Page 63 of Broken Mafia Prince (His to Break #1)

RAFFAELE

T he first explosion rocks through the docks, a ball of fire rising high into the air and lifting a metal container with it. There’s a sound of metal grinding as it’s thrown into another container. Someone barks out orders to regroup in rapid-fire Italian and someone else responds.

I turn my head to see Tommaso’s eyes shining at me from the dark where we are standing at the far end of the action. There’s a question in his eyes, and I nod in response. He digs out one of the customized radios we stole earlier and turns it on.

A muffled crackle sounds out from the device, and a second later, there’s nothing but a low, dull buzz.

“Jay’s cut off the signal,” he informs me. “What now?”

“Now, we take out as many Gagliardi men as we can,” I tell him.

We’ve already gone through this a few times, and after some debate, we decided that instead of killing the men, we’re going to be knocking them out.

Unfortunately, getting up close to knock a man out is far harder than putting a bullet in his head from a distance.

But that’s the risk I’ll have to take. As much as I want to protect Giulia and her family, I can’t also completely betray mine by killing them.

“Let’s do this,” I say. Just as we move forward, I hear a familiar voice screaming something. Everything inside of me freezes at the sound of that voice. No fucking way.

I whip my head around and reel back in shock as I watch Giulia race right into a hail of smoke and gunfire.

“Isn’t that?—”

“What the fuck is she doing here?” I hiss. Didn’t she get my message? I was very clear about her not coming anywhere near the docks. I know she thinks she can handle anything that comes her way, but she’s going to get herself killed.

Without a second thought, I change direction and run toward her, heart thudding so hard in my chest that I’m afraid it’s going to break through my rib cage. Terror grips me like a vice when I spot one of my father’s men sneaking up her back, a wicked blade in his hand.

“Giulia, get down!” I roar.

Her gaze swings toward me and I see confusion in them. It takes too long for the realization to set on her face. I whip out my gun, aim over her shoulder, and fire, my bullet making its way between his eyes. He drops to the ground as I get to where she is.

“What are you doing here?” I snap, grabbing hold of her elbow and shaking her. “What the fuck, Giulia? I told you it’s dangerous.”

“I had to see for myself,” she spits, trying to dislodge her arm for my hold.

A scoff of disbelief slips out of my mouth. “You’ve seen enough. We’re leaving.” I try to pull her away, but she keeps her feet rooted to the ground.

“I’m not leaving. I have to protect my father,” she insists, glancing around for him.

“Stop being so stubborn, you’re going to get yourself killed.” I try to pull her away again, but she pushes against my hold, trying to rush off. Annoyed, I grab her, toss her over my shoulder, and hurry away from what is fast becoming a battlefield.

I don’t see Tommaso anywhere but I don’t worry much about it. He’s capable of taking care of himself, and I know he’s not foolishly racing into gunfire blindly, unlike the woman beating her fists against my back and screaming at me to put her down.

“What the hell, Raffaele!” she yells, pushing at my chest as soon as I drop her to her feet.

We’re a fair distance from the action, hidden behind a pile of metal junk. The noise is muted, but I still have to raise my voice a little above the gunshots and chaos.

I stagger back, more in surprise than anything else. “I think what you mean is thank you very much for saving my goddamn life that I care nothing about!” I roar.

“My father is still out there, and I’m not leaving him to the hands of your family.” Giulia retorts. “I’m not going to run away from this fight. I’m done running.”

I want to ask her what that means for our plans to elope, but this isn’t the right time. “I’ll handle it.”

“Like you said you were handling this?” She plants her hands on her hips, glaring up at me. “Doesn’t look handled from where I’m standing.”

I open my mouth to respond, but just then, another explosion rocks the docks, making me wince. I’m not surprised when one of her eyebrows flies up, and she shoots me a scathing look.

Annoyed, I lash out and cup the back of her head, dragging her into my body.

Her eyes go wide with surprise, but she doesn’t try to fight away from my hold.

“When I say I’m handling it, I fucking mean it.

Have a little faith in me, baby. I have plans in motion and contingencies in place, but I can’t function and make proper decisions knowing that you’re somewhere out here, risking your life.

I need a clear head to get through today and protect your family. ”

“Raff—”

“So you’re going to get in the car and get out of here,” I continue, narrowing my eyes at her to show her I mean business. “You’re not going to stop until you’re inside the walls of the Montanari estate.”

“I’m not leaving without you,” she says. “I’m not leaving until I know my father is okay, either. I don’t care if you think I’m stubborn or I’m making your life difficult right now. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that I don’t take orders from you or anyone else, so you can save it.”

