Page 52 of Broken Mafia Prince (His to Break #1)

GIULIA

“ I can’t believe you actually named your dog Marty!” I laugh. “See, I was right about the name being the perfect dog name.”

He snorts. “It’s a stupid name.”

“Hey.” I slap his arm playfully, laughing. “It’s a cute name. That’s not fair. And Marty is a cute dog.”

He pulls me closer into him, and I curl my thigh around his naked hips, grinning.

“I thought you were going to get mauled,” he admits. “He doesn’t like people. The only person he’s warmed up to since I got him is Alessia and?—”

I stiffen in his arms. “Who’s Alessia?” The green-eyed monster comes to life inside me, and I’m this close to calling Matteo to hunt down every Alessia that Raffaele has ever interacted with.

I have a feeling that Raffaele’s best friend likes me, and all the evidence lies in how fast he was to give me this address, so I think he’ll be in full support of me getting rid of?—

“She’s the vet who took care of him when I rescued him from the streets.” My thoughts come to a screeching halt at the words, heat filling my cheeks.

Christ Almighty, what has he turned me into? I can’t believe I was seriously having thoughts of harming an innocent veterinarian. I’m seriously going crazy. In the past, this realization would have made me run for the hills, but now I lean closer to him, breathing in his scent.

“We should take him to the park,” I say. “There’s a food truck that sells the best chicken wrap in the city. We can eat while Marty makes some new friends.”

I glance up in time to see his face pinch with disgust. “I’m not eating street food.”

“Don’t be a snob.” I giggle. “And it’s not street food. It’s truck food.”

His palm comes down on my bare behind, and I squeal in shock. “It’s the same thing. No way. There’s a new Japanese restaurant at the city border if you want to be adventurous.”

I hum, knowing that I’ll still find a way to convince him. I’ve had enough of high-end, five-star restaurants. It’s all Alessandro ever took me to, and I went along with it because I just didn’t want to put up a fuss.

I told myself that with Raffaele, I’ll never water myself down or go along with anything he wants just for the sake of keeping the peace.

Just then, the sound of my ringtone echoes around the room. I raise my head to peek over at my phone and see that it’s my cousin calling.

“Leave it,” Raffaele mumbles, burying his face into the crook of my neck and breathing in. His entire body decompresses with relief, and a small smile curves my mouth at the way he relaxes under me.

“It’s Isa. I have to take it. It’s probably important.” I press a kiss to his mouth.

“Hurry up.” He slaps my ass as I slip out of the bed, and I shoot him a dirty look before grabbing my phone and his shirt that’s tossed over the bedside lamp, shrugging it on.

I make my way out of the room and find myself headed toward the room where Marty is locked away. As soon as he sees me, he jumps up, wagging his tail, tongue lolling.

“Hey, beautiful.” I raise my hand for him to sniff before unlocking the gate and settling on the floor.

I dial my cousin back, and she picks up on the first ring. “Giulia? Are you okay? Why weren’t you answering?”

A blush steals up my cheeks. “Long story.”

“We have time,” she points out. “I don’t have anything else to do but drink wine and watch reruns of Real Housewives .”

“Reality TV rots the brain,” I chide. “What happened to all the movie recommendations I sent to you?”

She makes a dismissive sound. “That’s not the issue right now. Your father called me. He said he’s been trying to reach you.”

I go very still. Marty must realize that something is wrong, because he quits his position at the row of windows and hurries to me, burrowing into my side. I drop my hand down on his fur, sliding my hand up and down his smooth body.

“I blocked his number for the time being,” I explain.

“I thought as much,” Isa says. “I told him your phone fell in the bath and it’s drying out in a bowl of rice. Anyway, that’s that. Where the hell are you? And why are you screening your father’s calls?”

I gnaw on my lower lip. “I don’t want you to freak out when I tell you.”

“When have I ever freaked out? Tell me.”

I drop my voice. “I’m with Raffaele. I’m at his house. And we, uh, talked. And now we’re kinda together.”

There’s a pause over the line, and I have to pull my phone away to confirm that the call hasn’t been disconnected. “Hello? Isa, are you there? Say something. You said you wouldn’t freak.”

“I’m not freaking!” she finally whisper-yells. “I’m going fucking ballistic. What the hell are you thinking? Giulia Montanari, you’re getting married in the fall!”

“No, I’m not.” I’m happy enough to make that announcement. Even if things don’t work out with Raffaele, at least I’m no longer tying myself to a man I’m not even the least bit attracted to. I’d have been miserable.

“What do you mean by you’re not? Don’t be crazy.”

I sigh, dragging my hand over my face. “Alessandro has never been right for me, and you know it. We both knew it, and I went ahead with it to keep the peace, but I realized that I deserve better.”

“Let me guess,” she mocks. “You made that decision after your late-night rendezvous with Raffaele, huh? Can’t you see how crazy this is? He’s manipulating you. How can’t you see that?”

“What the hell, Isa!” I explode. “My decision to leave Alessandro has nothing to do with Raffaele.” Maybe it did, but not in the way she means it.

