Page 166 of Broken Mafia Prince
Change of plans. Initial location might be compromised, and I don’t want to risk it. I’ve attached the new location below. Same time. I can’t wait to marry you. I love you.
“Oh, I know that place,” Isa says, reading over my shoulder. “It used to be a popular picnic location, but I think the park has been closed for a while. I can drive us there.”
“Thank you, Isa.” I smile gratefully at her. “We should start getting ready. I don’t want him to think I’ve changed my mind about being with him because I’m running late.”
“Sure.” She nods, taking my hand and dragging me to my feet. “Let’s get this party on the road.”
Joy swells inside me, filling every inch of my being as I think about what I’m about to do. But beneath it, a quiet ache settles in my chest. Isabella is the only part of this life I’ll genuinely miss. The only person who ever felt like home.
My father was never really part of it. Not in the way that mattered.
I didn’t grow up with the kind of love I’ve read about in books—found families, nosy but caring in-laws, the warmth of people who would choose you again and again. My world was built on power plays and cold transactions, not unconditional love.
But that ends with me.
I press a hand to my stomach, my throat tightening. My new life will be different. It has to be. Every single day, I will make sure of it.
For the me I am now. For the girl I used to be.
For Raffaele.
And for the little one growing inside me.
55
RAFFAELE
Matteo breaks into the clearing from the thick wall of forest vegetation, his face grim. “We need to go.”
I pull out my gun, and from the corner of my eye, I can see Tommaso do the same. “What’s going on?”
“Your father’s men have sniffed us out.”
Damn it. This is exactly what I’ve been trying to avoid. My father isn’t foolish enough to not know that the attack on his men came from me.
I had a feeling that as soon as I resurfaced to meet Giulia today, he’d be on my trail—and I wasn’t wrong. “Is the backup close?” I ask.
“ETA: thirty-five minutes,” Tommaso replies, holding up his phone and swearing.
“We’ll be toast before they get to us. We need to leave,” Matteo says.
I consider his words. I don’t know how many men my father still has left, but I know we’ll be outnumbered. Running is the best option at the moment.
“I have forty minutes until I’m supposed to meet up with Giulia at the chapel.” I check the chamber of my gun to makesure there are enough bullets in it. “If we run now and we lose them, there’s no assurance that the men won’t resurface when we get to the chapel, and then she’ll be at risk. I can’t put her between us and them.”
“We don’t even know how many there are,” Tommaso points out. “I say grab her and go. Fuck the wedding. You can say ‘I do’ anywhere in the goddamn world. What you can’t afford to do is stop moving to say your vows and give your father’s men enough time to catch up to us.”
“I’m marrying her before we leave, and that’s that,” I grit out. “She already has so many shitty memories of this place. I want to give her one good one to redeem it before we leave.”
Matteo snorts. “How sweet.”
When I slant him a glare, he shrugs and cocks his gun. “Are we doing this or what?”
We take our positions, blending into the landscape as best as we can, guns at the ready. From my position behind a large rock, I can see Matteo at the top of a tree, his rifle slung over his shoulder. I can’t see Tommaso, but I know he’s nearby.
As soon as the first of my father’s men steps into the clearing, we open fire. I aim and fire, the first man’s head turning into a shower of blood. Like a well-oiled machine, I draw the men’s focus to my direction while Tommaso and Matteo pick them off from behind. It takes the men a while to realize what’s going on, and by then it’s too late.
A bullet whizzes toward me and brushes against my arm, tearing through my shirt and cutting me open. I ignore the pain and the blood trickling out, aiming at a man getting too close to Matteo’s position.
