Page 12 of Broken Mafia Bride
She lets out a shaky breath, her gaze locked on mine. “It doesn’t matter. Focus on finding her. She’s the one who matters.”
“What happened?” I repeat.
“That’s exactly what we were trying to figure out before you barged in here and started waving your gun around,” she snaps. “Enrico had nothing to do with this, Raffaele. If anyone’s at fault, it’s you.”
I reel back, shocked. “I don’t understand. What the fuck are you saying? You know I’d never hurt Giulia.”
She advances at me, eyes flashing with fury. “Then why didn’t you show up? I’ve gone over this thing in my head a thousand times, and all I can think is that you somehow arranged this ambush. Maybe you changed your mind about betraying your family and decided to betray her instead.”
The hand holding my gun drops down to my side, and I stare at her. “I’d never betray her. I loved her. I was going to marry her and go away with her.”
The other thing she said suddenly rings in my head. I narrow my eyes at her. “What do you mean, I never showed up? I waited at the chapel for four hours.”
Enrico snorts. “Are you seriously going to stand here and listen to his bullshit? It’s obvious you set my daughter up, and now you stand here threatening everyone like you have no idea what you did.”
He stares down at me even though I have a few inches on him. “I knew from the start you were bad news. I told Giulia every day that you were no good, but she insisted. Now look at the result.”
“Shut up,” I bark at him. “You have no right to speak when you tried to sell your daughter not once but twice.”
“I wasn’t trying to sell her,” he snaps. “I was trying to do what was best for her. If you had just left her alone, she wouldn’t be missing now.”
The words knock into my chest, and I flinch. What he just said are the words I’ve been thinking since I found out that Giulia was missing. The guilt hits me like a ten-ton weight.
“None of that matters now!” Isabella slashes a hand through the air, looking more exasperated than ever at this point. “You two should fucking cut it out. Can’t you see there’s more to play than the feud and your petty issues?”
She turns to me, meeting my gaze. “You said you waited at the chapel, right?”
I nod, unsure where she’s going with this.
“That literally makes no sense when you texted to change locations.”
I blink, confused. “What are you talking about? I never tried to change locations. I didn’t hear from Giulia after the call that night. I got to the chapel at the time I was supposed to and couldn’t reach either of you. I called over and over again.”
The way Isabella is staring at me—like I’m speaking an unfamiliar language—starts to make a strange feeling curl through my stomach.
“No. You’re mistaken. You must have changed the location—or… god… maybe someone pretended to be you. I don’t see how else it could have happened,” Giulia’s cousin says. “We got your text about changing venue from the chapel to the old park. We thought it was strange, but we didn’t question it too much because we assumed the old location had been compromised.”
An icy feeling rolls down my spine. “I never sent that text. I never changed the location.” And only two other people knew about that plan.
“That’s exactly what happened.” She folds her arms across her chest like she’s bracing herself. “There was no network in the area, and after half an hour of waiting for you, Giulia asked me to step outside and try to call you while she waited behind in case you were just running late.”
“I remember hearing some noise as I put some distance between us,” she continues, body trembling now. “I turned around, and someone grabbed me from behind. I tried to fight and got knocked out. When I woke up, I ran back for Giulia, but she was gone.”
“I never sent that text,” I repeat, mind racing.
“Whoever sent it had to have known about your plans to meet up with her and get married,” she points out. “Who else knew about your plans?”
My right-hand man, Tommaso, and my best friend, Matteo, were the only ones who knew about my plans to meet up with Giulia and get married. There’s no way it could be either of them. I trust those men with my life. The thought of doubting them feels like a betrayal of every moment they’ve shown up for me. I refuse to let suspicion creep in.
For one, I didn’t tell either of them the exact location. Only Matteo knew about the priest, and even that was a fleeting detail. Besides, they’ve both been by my side for the last forty-eight hours, tangled up with me in the chaos of disrupting my father’splans for the Montanaris. Matteo, especially, has been a rock through it all. I would have noticed if they’d made any unusual calls. My heart tells me they’re loyal, and I cling to that certainty like a lifeline.
I swing around to face Enrico again. “Did you do this?”
He leans back with an eyeroll. “Believe it or not, I was looking forward to Giulia going off with you, getting her heart broken, and running back with her tail tucked between her legs.”
What a freaking asshole. I’m tempted to put my fist into his face and shatter his nose. But I know that that’s exactly what he wants. He’s been trying to rile me up since I walked into this house. A closer look at him reveals dark circles around his eyes, paper-thin skin, and greasy hair.
I cock my head, studying him. He looks like a wreck, and I wonder if I’ve just never noticed it before, or if it’s a new development as a result of his missing daughter.
