Page 143 of Broken Mafia Bride

“I don’t think, I know,” he drawls. “You took her from me! She was happy here, content, had so much life left to live, and you ripped her from her home.”

He turns to one of his guards and motions at Noemi. “Take the child.”

“No!” I scream, but the gun pointed in my direction stops me from making any move.

“Mama!” Noemi cries as she’s torn from my arms and handed over to Lucio.

To my surprise and horror, his eyes soften as she’s brought to him, and he gently brushes a lock of hair away from her face. “Don’t worry, child. Your mother will be just fine. The grown-ups want to talk, that’s all. Just go ahead with Johnny quietly. Okay?”

“Do as he says, darling.” I fix a smile on my face, nodding encouragingly at her when she stares at me with those big, blue eyes.

“But I want to stay with you.” She sticks out her bottom lip in a pout, and I nearly burst into tears.

My daughter has been through so much. I only hope that everything that’s happened so far won’t traumatize her. I don’t want her to bear the invisible scars for the rest of her life, like the ones that plagued me for years after I watched my mother plunge to her death. I tell myself she’ll be fine, because I refuse to accept any other outcome.

“I’ll just be a moment,” I tell her, pleading with my eyes for her to do as I say. It’s clear that my grandfather adores her, if that soft look in his eyes is any indication, but it’s almost impossible to predict him and the sick lengths he can go to.

“Okay.” She finally nods, allowing the man to carry her away.

I swear to myself that if Johnny touches a single hair on my daughter’s head, he’ll live a long, excruciating life. Even if I die here today, I’ll claw and crawl my way out of the grave to make sure his life becomes a living hell.

As soon as she’s gone, Lucio’s eyes lose their softness, looking almost pitch black and utterly devoid of life. A smirk lifts his mouth.

“It’s a beautiful moment, isn’t it?” he begins, eyes meeting and holding on each of us one by one. “It’s too bad that my Eleanora will never get to experience it. And all because of one man.”

“You’re the one that killed her, you psycho!” Val snaps. “Quit playing the victim card.”

“Shut up!” he snaps. “You know nothing.”

“What do you want?” Raffaele asks. “What now? You finally have all of us where you want us, so now the question is what’s next?”

He laughs. “Smart and straight to the point—I like you. Perhaps you’re not such a bad choice for my granddaughter, after all.”

Bile climbs up my throat at the gleam in his eyes. Even now, he’s still plotting, trying to pull strings. Christ, what kind of monster is he? I can’t believe I’m related to him.

“The thing is, I’m owed a great debt,” he tsks. “And I’ve never been the type to forgive a debt. No true businessman does that—and despite all of this, I am, at heart, a simple businessman.”

I stare at him with revulsion written clearly on my face.

“I lost a daughter twenty-three years ago.” Lucio’s face crumbles, a look of genuine sadness on his face. How can someone so evil still have the ability to feel normal human emotions? “And it’s all because of one man.”

My father snorts. “You need a mirror if you’re looking for the cause of your misfortune, you bastard!”

Lucio turns to my father, cocking his head with a dark gleam in his eyes. Before anyone can process what’s happening, a gunshot echoes through the room, and my father lets out an ear-splitting scream.

“You bastard!” my father howls, staring at his bleeding knee in horror.

“Papa!” I cry, taking a step toward him, but one of Lucio’s guards steps in front of me, blocking my way.

“I’m going to fucking kill you!” Raffaele jumps to his feet, but my grandfather calmly points a gun at him.

“Sit down,” he orders him. “Or let me make myself clearer.” He moves the gun over to me and smiles at Raffaele. “Is this more of an incentive for you, Gagliardi?”

Raffaele glances from the gun to my terrified face, and finally drops back into the chair, shoulders tight with tension.

Lucio cocks his gun, ignoring my father’s cries of pain. He faces me. “As I was saying?—”

“When all of this is over, I’m going to look you in the eye and watch as you writhe in as much pain as you’ve caused everyone,” I spit furiously. “I’ll never forgive you, and if you think for onesecond that what you’re doing right now will earn you some sort of redemption from the deepest part of hell that you deserve, you’d better think again.”