Page 104 of Broken Mafia Prince
It shouldn’t come as a surprise. I should have known better. After all, this is the man who tried to marry me off to a stranger, all to improve his power, his wealth. Still, this betrayal feels like a knife to the chest. The rug has been pulled out from under me, and I’m falling into a reality I thought I’d escaped.
Apparently, I’m worth a million dollars of guns, two crates of coke, and an alliance for a future war with the Gagliardis. I’m still absorbing this new information, trying to work through the crippling betrayal I’m feeling, when there’s a knock on my door.
“Giulia?” my fiancé’s voice calls from the other side of the door.
A part of me wants to ignore him, but the other part wants to figure out if he’s in on this. Does he know I’m being sold like cattle? Gathering the files, I push them under my bed and steel my shoulders before going for the door.
“Are you all right?” he asks, brown eyes running over my body.
“Yes,” I say shortly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
He stares at me with puzzlement. “You left in a hurry, said you were going to check up on your dad, but then he came back to the room and you were still missing. I thought I’d check up on you.”
I search his eyes, unsure what I’m looking for. I want to believe that he genuinely cares about me and knows nothingabout our family’s underground machinations, but that damned word from the last document I’d read comes to my head.
“NON-REFUNDABLE.”
Not only am I a commodity, but I’m also a nonrefundable one. Which means Father doesn’t plan on changing his mind anytime soon about the terms of the contract. There’s no hope of him suddenly developing a conscience and realizing how fucked up this is.
Is he so eager to get rid of me, his real family, or does he just see me as a pawn on his chessboard, and this is one of his long-awaited moves? All the progress I thought we’d made in our relationship since leaving our old life has just been in my head.
“I’m fine,” I reply.
He steps closer. “Talk to me, Giulia, what’s going on? You’re clearly upset, and if it’s something I did, I can fix it. I care about you and?—”
The mouth falls open of its own volition, the words tumbling out. “Are you aware that this marriage is a nonrefundable business deal?”
Alessandro pauses, his eyes shuttering. “I don’t understand.”
I spin toward my bed and drop down on my knees, pulling out the stolen documents. “Here.”
Instead of taking it, he just clasps his hand behind him and sighs. “Darling, you’re not supposed to snoop through people’s things. You shouldn’t have gone through your father’s things in the first place.”
“Do you know what’s on here? It’s…” I trail off at the slightly annoyed look on his face. “Oh my fucking god. You know all about it!” I accuse.
He just shrugs. “What kind of marriage did you think you were going to end up in as a mafia daughter? Don’t be daft, Giulia.”
“I refuse to be sold!” I say firmly, meeting his gaze.
A single step forward brings him into close proximity with me. “Listen?—”
“You lied to me,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Lied to you?” He scoffs. “When did that happen? What part of anything I’ve ever told you has been a lie? Nothing has changed.”
I stare at him, wondering if he’s being serious right now. What does he mean by nothing’s changed? “On the contrary.”
His hand reaches out and grabs me by my waist, firm enough to catch and hold my attention but loose enough for me to slip out of his hold if I want.
“Listen, Giulia,” he says in a condescending tone, eyes hard on me. “We like each other and we get along well. Let’s not think about what’s going on under the surface. I like you, and you have my assurance that I’ll treat you well when we get married.”
“When?” I ask, plenty of derision dripping from that single word.
His mouth curves up into a smirk that makes me take a step back, but his hold tightens, keeping me in place.
“When,” he clarifies. “There’s no getting away from this. This is as good as it’s going to get for either of us, so why resist it?”
The thought of this being the best thing I can get makes a flash of disappointment move through me. Can this really be it? Sold by my father to a man who merely likes my presence, all so that he can further an endless vendetta against the Gagliardis. Raffaele was right when he said that we’re puppets for men who care nothing about us.
