Page 131 of Broken Mafia Prince
“You’re crazy.”
“I’m damn serious. I thought about this a lot while you were away. I had time to reflect. I told myself that if I ever got the chance to bring you back into my life, I would never make the mistake of losing you again—no matter what it costs me. And if that means leaving this life behind to be with you, then I’m ready.”
“Raff, I?—”
“I’m saying that I want you to promise me that we won’t stick around when this ship begins to sink. They’ve had a life, and I think we deserve a fair chance at one, too. Promise me, Giulia, that you’ll come with me when we run out of options.”
“B-but I can’t just leave. What about my father?”
“What about us?” I argue. “The real victors are the ones who lived to tell the tales. Think about it, baby. We can put in our best effort, and it can all end up being for nothing. I’m not saying we should ditch everything and run; I’m just putting the option out there that if worse comes to worst, we need to cut our losses and go.”
“What about your family?”
“You are my family.”
Tears spring up in her eyes. “Raff?—”
“Say you’ll marry me, and you’ll consider giving us a fair chance at a life together,” I continue, heart racing. “It doesn’t have to be forever. I’d never try to erase these parts of us. Just until this blows over, or until we’re better prepared to face this.”
“But—”
“Please don’t just say no yet,” I plead.
She lets out a watery laugh. “I wasn’t going to say no. Why the hell would I say no to marrying you?”
“I don’t have a ring, though.”
Laughing, she wraps her arms around my neck, pressing kisses all over my face. “We’ll buy one. Or not. I don’t care. I’ll be with you, and that’s all that matters.”
Maybe it’s a bit childish of us to want to leave all our problems behind and start afresh, but from the start, we’ve never been at an advantage. Forced to inherit a war, hatred, blood, death, trauma, and destruction that we want no part in. Why should we have to stay and be collateral damage?
“Are you sure about this, baby?” I ask her. “Are you sure you want to?—”
“A hundred percent,” she says. Then, she holds out her hand to me, her gaze hard. “Fuck them all.”
I take her outstretched hand, my heart thudding with excitement—and hope. I can’t keep beating myself up over duty versus desire. One was forced on me. The other is mine. There’s no doubt which one I’m choosing.
“Fuck them all, baby.”
We make love again. When she finally drifts off beside me, I stay awake, watching her—the woman who will soon be my wife. My mind spirals, already calculating my next steps. First, I need to transfer money to an offshore account. Then, I’ll have someone secure our fake passports.
It all needs to happen fast—we have weeks, maybe a month at most, before everything explodes.
I won’t lose her again. I swear it.
No matter what it costs.
42
GIULIA
My gaze is drawn to the plain black titanium ring sitting on my finger for the hundredth time in the space of a few minutes. Raffaele managed to find the ring in his junk box and slipped it onto my finger about an hour before I left his place.
It’s a tad oversized, but it’s only meant to serve as a placeholder until he gets me something else.
I tried to tell him there was no need for something large and elaborate, but the glare he shot me told me loud and clear that he’s going to try to outdo Alessandro’s ridiculous ring. I almost suggested that he should whip his dick out so I could measure and compare it with my ex-fiancé’s. Almost.
The thought makes me smirk as I swirl the deep red wine in my glass, my fingers lightly tracing the rim. The bar is dimly lit, the scent of whiskey and cigar smoke thick in the air. I shift in my seat, fingers curled around the stem of my glass as I wait for Isa to arrive. My heart pounds, a mixture of excitement and nerves thrumming through me.
