uncle Marco?” Noemi’s sweet voice asks. She’s staring straight at me, watching me with an open curiosity that makes my heart swell.

Fuck the guns aimed at us—I want to go over to them and wrap my little family in my arms. But I’m not stupid enough to risk it.

“He’s close. He’s coming,” Giulia whispers, tears welling up in her eyes. “We’re going to get out of here, and we’re going to get ice cream with Uncle Marco.”

“I’m scared. Can we leave now?” she asks again.

Every emotion Giulia is feeling is reflected in her eyes when she looks at me again—fear, exhaustion, guilt, fury. I suddenly feel helpless, ashamed that I can’t single-handedly save them all from this nightmare.

A throat clears, and all heads turn to where Lucio is standing at the door, wearing a pristine double-breasted white suit and a blood-red tie. A smile curves his mouth as he takes us all in.

“How perfect. The whole family— together at last ,” he says with a dark chuckle, spreading his arms wide.

“Now… let’s get this show on the road.”