Page 69 of Broken Mafia Prince (His to Break #1)

RAFFAELE

M atteo breaks into the clearing from the thick wall of forest vegetation, his face grim. “We need to go.”

I pull out my gun, and from the corner of my eye, I can see Tommaso do the same. “What’s going on?”

“Your father’s men have sniffed us out.”

Damn it. This is exactly what I’ve been trying to avoid. My father isn’t foolish enough to not know that the attack on his men came from me.

I had a feeling that as soon as I resurfaced to meet Giulia today, he’d be on my trail—and I wasn’t wrong. “Is the backup close?” I ask.

“ETA: thirty-five minutes,” Tommaso replies, holding up his phone and swearing.

“We’ll be toast before they get to us. We need to leave,” Matteo says.

I consider his words. I don’t know how many men my father still has left, but I know we’ll be outnumbered. Running is the best option at the moment.

“I have forty minutes until I’m supposed to meet up with Giulia at the chapel.

” I check the chamber of my gun to make sure there are enough bullets in it.

“If we run now and we lose them, there’s no assurance that the men won’t resurface when we get to the chapel, and then she’ll be at risk. I can’t put her between us and them.”

“We don’t even know how many there are,” Tommaso points out. “I say grab her and go. Fuck the wedding. You can say ‘I do’ anywhere in the goddamn world. What you can’t afford to do is stop moving to say your vows and give your father’s men enough time to catch up to us.”

“I’m marrying her before we leave, and that’s that,” I grit out. “She already has so many shitty memories of this place. I want to give her one good one to redeem it before we leave.”

Matteo snorts. “How sweet.”

When I slant him a glare, he shrugs and cocks his gun. “Are we doing this or what?”

We take our positions, blending into the landscape as best as we can, guns at the ready. From my position behind a large rock, I can see Matteo at the top of a tree, his rifle slung over his shoulder. I can’t see Tommaso, but I know he’s nearby.

As soon as the first of my father’s men steps into the clearing, we open fire.

I aim and fire, the first man’s head turning into a shower of blood.

Like a well-oiled machine, I draw the men’s focus to my direction while Tommaso and Matteo pick them off from behind.

It takes the men a while to realize what’s going on, and by then it’s too late.

A bullet whizzes toward me and brushes against my arm, tearing through my shirt and cutting me open. I ignore the pain and the blood trickling out, aiming at a man getting too close to Matteo’s position.

“There he is!” someone exclaims.

Before I can shoot again, my gun is smacked out of my hand. A fist rushes toward my face, and I grab it, yanking the owner forward into an uppercut that shatters his jaw. I feel another presence coming up behind me, and I’m quick to drive my elbow backward into the man’s solar plexus.

Another man reaches for his gun, but I’m faster. I drive the heel of my boot into his chest, causing him to fly into the air and land a fair distance away, his head smacking the ground.

“They’ve called for backup!” Tommaso cries, still fighting off the two men on him. “We need to go. Now!”

“We need to split up.” My best friend has a nasty-looking bruise at the edge of his jaw. “That’s the only way we’re getting out of this. We need to distract Edoardo’s men while you go kiss your woman.”

“I’m not leaving you guys.” I shoot the two men attacking Tommaso, and we take a moment to breathe. Matteo taps his wrist.

“Your only other option is standing her up,” he says. “It’s almost noon, Raffaele.”

I glance at my watch and see that he’s right. If I don’t make a run for it now, I’ll never make it to my own wedding. Giulia has been disappointed enough times in her life. I refuse to start our new life together by letting her down.

“Stay safe,” I tell them. “I fucking mean that. Don’t you dare die. Both of you.”

“Get out of here.” Matteo rolls his eyes, then asks Tommaso, “Where are we on our own backup?”

“Eleven minutes,” he replies. “We can do this.”

“Fuck yeah, we can.”

I nod at them one after the other, then tuck my gun back into my shoulder holster and start running. I just need them to buy me enough time to marry the woman I love and then leave all of this behind me.

A short ride later, I burst through the doors of the chapel located on a quiet street deep in the Chicago suburbs, panting hard.

“Where is she?” I ask Father Albert.

I glance around, searching for Giulia, but come up empty. I raise my wrist to my line of sight, relieved when I see that it’s about five minutes to noon. I made it on time, which means she should be here already or at least on her way.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Gagliardi.” The elderly man stands from the front pew, dressed in his black robe, a chaplet wrapped around one fist. “If you’re referring to your bride, she hasn’t arrived yet.”

“I can see that,” I grumble, pulling out my burner phone from my pocket.

To avoid being caught by my father, Tommaso purchased the burner phones we’ve been using to communicate.

The problem is that I don’t know if Enrico has already tapped Giulia’s phone, which is why communication with her has been spotty.

