Page 124 of Broken Mafia Bride

“Caterina likes you two.” His words halt me. “She’s rooting for you two. So for her sake, you two better be careful and not die.”

“Sure thing,” I say. I shake my head with a low chuckle and move to continue on my way.

“One more thing,” he says.

I stop walking and glance back at him over my shoulder.

“You said the past didn’t matter.”

He lets it hang.

“You might change your mind after hearing what really happened to Giulia’s mother and sister.”

39

GIULIA

The phone slips from my hand and lands on the carpet with a soft thud. I can’t breathe.

My lungs seize, desperate for air, like they’ve forgotten how to work. Horror twists my stomach into knots. Bile claws its way up my throat.

How can one man be so evil?

My mind spins, barely able to keep up with the flood of truth Raffaele just gave me.

Re Ombra.The king of shadows.

And that’s exactly what he’s been—lurking in the dark, pulling strings, destroying lives like it was a game.

I’m still sitting there, frozen, the weight of it all pressing down on me, when the study door creaks open.

He steps inside like he owns the world.

I look up at him, scanning his face for cracks, for signs of the monster behind the mask.

“Giulia,” he says calmly, not a flicker of surprise. “What are you doing here?”

His voice is smooth, steady. Of course it is. Everything’s still under his control.

He smiles.

“Is it the naughty bunny again?” he asks casually. “We really do need to do something about that, don’t you agree?”

“How could you?”

My voice is barely a whisper, shaky and raw.

“Excuse me?”

I scramble to my feet, suddenly ice-cold. My arms wrap around my body like I’m trying to hold myself together.

“How could you?” I hiss, the words ripping out of me. “How could you be so heartless? I’m your blood.She’syour blood. How could you take her? You’re a monster.”

His brown eyes—so like my mother’s—go wide, confusion spreading like a stain across his face.

“Child,” he says, voice soft and stunned. “What on earth are you talking about?”

I hesitate. Just for a second.