Page 48 of Broken Mafia Bride

She looks exactly the same as she did four years ago—beautiful and perfect.

“Raffaele, you have it all wrong, I’m?—”

“You don’t need to explain,” I say, breathing her in greedily. She doesn’t smell like her anymore, but I don’t care. She’s here, in my arms, and that’s what matters.

I wrap her tighter in my arms, my heartbeat finally slows, like her presence is the only thing keeping me alive.

“I missed you,” I tell her, dropping a kiss to the top of her head, her face, her chin. “Everything has been a mess, and ourfathers are trying to make me marry Isa. I’ll never betray you like that.”

“Raffaele, you?—”

I fuse my mouth to hers, relishing the taste of her after so long. “You’re mine. You’ll always be mine. I’ll never let you go.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she’s kissing me back, clutching me tight, moaning into my mouth. Heat curls inside me instantly, and for the first time in what feels like forever, I can actually breathe.

“I missed you. I’ve been dying without you,” I whisper, pressing kisses down her throat, across her collarbone. The night is cold, but my body is burning—with want, with need, with more desire than I’ve felt in years.

Giulia is just as desperate, curling into me, whimpering and moaning, grinding against me. Around us, the world disappears. There’s only her—her taste, the feel of her, the sound of her.

She’s everything. She’s back. She wants me. She’s mine.

And for a moment, everything is right again.

But somewhere deep in my mind, something whispers: She’s not here. Her kiss is too soft. Her scent is all wrong. This isn’t real.

I’m clinging to a ghost.

And I know it.

But I don’t care.

I shove the thought away and hold her tighter. If it’s a dream, I don’t want to wake up.

15

GIULIA

Ihaven’t slept in three days. I see her in every shadow, every dream, and every corner of this goddamn house.

“Any leads?” Sienna asks.

I shake my head, scrubbing a hand over my face. “Nothing. Or at least nothing yet.”

On the screen, I see Sienna’s face screw up in confusion. “Your daughter couldn’t just have disappeared. Someone had to have seen something. The airport guys, a driver, a random passerby.”

She leans forward, bringing her voice down to a whisper. “And didn’t you say your grandfather was likeThe Godfather?”

“He’s been searching,” I tell her.

“And?”

My shoulders slump even more. “Nothing so far. It’s like she vanished.” My eyes sting, my whole body heavy with helplessness. My sleep has been fitful, nightmares rousing me in the middle of the night.

I haven’t even slept a wink for the past three days. My eyes are raw and gritty, and everything hurts. I’ve cried until my eyes physically can’t force out another drop of moisture.

“I’m so sorry, Giulia, I’m sure you’ll find her soon,” Sienna says.

That’s what everyone keeps saying. They keep on telling me to calm down, to get some rest, to do anything but worry about Noemi twenty-four hours of the day, but they don’t know what it feels like. I brought that monster into my home and let her take my baby.