I rise and begin to pace, Marty trailing after me. “How would it have been fair to Alessandro to be married to a woman who’d never feel anything for him?”

“You can’t know if you’d have eventually felt something. You didn’t even give this a fair chance because that man has always been at the back of your mind,” she tells me. “I’m not trying to say that you’re making the wrong decision.”

I scoff. “That’s exactly what you’re saying.”

“Well, maybe, but I’m only saying it because I care about you, and I know this entire thing with Raffaele is going to end really, really badly.”

My heart constricts in my chest. “You don’t know that.”

“Aside from that,” she says, “how is Alessandro supposed to face this? What did you tell him? Or did you just run off to be with your new beau and forget about everything else?”

“Of course not,” I snap. “I went to see him even before I came to see Raffaele.”

“I’m curious about how that conversation went down.”

A smile curves up my mouth. “It didn’t.”

“W-what?” she stutters. “But you said?—”

“I know exactly what I said.” I head to the kitchen, opening the fridge to search for snacks. I make a face at the selection of fruits I find there. There’s not even a single bar of chocolate in sight. Why am I surprised anyway? Those abs are definitely not earned from munching on Snickers.

“Alessandro was gone when I got to his apartment. Like gone , gone. The place was entirely empty, except for some flowers on the kitchen island with a note. Oh, and get this—my ex-fiancé spent our entire relationship sending me graveyard flowers, but suddenly knows the correct use of chrysanthemums when it’s time to say goodbye. Ironic, right?”

“So far, I’ve just heard a bunch of facts about flowers. What do you mean, he was gone ? You seriously believe he just packed up and left on his own?”

I roll my eyes. “I don’t believe it, Isa.”

She lets out a slow breath, like she’s putting pieces together. “So you’re telling me?—”

“I’m telling you,” I cut her off, voice sharper now.

Isa already knows the answer to that. We both do.

Alessandro didn’t decide anything. The second I found that cufflink, I knew exactly what happened. Raffaele got him out of the way.

And the worst part? I don’t care. Or maybe the worst part is that I should.

I should care. I should be horrified. But the only thing I felt when I read that note was relief. I let out a breath, shaking off the thought.

“Does your father know about this?”

I shrug, finally discovering a jar of peanuts. I hop up onto the island and open the jar while Marty stares at it with his puppy eyes.

“No idea if he knows that Ale is gone, but we had a fight about me no longer wanting to go ahead with the marriage.” I pause.

“He threatened to cut me out of the family if I didn’t go through with it.

Honestly, Isa, that really hurt, the fact that he’ll choose almost everything else in this world except me. ”

“Enrico is an ass for not seeing that you’re right there willing to be his family,” she says softly. “He keeps on trying to hold a shadow while the real person is right beside him, and that’s just crazy. I hope he pulls his head out of his ass sooner rather than later.”

I nod. “Thank you.”

“If this whole thing with him is just because you need a safe space to fall back on if your father?—”

I cut her off, shaking my head. “It’s not about that. If I wanted a landing ground, I’d have sold Alessandro’s ridiculously overpriced ring and lived off it. Raffaele is… different.”

“By different, I hope you mean that he’s the worst of the lot. Don’t you see how he can hurt you? He’s already managed to burrow his way into your life, and now he’s trying to isolate you. That’s what the worst of them do—they remove all support system from your life so they’ll be all you have.”

“Jesus Christ, Isabella, calm the fuck down.” I crunch on one of the peanuts, then toss another for the dog. “It’s not like that at all. Everything I’ve done so far has been my decision. He’s never asked me to do any of this.”

“Oh my god, you don’t even realize you’re being manipulated.” She lets out a humorless bark of laughter. “Small suggestions here and there, and bam, you’re putty in his hands.”

My brows furrow. Am I being manipulated? Can she be right? I like to think that I’d know if I’m being manipulated, but it’s never quite obvious unless you’re on the outside staring in.

I try to think of anything he’s said so far that can be taken as a suggestion, but all Raff has been is respectful of my decisions. He even backed away at the park when he could have easily pressed me to lose my virginity to him.

No! I refuse to think that what I feel is a result of subtle manipulation. Raffaele is not like that.

“You’re wrong,” I insist.

“No, I’m not. And you’ll soon realize how right I am.”

I shrug. “Then I’ll count my losses and cry over it like every other woman who’s been betrayed. The fact remains that I’m with him, and I’m going to see this through to the end. I want this, and so I’m going to keep it.”

My cousin sighs. “I see. I know that tone. There’s no dissuading you, is there?”

“Probably not.”

“Fine.” But she doesn’t sound like it’s fine at all. “I just hope you know what you’re doing. And whatever happens, I’m here. Okay?”

“Okay.”

We hang up and, sighing, I jump down the island and take Marty back to his room and hook the gate back up. I push all of Isa’s warnings to the back of my mind. I’m not going to let myself have double thoughts about this.

I’m jumping right in with my eyes wide open.

Fuck the consequences.