Page 145 of Broken Mafia Bride

“Giulia, Giulia, look at me,” he urges softly.

I turn and meet his eyes, and the soft look of adoration in them nearly bowls me over.

“No. I won’t do it. I won’t.”

“We’ve had some time together?—”

“Not enough,” I argue.

“You lost Val as a child, and now fate has brought her back to you,” he tells me fiercely. “I would never be able to forgive myself if you didn’t get to know your sister because of me. I love you, Giulia.”

I shake my head, sobbing. “Don’t make me do this. I’ll figure something out. Noemi needs her father.”

He scoffs. “We both know you’re already doing a tremendous job with her. You don’t need me.”

“Yes, I do!” I scream. “I’m sick and tired of losing you every time I get the slightest chance to have you.”

Am I cursed to never have love and family in the same lifetime?

I turn to Val and my father. He’s pale with blood loss, and my twin is clinging to him and sobbing. Her eyes meet mine, and there’s an acceptance in them.

“I’ve lived a good enough life with the man I love,” she tells me slowly. “You deserve the same, Giulia. Noemi deserves a father. You know what to do.”

“Giulia, no!” Raffaele barks. “Don’t you dare! There’s no guarantee that I won’t be a shitty father. Lucio, you bastard, just shoot me and end this.”

“No!” my father pipes up weakly. “It’s me you want, Lucio. I took Eleanora from you. Kill me and get the revenge you’ve always wanted.”

“I wish I could,” Lucio laughs. “But rules are rules. Giulia has to be the one to choose. What do you say, child? Who do you choose?”

I squeeze my eyes shut, tears running down my face in rivulets. I know exactly what I have to choose.

“I choose?—”

A loud boom echoes through the room, followed by the crack of a single gunshot—and then the world is thrown into chaos.

“I chooseyou fucking die…”

46

RAFFAELE

Iwas beginning to think my men had gotten lost on their way to Sardegna. A second more, and I’d probably be dead. I leap to my feet as several gunshots rend the air.

“Giulia!” I roar, turning this way and that in my desperation to find her through the cloud of smoke filling the room.

“Argh,” a man groans, followed by the heavy thud of a body hitting the ground.

The beat of my heart is an odd staccato, and my hands are clammy with panic and fear. After what feels like forever—but I know it’s just a few seconds—the smoke begins to clear, and I spot a familiar figure standing frozen in the middle of it all.

As I begin to cross the room to where she’s standing, I spot one of Lucio’s men rushing toward her, a dagger in his hand. A ferocious roar rumbles from my chest, and I dash forward. I swing my still-handcuffed hands, cracking my fists and the metal cuffs down on the side of the man’s head. Blood explodes, and he staggers back before dropping down.

“Giulia, are you okay?” I ask, grabbing her by the shoulder and shaking her a little to pull her out of whatever daze she’s stuck in.

I can’t believe that her own grandfather was going to make her choose between the people she loves. I know for a fact that that choice is ripping at her now, but it would have been far worse if she had actually played Lucio’s game and watched someone die by her verdict.

Death isn’t nearly enough for that bastard.

“I’m f-fine,” she stammers. “Or at least, I think I’ll be fine. What about Val and my father?”