Page 26 of Broken Mafia Prince (His to Break #1)

RAFFAELE

“ I ’m too busy for your games, Raffaele,” she says after a brief pause. “And don’t waste your breath trying to flirt with me, it won’t work.”

“What makes you think I’m trying to flirt with you?” I grin. “You’re not my type.”

She snorts. “I know that. Your type is a woman who asks how high when you say jump.”

I pity the man who will ever try to order Giulia around.

She’s stubborn enough to do the complete opposite to show that she can’t be bossed around.

Calling her a handful is like calling the Pacific a pool.

My blood heats in my veins as I imagine spreading out the fiery brunette in my bed and turning her into a needy mess.

I hurriedly push the image off, trying to bring my brain back to the present and the dire situation at hand. I should be telling her about the Syndicate’s plot, but a part of me wants to taunt her, to hear her explode, to feel that fire she tries so hard to keep banked.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had to tell a woman to jump in bed, but I’ll try it out and let you know the results.”

She mutters something inaudible under her breath, and I hear a woman’s muffled laughter from the phone. From my extensive research, I am familiar with her cousin, Isabella Sanna, and it must be her in the background. I wonder if Giulia’s told her about me.

“Now that I’m familiar with your bedroom activities, I’m going to hang up, and you can go ahead and lose my number,” she says flippantly.

I chuckle, glancing out of my car window. I’m parked at the side of a narrow dirt road leading away from the docks. Around me are abandoned containers and ramshackle buildings that have been abandoned since the mafia began their activities at the docks.

“But I only just got it,” I point out. “After all the stress I went through to get your number, the least you can do is indulge me for a few more days.”

I’m baiting her on purpose, and I’m not surprised when she takes the bait. “I don’t care if you had to climb up Mount Everest and battle dragons, you’re not supposed to have my number. We aren’t supposed to know each other at all.”

“Why? Because I’m a Gagliardi and you’re a Montanari?” I bite out. “I’m disappointed, Giulia.”

“Oh no, I’ve disappointed the great Raffaele Gagliardi, how am I supposed to go on?” she cries in mock sorrow.

My mouth twitches, but I instantly shut down the threatening smile. There’s nothing remotely funny about the fact that someone—or a group of someones—is trying to cause more enmity between our families, as if we don’t have more than enough to go around for a few more generations.

I can’t tell my father, because he’ll never believe that the Echelon Syndicate would do this. He still fails to understand that he’s in league with men who could give the devil a run for his money.

Enrico Montanari doesn’t strike me as the type who would want to hear about a secret plot, either. I’m not sure he will let me live long enough to even get around to mentioning a plot if I dared to show my face anywhere near him.

“We need to meet up, there’s something important you need to know,” I finally say.

“You can say it here.”

“What I want to tell you is sensitive information.” I can feel her skepticism through the phone. I have to give her a hint or she’ll never agree to meet up. “Have you heard about the Echelon Syndicate?”

“A group of greedy, bloodthirsty men who think they own the world? Yeah. What about them?”

“I believe that they’re fanning the flames of our family feud. I can’t say more than that, Giulia. Your phone might be tapped, and this line isn’t secure.”

I wait with bated breath while she hums thoughtfully. “Okay, but we’re meeting in a public place. I’m not coming to your house or a bar or anything like that.”

“You don’t trust me? I’m hurt,” I deadpan. “Meet me at Bayer Park in thirty.”

“That sounds a lot like an order.”

This time around, I can’t control the smile that curves my mouth. “Don’t be late, sweetheart.”

“I’m not your—” I hang up while she’s still talking, knowing that it’ll make her livid. I can’t wait for her to give me a piece of her mind when we meet up later. With that thought in mind, I set my alarm for thirty minutes and throw the car into reverse.

I stop at a drugstore to buy supplies to clean my wound, then I walk into a clothing store and change out of my ruined shirt into an identical black one.

By the time I catch sight of Giulia pacing by a dried-up fountain, I look perfectly put together again, with no hint that I’ve just come out of a fight where four men lost their lives.

The park is almost empty, with just a few people milling around.

