Page 130 of Broken Mafia Bride
He meets my eyes, guilt etched deep into his face.
“He fed her a lie. Told her she was an orphan he rescued off the streets of Sardegna. And she believed him.”
I’ve always thought my father was the worst person on earth. Edoardo is a manipulative, heartless, conniving bastard—but compared to Lucio Sanna, he’s small fries. The lengths Lucio will go to, the depths of hell he’s willing to crawl into just to get what he wants, are terrifying.
“You never told her. Why?” I ask.
“First, I don’t know how deep Lucio’s damage goes. I don’t know what memories he’s buried, twisted, or erased altogether. Dropping the truth on her like a bomb—what if it shatters her completely?”
He scrubs a hand over his face, eyes haunted.
“And second… I’m scared.”
I raise a brow. “Of what?”
He doesn’t answer right away. Just stares at the floor like it might offer a way out.
“I’m scared she won’t be the same once she knows. That everything between us—everything I built with her—won’t survive the truth. That she’ll look at me like I’m part of the lie.”
I fold my arms. “You think finding out she’s Valentina Montanari—Re Ombra’s blood—will change her that much?”
He finally looks up.
“I think it’ll change everything.”
His mouth presses into a thin line. “She’s already so loyal and grateful to him for what she thinks he’s done for her, Raffaele. One day, I want to take her—take us—far, far away from here. I’m terrified she’ll never agree to leave him if she knows he’s her grandfather.”
“So you’re lying to her just like he did?” I ask with a derisive snort.
Lucio’s poison runs through every one of us. He builds puppets, then cuts the strings and watches us collapse.
“What makes you two so different?”
“Are you trying to tell me you’ve never hidden something from Giulia?” he shoots back, giving me a look. “Even if it meant protecting her?”
I eye him carefully. “What aren’t you telling me? This is more than the bullshit reasons you’re giving me.”
“Damn it, Raff,” he growls. “That bastard Lucio dug a trap for me and shoved me straight into it. He knew Cat was interested in me—he’d seen the way I watched her. She was seventeen, and I was sixteen years older. Old enough to know better.”
He lets out a bitter laugh. “Lucio knew all of it. And he knew exactly how to play his cards.”
I take a step toward him. “Pepe. What did you do?”
He doesn’t answer. Just stares past me like he’s looking at ghosts.
“Tell me,” I growl. “Now.”
Only then does he speak.”
His eyes flicker with memories of the past. “He sent me to her. I don’t have hard evidence, but it’s no coincidence I got summoned to his office and found a drunk Caterina waiting for me. All it took was a kiss to seal my fate. I’d been digging into what happened at the bridge before then—he must’ve found out.”
Pepe lets out a humorless laugh. “It was either keep my mouth shut and get his blessing to marry her, or face the justice I ‘deserved’ for touching his underage ward.”
He raises his head and meets my eyes. “I had no choice but to fall in line. I didn’t groom her or prey on her. I love her.”
The more I uncover about Lucio, the more it feels like I’ve sent Giulia straight into the lion’s den. I need to call her—now. I pray she hasn’t reached her grandfather’s office yet. I don’t even want to imagine what might happen if he catches her there—or worse, if she confronts him.
“I believe you,” I say, because I see it—the desperation in his eyes, the aching need to hear that he’s not the monster Re Ombra has manipulated him into becoming.