She’s the most headstrong, infuriating woman on earth, and I can see a future full of arguments and tantrums. Do I really want to turn my life upside down for a woman who will argue over every little thing for the rest of our lives?

I stare down at her now, taking note of her determined stance, jaw thrust in the air, shoulders stiff, spine straight as a board, and her hazel eyes hard.

I’ve never wanted to kiss her so much as in that moment, so I do it. I fist my hand around her ponytail, pulling her into an urgent kiss that lasts all of two seconds, knowing that any longer will make me lose all my bearing.

“Fine, stay here,” I tell her. “For the love of god, Giulia, don’t move an inch. I mean it.”

She searches my eyes for a second before giving me a clipped nod. I rake a hand through my hair and swear under my breath, battling the urge to just grab her and run, run all the way out of the city and straight to our new life.

As I turn away, her soft question stops me. “What are you going to do?”

“Fix this.”

“Be careful,” she says quietly.

I slip away from the cover of the metal junk and scope the area in search of Emilio.

If I want to end this once and for all, the surest way is by cutting off the head of the snake, which happens to be my father’s right-hand man.

I spot him barking instructions at one of the soldiers and make my way toward them.

“Get the tech guys to fix the channel right now!” he snaps. “The Montanaris must be using a signal blocker or something.”

“It’s not a signal blocker,” the soldier says nervously. “Their communications are working just fine.”

“Is it possible that?—”

“What’s going on?” I feign confusion as I step up to them.

“We’re having a bit of a communication issue,” Emilio says with irritation.

“Our radio is down, but somehow the Montanaris’ isn’t.

There’s no way they managed to hack into ours in such a short amount of time.

And anyway, we had more than five signal walls blocking against hackers.

It’s impossible.” Frustration bleeds through his voice.

I make a show of thinking. “I saw network masts at the south side of the docks. That’s where they’re getting their signal from. If we can launch a full attack from there, we can cut them off or take charge of their communication once and for all.”

The soldier blinks at me. “The implications of that are staggering. We could fuck up their instructions.”

“Are you sure about this?” my father’s lieutenant asks, gaze hard on mine.

I hold his eye contact and nod. I don’t know what he sees, but eventually he nods to the soldier, giving him instructions to move all the men to the south side. I know for a fact that many of the Montanari soldiers are situated on that side, and my father’s men will be no match for their numbers.

I spot Tommaso through the haze of smoke and hurry to his side. “We have to get rid of the men’s supply of oxygen masks.”

“I did one better. I punctured holes in them,” he replies.

“Good thinking. I’ve already managed to redirect their attacks and?—”

“Are you sure about this, boss?” he cuts me off.

There’s no doubt or hesitation on his face; instead, what I read in his expression is concern.

“I’m ready to face whatever consequences if Edoardo discovers this betrayal, but I can’t imagine that you’d want to be branded as a traitor.

You’ll lose your legacy, your family, everything. Is she worth it?”

“You have no right to question me,” I snarl.

He doesn’t back down. “I’m not questioning you. You know I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth. I’m choosing to believe that you’ve thought this through.”

“I love her,” I say simply after a while.

“You’re risking your life and everything to betray your father and your family, and she’s here, putting her life at risk to protect her father and family,” he says the words without any judgment, but they still manage to knock me off-kilter.

I know what’s at risk. I’ve known it from the first moment I went in search of the girl from the retreat and discovered that she’s the rival family princess; with every kiss, touch, and banter, I’ve known what I’m risking.

While I might not be Edoardo’s biggest fan, loyalty and family have been carved into the walls of my soul from the moment I gained consciousness.

I still remember the day I asked my mother why she didn’t just leave. Her response had been a small smile.

“This is my family, tesoro . Family stays together,” she had said, applying a salve to my cheek where Father’s blow still stung.

The Gagliardis are the family I’ve been given, but Giulia is the family I chose.

Still, it doesn’t make it easy, choosing one for the other.

It feels like the very essence of me is being split in two, creating conflicting sides stuck in one body.

I’m doing battle with myself, and it’s destroying me from the inside.

“Make sure the men stay concentrated on the south side,” I say instead of trying to explain everything to him.

“You know this isn’t over,” he tells me. “Your father won’t stop here.”

“It’ll buy Giulia’s family some time to regroup and gather more men.”

I’ve never once assumed that my effort here at the docks today will succeed in ending this war.

Today is merely the beginning. With the Montanaris losing some parts of their shipment to the attack and my father’s side losing a good amount of men, I know that today will only fuel the rage on each side.

I suddenly feel old and tired, so weary of the plotting, the hatred, the battles. More than ever, I know I have to end this.

But how?

Even after all this time, I’m no closer to answering that question.