Page 146 of Broken Mafia Bride

I run my gaze over every inch of her carefully, searching for injuries. I’m relieved when I don’t find any. She’s merely shaken up a bit. And while I know that mental wounds can be far worse in the long run than physical ones, we can work through them later.

“Your father is?—”

“Boss,” Tommaso cuts in, appearing at our side, a handgun in his hand and a larger rifle slung over his shoulder. He’s fully kitted out in combat pants and a bulletproof vest. “We need to get you out of here.”

“Where’s Noemi?” Giulia’s voice is thin, terrified.

Tommaso turns to her. “The girl is with Marco and another of our men. When Lucio ordered his men to take Noemi out, we’d already infiltrated and gotten her far from the blast. She’s safe. Pepe is also here, and he has your sister. They’re both with your father. We have everything under control.”

Giulia and I exchange a glance. There’s one major person who hasn’t been accounted for. I’m just about to ask about him when Matteo rushes forward, a thin line of blood rolling down his cheek.

He grimaces. “Lucio’s gotten away.”

Giulia steps forward. “Give me your gun. I’m going to go find him.”

He hesitates. “He could be anywhere in these tunnels, and he knows this place better than all of us. It’s not safe to?—”

“Give her your gun,” I cut in. “And for Christ’s sake, can someone take these cuffs off me?”

“Yes, boss.” Tommaso tucks his gun back into the holster at his hip and pulls out a thin pin from his breast pocket.

I glance over at Matteo. “And your bulletproof vest.”

“It’ll slow me down,” she argues. “I’m not used to it, and I’ve never needed it.”

“Sounds like a good time to start needing it,” I bite out.

She stiffens, looking affronted. “I don’t need a fucking bulletproof vest to take out Lucio. I’m going to strangle him with my bare hands and watch the light slowly leave his eyes. It’s the least he deserves for everything he’s done.”

There’s no time to argue with Giulia. The more time we waste, the farther Lucio could get. I do not doubt that if he manages to get out of the underground bunker and Casa Bianca, we’ve lost him. Out there in the streets of Sardegna, he’s a god, not to mention the endless resources he can access to disappear until he’s recovered an army to come back for his vengeance.

I want this to end today. Right here and right now. I want Giulia and Noemi, and every single one of us, in fact, to finally live a life removed from this nightmare. No more looking over our shoulders, waiting for the other shoe to fall. No more confusion over why evil keeps finding us.

I roll my wrists to get blood moving in them again, and Tommaso silently hands me his gun. Glancing over at Giulia, I nod. “Fine, let’s go.”

Together, we rush out of the room with a single mission in mind: Hunt down Lucio Sanna and end his reign of terror.

Perfectly in sync, we creep down the first hallway, pushing doors open, guns held at the ready. There’s no sign of Lucio, so we hurry out of there and take the third hallway.

Giulia meets my eyes and shakes my head after we’ve gotten to the last room in the narrow passageway.

“Do you think?—”

“Let’s check the other one,” I cut in, before she can let her doubts take root. I don’t even want to imagine a possibility where Lucio’s gotten away. We both know that if her grandfather gets a second chance at us, he’s not going to hesitate.

There won’t be any games. He’ll kill us all and take Noemi away.

Nodding, we hurry down the final hallway. As I push open one of the doors, a gunshot echoes, and searing pain rips through my chest. I stagger back, pressing my free hand over the gunshot wound, while the hand holding my gun stays aimed at Lucio.

His gun is trained on Giulia, his small, black-beaded eyes shifting between us, reminding me of a cornered rat.

“You fool,” he spits at Giulia. “You’ve come to kill me? After everything I’ve done for this family?”

“What have you done for this family?” she asks him icily. “Everything you’ve done, you’ve done for yourself. Because you cannot bear the thought that anyone wouldn’t want to be a part of your life.”

He snarls at her. “The woman I loved was gunned down like an animal on the street, while I watched helplessly, my one-year-old daughter in my arms. Sardegna was a warzone, much like what you’ve all turned Chicago into.”

I look over at Giulia and see that she’s staring at him with a curious expression.