Page 140 of Broken Mafia Bride

Growling in fury, I jump to my feet, grabbing some of the shards of glass. They cut into my hands, but I’m numb to the pain. My heart is pounding too fast, fear and fury warring inside me. I’m done letting these assholes mess with my kid.

As one of the men rushes for her, I throw the shards of glass at his face with a roar.

He screams, clawing at his face. I go in with two punches—one to his solar plexus and the other to the side of his stomach, targeting his kidneys, where it’ll hurt the most. He falls to his knees just in time for the other one to lunge toward me.

My fists fly at his face, catching him with an uppercut that throws him off balance. His teeth bared in an angry snarl, he comes at me again. I’m too slow to dodge the blow he sends my way, and it ends up glancing off the side of my face, splitting a patch of skin there.

Before I can process what’s happening, his foot sweeps in an arc, taking me down to the ground.

Noemi lets out a small, terrified sound, and from the corner of my eye, I can see that she’s shaking.

Damn it. I can’t let this bastard kill me off. Noemi, Raffaele, and probably Valentina are all depending on me. I spy the broken bottle from earlier a few paces away. A smug smile tugs at the man’s mouth.

He lunges for me, and I move with lightning-fast speed, grabbing the bottle and slashing it through the air. The man grabs his neck, a gurgling sound escaping his throat as blood gushes from the wound. Crawling away from the blood pooling beneath him, I leap to my feet, wiping my bloody hands on the side of my pants.

I grab Noemi and hurry away. She clings to me even tighter, shaking and whimpering. I blink back the tears threatening my vision and press on. The hallway I slip into is quiet, and all the rooms I search are empty.

The last door at the end of the hallway is the only one that’s shut. Heart pounding, I slide back the bolt and throw the door open, spotting Valentina curled up in one corner.

“Val!” I cry, about to step into the room.

“Giulia, no!” she screams, just as I feel something press against the middle of my back.

“I wouldn’t take another step if I were you,” a cold voice warns from behind me, and I go deathly still.

Oh god.

44

RAFFAELE

Icome 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 fathernotthink 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.