Page 55 of Broken Mafia Prince
I let out a shocked gasp at the revelation. “You piece of shit.”
He laughs. “What else do you think you’re good for? You’re a spoiled, rude, untamable bitch, and even daddy dearest is desperate to get you off his hands. He’s willing to sell you to the highest bidder so he doesn’t have to deal with you for a moment longer.”
Tears spring in my eyes, a result of the pain in my scalp and the one in my chest at his words. “You’re lying.”
“I don’t need to lie to you, Giulia,” he spat. “You’re the key to my inheritance, nothing more, and as soon as I have my hands on it, I’ll find a way to untangle myself from you.”
Luca jerks me backward until my spine is almost at breaking point. I whimper, wondering how I’m going to get out of this mess. Every time I’ve managed to get myself into a mess, Isa’s always been there to clean it up. This time around, though, she can’t help me.
My cousin is a strong advocate of not messing with the betrothal, and I’ve promised her a hundred times that I won’t.
And yet, here I find myself.
“Let me go, you’re hurting me!” I cry out, trying to tear away from his hold, but it only makes him angrier, his eyebrows drawing down.
“Shut up, you’re going to cause a scene!” he hisses.
I’m beginning to prefer the option of causing a scene and inciting Father’s anger rather than letting Luca break my spinelike a glow stick. “Let me go, you asshole. I’ll tell Father all about this and?—”
“You’ll tell him what?” he cuts in with an amused snort. “Tell him that you tried to deceive him with fake documents? Enrico will be more than happy to leave disciplining you in my hands. He’s been done with you from the very beginning, and I know it still kills him that you got to live while he lost the two people he actually loved.”
I freeze for a second before a full body shudder wracks through me. Luca’s words take me back to a lifetime ago, back to the beginning when I scraped and begged for Father’s love and attention. Words that I’ve heard Father use float in my head until they solidify into one solid mass before me.
“You’re lying! He doesn’t think that. He couldn’t be so cruel as to wish that I…” I trail off when I remember all the times Father has made it clear in conversation that he’s lost his family.
Oh god.
Luca stares down at me with pity, and it makes my spine crawl. “When he finds out what you’ve done here, Giulia, he’ll put a bow on you and deliver you straight to my doorstep.” His mouth curves into a winning smile. “Silly girl, you’ve only managed to sign your fate away faster.”
My heart is pounding hard and fast in my chest, and it feels like I’ll explode at any moment. I can’t believe my brilliant plan has so spectacularly blown up in my face, leaving me at the mercy of a toad like Luca.
“Get your fucking hands off her,” a clipped voice says.
I try to turn my head, but Luca’s hand tightens, keeping me in place. Another pained hiss slips from my mouth at the feeling of hair tearing from its root. My entire focus isn’t on the man who’s about to render me bald, though; it’s on the newcomer.
“Excuse me?” my betrothed scoffs, voice laced with impatience.
“I told you to get your dirty paws off of her, now,” the man says again. Even without seeing any part of him, I know exactly who’s standing there. The question is, what the hell does he think he’s doing here?
Luca releases me and climbs to his feet. My head spins for a moment before I get my bearings back, and I don’t hesitate to turn to where the two men are squared off. Raffaele Gagliardi stands taller and broader than my date, and I have a feeling that even if he wasn’t physically larger, he’ll still have dwarfed Luca with his domineering presence.
“Who do you think you are?” He narrows his eyes at the newcomer. “You have no right to come here and dictate to?—”
Raffaele doesn’t let him finish speaking. “You’ve got five seconds to walk away before I change my mind. After that, you won’t be walking anywhere for a long time.”
The other man lets out a strained laugh. “Do you know who I am? You can’t talk to me like that, and this is none of your business! She’s going to be my wife, you have no right to interrupt us.”
Raffaele’s only answer is to take a step forward. His eyes are as cold as chips of ice, and it turns his beautiful face into a deadly mask. There’s no hint of the scarred boy on that face now, and I fight the urge to grab my purse and escape too.
Luca whirls around, hard eyes catching on mine. “This isn’t over, Giulia.”
I watch in shock as he adjusts the lapels of his suit and takes off, trying not to make it obvious that he’s fleeing for his life.
“Are you okay?” Raffaele’s voice is different from just a few seconds ago, and it leaves me feeling like I’m on a rollercoaster. I turn to look at him and see worry shining in his eyes. “Did he hurt you?”
I take him silently, wondering how much of today he’s seen.
“What are you doing here?”
