Page 127 of Broken Mafia Prince
I roll my eyes. “I don’t believe it, Isa.”
She lets out a slow breath, like she’s putting pieces together. “So you’re telling me?—”
“I’m telling you,” I cut her off, voice sharper now.
Isa already knows the answer to that. We both do.
Alessandro didn’t decide anything. The second I found that cufflink, I knew exactly what happened. Raffaele got him out of the way.
And the worst part? I don’t care. Or maybe the worst part is that I should.
I should care. I should be horrified. But the only thing I felt when I read that note was relief. I let out a breath, shaking off the thought.
“Does your father know about this?”
I shrug, finally discovering a jar of peanuts. I hop up onto the island and open the jar while Marty stares at it with his puppy eyes.
“No idea if he knows that Ale is gone, but we had a fight about me no longer wanting to go ahead with the marriage.” I pause. “He threatened to cut me out of the family if I didn’t go through with it. Honestly, Isa, that really hurt, the fact that he’ll choose almost everything else in this world except me.”
“Enrico is an ass for not seeing that you’re right there willing to be his family,” she says softly. “He keeps on trying to hold a shadow while the real person is right beside him, and that’s just crazy. I hope he pulls his head out of his ass sooner rather than later.”
I nod. “Thank you.”
“If this whole thing with him is just because you need a safe space to fall back on if your father?—”
I cut her off, shaking my head. “It’s not about that. If I wanted a landing ground, I’d have sold Alessandro’s ridiculously overpriced ring and lived off it. Raffaele is… different.”
“By different, I hope you mean that he’s the worst of the lot. Don’t you see how he can hurt you? He’s already managed to burrow his way into your life, and now he’s trying to isolate you. That’s what the worst of them do—they remove all support system from your life so they’ll be all you have.”
“Jesus Christ, Isabella, calm the fuck down.” I crunch on one of the peanuts, then toss another for the dog. “It’s not like that at all. Everything I’ve done so far has been my decision. He’s never asked me to do any of this.”
“Oh my god, you don’t even realize you’re being manipulated.” She lets out a humorless bark of laughter. “Small suggestions here and there, and bam, you’re putty in his hands.”
My brows furrow. Am I being manipulated? Can she be right? I like to think that I’d know if I’m being manipulated, but it’s never quite obvious unless you’re on the outside staring in.
I try to think of anything he’s said so far that can be taken as a suggestion, but all Raff has been is respectful of my decisions. He even backed away at the park when he could have easily pressed me to lose my virginity to him.
No! I refuse to think that what I feel is a result of subtle manipulation. Raffaele is not like that.
“You’re wrong,” I insist.
“No, I’m not. And you’ll soon realize how right I am.”
I shrug. “Then I’ll count my losses and cry over it like every other woman who’s been betrayed. The fact remains that I’m with him, and I’m going to see this through to the end. I want this, and so I’m going to keep it.”
My cousin sighs. “I see. I know that tone. There’s no dissuading you, is there?”
“Probably not.”
“Fine.” But she doesn’t sound like it’s fine at all. “I just hope you know what you’re doing. And whatever happens, I’m here. Okay?”
“Okay.”
We hang up and, sighing, I jump down the island and take Marty back to his room and hook the gate back up. I push all of Isa’s warnings to the back of my mind. I’m not going to let myself have double thoughts about this.
I’m jumping right in with my eyes wide open.
Fuck the consequences.