It used to attract a sizeable crowd when I was much younger, but now, there are signs of neglect everywhere, from the dry fountain to the chipped stone benches and cracked walkways.

Giulia doesn’t fit against the weathered backdrop, and I find my entire focus falling on her, everything seeming to disappear around me.

“Hello, Giulia.”

She whirls around to face me, and I note that she’s changed out of her earlier dress. She’s in all black now, and it amuses me to think that she chose the clothes carefully for this meeting, like this is some kind of covert mission.

“You said you have something to tell me about the Echelon Syndicate,” she blurts out, eyes wide. “What’s going on? And how do you know about it?”

“Not even a hello back, Miss Montanari?” I drawl.

She gapes at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Do you really think this is the best time to play your games, Raffaele?” she snaps. “This is serious.”

“I know it is, that’s why I called you out here.” I shrug. “But having manners is also important. Now I see why your date from earlier didn’t think twice about disappearing into thin air.”

“Says the guy who can’t get a date.” Her brilliant eyes narrow at me.

I smile at her and go in for the kill. “We’re at a park, wearing matching clothes. If this isn’t a date, I don’t know what it is.”

She glances down at herself, then at me, a look of horror registering on her face. “Did you seriously trick me into going out with you? You’re crazy, and I’m leaving.”

I grab hold of her wrist before she can turn around and gently pull her back into my side, laughing.

“Let me go, you asshole,” she snaps. “I can’t believe I risked everything to meet you here, and it was all a part of whatever sick game you’re playing. Do you have any idea what my father will do to me if someone catches us together and reports to him that I’m hanging out with the enemy?”

I release her, but don’t step away. “What makes us the enemy?”

“You’re not really asking me that,” she scoffs. “Our fathers hate each other. I didn’t think I had to point that out to you.”

I sigh, dragging a hand through my hair. “And someone is trying to keep that hatred alive.”

She jolts. “What?”

I dig out the pendant with the insignia and hold it up to her. “This is the symbol for the Echelon Syndicate. I found this at the sight of an attack on one of our warehouses. And that’s not even the shocking part.”

Reaching out, Julia takes the pendant for me, her fingers brushing against mine for a split second.

That brief contact sends a shock down my arm, and I snatch my hand away, confused by the sensation.

I see her staring down at her fingers in shock, but I don’t know if it’s the pendant that has her attention or if she felt what I felt.

“What’s the shocking part?”

“There was an M spray-painted into the side of the building.”

She raises a brow. “Let me guess, the M is supposed to stand for Montanari?”

I nod. “That would be the obvious conclusion, but that pendant says something different. I confirmed that the Echelon Syndicate was behind this when they sent some men to cover up their tracks, and I was able to talk with one of them.”

Giulia slants me a suspicious glance. “Talk? I’m having trouble believing that all you two did was talk.”

“Why is that?”

“Because men in the mafia don’t talk. It’s the main reason they’re always fighting one war or the other.

” She raises the pendant. “A war is exactly what’s going to happen when your father accuses mine of attacking his warehouse, and it’ll be the opportunity my father has been waiting for to finally declare war on the Gagliardis. ”

“Like father, like daughter.” I nod.

She stills. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean that you’re just like father, you both don’t think before jumping headfirst into situations. If your father comes after us, he’ll die along with the rest of his men.”

She laughs humorlessly. “There’s that famous Gagliardi blood thirst.”

“It’s called self-defense,” I point out. “You don’t really expect me to stand there with a smile while your father shoots at me, do you?”

She pretends to think about it. “Now that would solve a whole lot of problems.”

Annoyance sparks in me, and I take a step forward that puts us barely an inch apart. “I’m not the enemy here,” I growl. “I didn’t bring you out here for us to throw barbs at each other and pick up the mantle where our fathers stopped it.”

I watch her throat bob with a swallow. “If you’re trying to get me on your side, you’re wasting your time. I don’t trust you.”

“Me, or my last name?” I growl. “I’ve never given you any reason not to trust me.”

“Are you trying to say you’re the good guy in this story?”

