Page 36 of Broken Mafia Prince (His to Break #1)

After Raffaele didn’t show up to the safehouse last night, I’ve concluded that he’s probably realized that us together would be complete madness. Not that I wanted him to show up or anything. I’m definitely not angry that he didn’t and that I haven’t heard from him since then.

I don’t need him.

I’m going to figure this out by myself.

I’m distracted from my thoughts when the elevator doors open, depositing us in the underground parking garage. Luca’s accomplice drags me to the trunk of a black Mercedes, and I’m tossed in carelessly, my head knocking against the side of the vehicle.

The car rumbles through an off-the-path dirt road, judging by how the car rumbles along.

I have to brace myself with my hands to avoid being thrown around in the trunk, while still trying to break out of the car.

I need to stop thinking about revenge and start thinking about survival.

If I don’t find a way out now, I won’t get another chance.

What feels like a lifetime later, we finally stop moving.

I brace myself when the trunk begins to open, ready to fling myself out and attack Luca, but the cocking of the gun stops me.

“Don’t even think about it,” he warns me. “Get out of the car. Hands in the air.”

I step out slowly, obeying his instructions. We are at an ancient decrepit building surrounded by a chain link fence. I can hear the sound of waves crashing a distance away, and I assume we are somewhere near the river.

Around me, I spy guards in black combat gear manning the compound.

My heart sinks to my stomach when I count about fifteen men.

Even with my skills and abilities, there’s no way I’ll be able to take out this many men.

The cold realization that I’ll die here today if no one comes to my aid hits me suddenly.

“You won’t get away with this,” I tell him. “My grandfather won’t?—”

Luca’s laugh cuts me off, sharp and mocking. “Your grandfather? The Re Ombra ?” He spits the name like it’s a joke. “The same man we’ve never seen or heard from all these years? You really think he gives a damn about you?”

I glare at him, but his sneer only deepens.

“Your father doesn’t even mention him,” Luca continues, circling me like a predator.

“Who knows what bad blood’s between them?

Let me spell it out for you, princess—you’re nothing more than a forgotten mistake.

Just an offspring from his wasted sperm.

The Re Ombra couldn’t care less if you lived or died. ”

The words cut deep, but I refuse to let him see it.

“And even if he did ask,” Luca says, his grin widening, “he’ll only hear the story I give him. I’ll make sure it goes like this: There was a clash with your old friends, the Gagliardis. A bloody battle. And guess what? There were no survivors.”

My stomach twists as the pieces fall into place. This isn’t just a power play—it’s a setup. He’s trying to lure Raffaele here, and when he does, Luca will use him to complete this sick plan.

“You’re insane,” I hiss, my fists clenching.

Luca just shrugs. “Maybe. But I’m also thorough.”

He motions to the front door with his gun. “Walk.”

Just as I take a step, the sound of an explosion booms behind me. The force of it throws Luca off balance, and he falls into me, his gun clattering away. I take the opportunity to bury my elbow into his stomach, and he lets out a pained grunt.

I’m about to punch him again, but he rolls away and starts running, screaming instructions at the men.

I pick up his gun and rush after him while bullets go off behind me.

There’s no time to investigate who’s doing the shooting; my only focus is on hunting Luca down and ending his useless existence.

He glances over his shoulder and sees me coming after him. He lets out a high-pitched scream and trips over something, crashing to the ground. I grab him by his collar and pull him to his feet.

“You bastard,” I hiss at him, raising my fist and bringing it down on his face.

His head snaps to the side, but before I can hit again, there is another explosion. It distracts me long enough for Luca to slip out of my arms and bring his booted foot down on my ankle.

An earsplitting scream tears out of my mouth, and Luca grabs his gun back and rushes away.

I’m still trying to hobble to my feet when I hear footsteps hurrying toward me. I tense, bracing myself to fight off whoever is coming, but to my surprise, two familiar faces appear from the cloud of smoke.

“Giulia!” my cousin cries, racing toward me with tears in her eyes. “I thought I’d lost you.”

I almost lose my balance as her body crashes into mine, and she starts sobbing into my shoulder. My eyes meet sharp blue eyes from over her shoulder, and I find them taking me in inch by inch. I glance between the both of them suspiciously.

“What are you doing here with him?”

“I didn’t really leave the building when you told me to. I heard Luca’s man say where they were taking you, and after Luca took you away, I called an ambulance.”

She pauses, hesitating before pulling something from her pocket. “I also found your phone under the couch,” she admits. “I didn’t know what else to do, so I called him. But he was already on his way to the penthouse.”

“So Father?—”

“Isn’t dead,” Isa assures me. “They’re taking him in for surgery, but they think he’ll be okay.”

“There’s no time for this,” Raffaele’s voice suddenly cuts in. “We need to get out of here. This whole place is set to blow any moment from now.”

“I’m not leaving until I see Luca breathe his last breath,” I snarl.

“I’ll take care of it.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “I don’t need you to fight my battles for me, Gagliardi.”

“I’m not doing it for you. That piece of shit owes me a few, too.

” He pauses for a moment, eyes narrowing.

Eventually, he digs out another gun from his back and tosses it at me.

“We have about fifteen minutes to get out of here, so if you’re not going to shoot to kill, you’d better stay out of my fucking way. ”

I nod at him, then meet Isa’s eyes. “You need to leave right now.”

“Good luck,” she whispers.

