Page 63 of Broken Mafia Prince
I wait with bated breath while she hums thoughtfully. “Okay, but we’re meeting in a public place. I’m not coming to your house or a bar or anything like that.”
“You don’t trust me? I’m hurt,” I deadpan. “Meet me at Bayer Park in thirty.”
“That sounds a lot like an order.”
This time around, I can’t control the smile that curves my mouth. “Don’t be late, sweetheart.”
“I’m not your—” I hang up while she’s still talking, knowing that it’ll make her livid. I can’t wait for her to give me a piece of her mind when we meet up later. With that thought in mind, I set my alarm for thirty minutes and throw the car into reverse.
I stop at a drugstore to buy supplies to clean my wound, then I walk into a clothing store and change out of my ruined shirt into an identical black one. By the time I catch sight of Giulia pacing by a dried-up fountain, I look perfectly put togetheragain, with no hint that I’ve just come out of a fight where four men lost their lives.
The park is almost empty, with just a few people milling around. It used to attract a sizeable crowd when I was much younger, but now, there are signs of neglect everywhere, from the dry fountain to the chipped stone benches and cracked walkways. Giulia doesn’t fit against the weathered backdrop, and I find my entire focus falling on her, everything seeming to disappear around me.
“Hello, Giulia.”
She whirls around to face me, and I note that she’s changed out of her earlier dress. She’s in all black now, and it amuses me to think that she chose the clothes carefully for this meeting, like this is some kind of covert mission.
“You said you have something to tell me about the Echelon Syndicate,” she blurts out, eyes wide. “What’s going on? And how do you know about it?”
“Not even a hello back, Miss Montanari?” I drawl.
She gapes at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Do you really think this is the best time to play your games, Raffaele?” she snaps. “This is serious.”
“I know it is, that’s why I called you out here.” I shrug. “But having manners is also important. Now I see why your date from earlier didn’t think twice about disappearing into thin air.”
“Says the guy who can’t get a date.” Her brilliant eyes narrow at me.
I smile at her and go in for the kill. “We’re at a park, wearing matching clothes. If this isn’t a date, I don’t know what it is.”
She glances down at herself, then at me, a look of horror registering on her face. “Did you seriously trick me into going out with you? You’re crazy, and I’m leaving.”
I grab hold of her wrist before she can turn around and gently pull her back into my side, laughing.
“Let me go, you asshole,” she snaps. “I can’t believe I risked everything to meet you here, and it was all a part of whatever sick game you’re playing. Do you have any idea what my father will do to me if someone catches us together and reports to him that I’m hanging out with the enemy?”
I release her, but don’t step away. “What makes us the enemy?”
“You’re not really asking me that,” she scoffs. “Our fathers hate each other. I didn’t think I had to point that out to you.”
I sigh, dragging a hand through my hair. “And someone is trying to keep that hatred alive.”
She jolts. “What?”
I dig out the pendant with the insignia and hold it up to her. “This is the symbol for the Echelon Syndicate. I found this at the sight of an attack on one of our warehouses. And that’s not even the shocking part.”
Reaching out, Julia takes the pendant for me, her fingers brushing against mine for a split second. That brief contact sends a shock down my arm, and I snatch my hand away, confused by the sensation. I see her staring down at her fingers in shock, but I don’t know if it’s the pendant that has her attention or if she felt what I felt.
“What’s the shocking part?”
“There was an M spray-painted into the side of the building.”
She raises a brow. “Let me guess, the M is supposed to stand for Montanari?”
I nod. “That would be the obvious conclusion, but that pendant says something different. I confirmed that the Echelon Syndicate was behind this when they sent some men to cover up their tracks, and I was able to talk with one of them.”
Giulia slants me a suspicious glance. “Talk? I’m having trouble believing that all you two did was talk.”
“Why is that?”