“There are no good guys in our story, and you know that.” This close, I can pick out all the different shades in her eyes, and her flowery scent fills my nostrils. I’d never have expected her to smell so feminine; it’s a contradiction from the toughness she exhibits in her daily life.

“Some are worse than others.”

“How cute. Let me guess, you think there are little sins and big sins too, don’t you?” I ask her, annoyed. “I’m nothing like the asshole you tried to kill earlier. I don’t put my hands on women, at least, not in the way he did.”

Her eyes search mine for answers to a question I can’t fathom. “Being a different type of asshole doesn’t make you any less of one.”

“Is that so?” My gaze drops to her mouth, and I hear her breath catch in her throat. “So what kind of asshole will I be if I kissed you right now, Giulia?”

“Raffaele,” she whispers. “Don’t.”

Her mouth says one thing, but her eyes say something different. The current stretches between us and pulls taut like a string. My hands curl around her slim waist, and she shivers, surging closer to me.

“What kind of asshole will I be?” I repeat.

She opens her mouth to respond, but at that moment, I cup her face in one hand and pull her into a kiss.

At the first contact of our mouths, she lets out a shuddery sigh, as if she’s been waiting for this for the longest time.

She has no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this, and it feels better than every fantasy I’ve had about her since that day at the tarmac.

Giulia’s hands fist into the front of my shirt, holding me in place as my mouth explores hers.

She surrenders completely into the kiss, letting out soft moans each time my tongue brushes against hers.

It’s only when she tentatively slides her tongue against mine that reason starts to filter through the mist of desire.

Despite the way she carries herself, I have to remember that she’s just eighteen, and she doesn’t have half as much experience as I do.

Kissing her is wrong for more than just the fact that she’s a Montanari and I shouldn’t be anywhere near her.

I shouldn’t have her in my arms or know what her mouth tastes like.

I shouldn’t want to do much more than kiss her, despite how good I know it’ll feel.

With that thought, I finally pull away, my heart racing in my chest. She raises a trembling hand to her swollen lips, staring at me with wide, glassy eyes, and instead of feeling ashamed, I want to kiss her harder, I want to see how far the flush on her cheek would go.

A strained silence falls between us, and we stare at each other, breathing hard like we’ve just run a marathon. Clearing my throat, I step away from her, trying to break out of the spell she’s put me under.

“The Syndicate getting involved in the feud between our families is a bad sign,” I tell her. “I don’t give two fucks about the war that might come. Some part of me has always known it will happen.”

“If you don’t care about the war, why did you bring me out here to tell me about the Syndicate’s plot?” Her eyes lock on mine, and it feels like I’m being flayed open, and she can see deep into me.

My jaw clenches. “I don’t know. Maybe a part of me isn’t as uncaring about this. I don’t want you to get hurt in this, Giulia. I’m putting my neck out on the line to warn you about what’s going on.”

“Why would anyone do this?”

“I don’t know what the Syndicate stands to gain by doing this, but it has to be something big or they wouldn’t be putting so much effort into it.

” I stick my hands in my pockets to stop myself from reaching for her again.

“This isn’t the last of what they’re willing to do, and I don’t want you to get hurt. ”

I don’t know why I add that last part. If Giulia starts thinking that this is anything more than it actually is, it’ll cause a problem. It’s best if she continues to see me as an asshole who’s no good for her.

She scoffs. “I’m supposed to believe that you care about me?”

I shrug, looking away. “I just hate to see you being a pawn in this game. Nobody should have to drown on this sinking ship our families put us in. You deserve better than all of this.”

Her shoulders straighten, and she glares at me, fingers curling into fists. “You’re right, Raffaele. I deserve better than all of this. I deserve better than you, too. Don’t you ever try to kiss me again.”

Something dark rises inside me, and the urge to show her how much she wants me to kiss her again bubbles to the surface. I fix a smirk on my face. “I believe you have something of mine.” I glance down pointedly at the pendant in her hand.

Flushing, she holds it out to me, and I take it, careful not to touch her.

“Stay safe.” And then I turn and walk away, resisting the urge to look back at her, knowing that if I do, I’ll end up walking back to her, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to walk away a second time.