I don’t need luck, though. Luca isn’t leaving here alive, that’s for sure. Holding my gun steady, I head deeper into the dark building, Raffaele’s footsteps following closely behind. Most of the rooms in the building have lost their doors, so we can already see that they’re empty as we walk past.

Where the hell is that excuse of a human?

The sound of crunching gravel reaches my ear right then.

I meet Raffaele’s eyes and shoot him a small nod.

If I thought that our coordination from the warehouse had been perfect, it’s nothing compared to how we move in sync now, splitting into two directions and heading for the lone wall standing at the far end of the house.

Just as I round the wall, an arm wraps around my neck, and I’m pulled into someone’s body. My gun is slapped out of my hand, and at the same time, Luca wraps a wire around my neck, pulling it in as tight as he can and cutting off my circulation. I try to claw his hands away, but it’s of no use.

“Did you think you’d make it out of this alive, bitch?” He laughs.

My vision begins to fade as oxygen and blood to my head rapidly depletes.

Black spots are dancing at the back of my eyes when I’m suddenly released. I suck in a lungful of air, coughing and hacking. I look up to see Raffaele standing there, eyes burning with fury. I don’t need to look over my shoulder to know that Luca’s dead.

“Didn’t you say we had fifteen minutes?” I ask through a throat that feels wrecked and ravaged.

“Let’s go.”

I pick up the gun from the floor and shoot at Luca’s dead body, just because I can. The bastard deserved a far slower, torturous death than he got. Whatever pit of hell he’s in right now, I hope he’s gloating about how he escaped the worst type of death known to man.

“Watch out!” Raffaele suddenly cries, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me into his chest just as a ceiling beam falls to the ground. I crash into his hard chest, causing the burn in my ankle from where Luca stomped on me to intensify.

“Let’s get out of here,” he roars.

“I can’t,” I tell him, eyes wide with panic. “My ankle is broken or something.” My words are followed by another crash from somewhere else in the house. The entire building is falling apart, and any moment now, it will be reduced to rubble.

He glances down at my ankle, eyebrows furrowed. “Damn it.”

One second I’m on my own two feet, and the next, he’s picked me up like I weigh less than a feather.

My hands automatically go around his neck, hanging on tight as he maneuvers us out of the hazardous building.

I bury my face into the crook of his neck, shamelessly filling my lungs with the faint scent of his cologne.

I wonder if he’ll let me borrow it, so I can soak my bed sheets in it and roll around in his scent like a creep.

“Is this our life now?” The question slips out before I can stop it.

He glances down at me with understanding. “It’s always been our life. Don’t you think we’ve hidden from it for too long?”

“Not enough in my opinion.” I sigh tiredly. “I want something normal. I don’t want the bloodshed, the constant looking over my shoulder. I want to be safe, Raffaele. I’ve already lost enough of the things I care about to this world.”

His eyes narrow, and there’s something in them that’s warning me to stop talking, to not end this thing before it’s even started, to not draw a thick red line in the sand.

“I can’t let myself lose anything else,” I finally say.

Raffaele stops moving. We stare at each other for too long, a current coming to life and sparking between us. The sound of something crashing behind us snaps us out of our daze.

Raffaele clears his throat and looks away. “Noted.”

We’re a fair distance from the building when there’s a thunderous boom.

I raise my head in shock, watching as a large ball of fire rises out of the building just before it blows apart, pieces of the building flying around.

Raffaele hunches his back, tucking me into his body as debris lands everywhere.

“The cops will be here any minute,” he tells me. “You need to go home.”

I open my mouth to respond but my cousin’s voice cuts me off. “You’re hurt. I can drive you to the hospital.”

I glance over at her, cheeks flaming at the surprised look she’s giving me. “It’s just my ankle. I’ll be fine. I don’t need a hospital.”

“Oh.” She blinks. “I didn’t know your ankle was hurt. I was talking about Raffaele. He needs to get checked out. Why don’t you come with us to the hospital, Raffaele?”

He drops me to my feet, making sure I’m stable before letting me go.

“I’ll get more questions at the hospital than at the precinct.

” He makes a two-fingered salute at someone, and barely a second later, there’s the sound of a car pulling over beside us.

“Tommaso will take you to the hospital to be with your father.”

“Okay.” I don’t make any move to get in the car, nor does he try to walk away.

“I still think you should come with us and get yourself checked out,” Isa insists.

“Goodbye.” Ignoring her suggestion, Raffaele turns and saunters away, hands stuck in his pocket with all the poise of a movie star on the red carpet instead of a man who’s just been in a life-or-death fight.

“I see why you’re obsessed with him,” Isa laughs.

“I’m not.”

She shrugs. “I’d be if I were you.”

“He’s the last thing on my mind right now. I’m more worried about Papa and this whole mess of today,” I tell her. “And I need to get my ankle checked out anyway. Let’s just get out of here.”

“Sure.”

The fact that Raffaele remains at the very front of my thoughts throughout the drive to the hospital makes me terrified that my cousin may be right about being obsessed with him. After the events of today, I can’t afford to be tied to a man like that. I can’t be tied to this world anymore.

I nearly lost Father today.

It can easily be Raffaele next. Call it cowardice or whatever, but at least I’m brave enough to admit that I can’t take another loss. I reach for the medallion around my neck and brush my thumb over it.

I’m not sure I’ll survive another loss.