When I called her last night, I was mindful of not exceeding the ten-minute mark, which could give anybody trying to track me down enough time to do so.

It’s also why I didn’t outright say the location; instead, I pinned it on a map and shared it with her.

I’ve done my best to be careful, and I hope it’s enough.

Even though her father is an asshole who’s tried to take advantage of her love for him severally, I doubt he’d actually try to do her harm. I can’t say the same about my father. He’ll mow down anything in his way, family or not.

I dial her number and wait, listening to it ring.

She probably left her phone behind as a security measure. Or maybe she tossed it into her bag and can’t hear it ringing. She’ll be here. I just need to give her some time.

“Why don’t you take a seat while we wait for the other party?” Father Albert suggests. “I’m sure she’ll be here soon. In my years of life, I’ve become familiar with the fact that women are never on time.”

Not Giulia, though , I think, watching the hour and minute hand align at twelve. All the other times I’ve ever arranged for us to meet, she’s been on time. I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong now.

She could just be running late, it happens , a voice in my head chides.

Ten minutes pass by in silence.

By the twenty-minute mark, I call her again, and again and again. At twenty-eight minutes past, I’m calling Isabella. Just like with Giulia, the line rings with no response.

I’m panicking now, all the red lights blaring in my head. The pity in Father Albert’s eyes isn’t helping, either. I have to fight against the urge to go over there and punch that look off his face.

I dial Matteo next. “Status?” I ask.

“On our way to the chapel. Backup got here on time, and we managed to scare the other men off. But it won’t last forever. We need to move, get back underground, and regroup.”

“Did we lose anybody?”

“Nah, but Tommaso’s not looking too good.”

“I’m fine,” I hear him bite out.

“You’re not fine. You took a bullet to the shoulder.”

“I’m fucking fine.”

“Stubborn ass,” Matteo murmurs. “Congratulations are in order, I believe. We’ll be there soon to try to scare Giulia off. Or was she smart enough to stand you up at the altar?” He laughs.

A dark weight settles in my stomach. “Something’s wrong. She didn’t show up, and I can’t reach her or Isa.”

“What the fuck!” he barks. “I’ll track her when I get there. We’ll be there in five.”

The next few minutes feel like hours, time dragging eternally while I bury my head between my legs and try to breathe.

I can’t describe the feelings tumbling inside of me.

A mixture of so many contrasting emotions: rage, terror, worry, violence, despair, guilt, helplessness.

I’m choking on all of it, but I can’t afford to fall apart.

If Giulia is in trouble, I have to save her. Nothing can happen to her. I don’t know what I’ll do if she gets hurt. It’ll be all my fucking fault.

“I just know you’re beating yourself up, convincing yourself it’s your fault,” Matteo’s voice reaches me a moment after the chapel doors fly open.

I raise my head slowly and see the two men standing there. They look worse for wear, and Tommaso has a makeshift bandage around his arm.

I rise to my feet. “She’s in trouble, I can feel it.”

“I tried to track her phone on the way here, but my limited resources couldn’t do the job,” Matteo admits. “I need to retrieve my stuff from my office and do a deep dive.”

“Do you think your father’s behind this?” Tommaso asks. “If he is, we can expect to hear from him soon. He’ll either want us to surrender or fall back in line.”

“I doubt he’ll trust me to even run his car wash business.” I snort. “He gave me an ultimatum and I flashed him the metaphorical middle finger.”

“Are we ruling out that Enrico has her?” Matteo points out. “He could have found out about her plans to escape and locked her up. I doubt her father will watch her go with a merry wave. Or… she might have changed her mind.”

I wish I could say that I believe she’s changed her mind about being with me, because at least that way, I’d know she’s safe. But I know Giulia—she’s the boldest, bravest, most outspoken woman I know. She won’t just leave me hanging like this; she’d have made it clear to me that the wedding is off.

I shake my head. “No. Something’s wrong. She’s in trouble. I can feel it.”

“You think your father’s behind it, then?” Matteo repeats. “Sending his men after us could just have been a way to keep us distracted and occupied.”

I hate the feeling of hopelessness more than anything.

I’m always the man with the plan and the solutions, but at the moment, I can’t even get my head together to form a single thought, no matter how illogical.

If my father has her, and he hurts a single hair on her head, I’m going to tear him limb from limb.

I’m far from being the weak boy who couldn’t do anything when his cruel treatment led Mother to her death. If he has my bride, he’d better start writing his will.

Because no force on earth will keep me from getting her back.

I turn to Matteo. “How long will it take you to find her?”

“Depends.”

“Use every tool in your arsenal. I want her back and in one piece.”

He nods. “Done.”

“And if it’s too late?” Tommaso meets my gaze, not flinching when my body moves of its own volition toward him, blood filling my vision.

“Then I’ll raze this entire city to the ground,” I promise. “Every fucking last bit of it.”