Page 70 of Betraying the Mafia Boss

“I’m coming.” Jane is about shooting up to her feet when I raise my hand to stop her.

“That won’t be necessary. I’ll have Nico and Abramo come with me,” I say sharply. “I’ll be back before you notice I’m gone.”

Before any of them can protest, I’m already striding out of the café door and climbing into the backseat of one of the Benz’ we came with.

Abramo and Nico follow me into the shopping mall despite me asking them to just wait for me outside. So much for being my bodyguards when they don’t even take orders from me.

“I need to use the restroom,” I say, glaring up at both of them.

Just like I expected, they don’t seem bothered by it. “We’ll stand outside the door,” Nico says. His voice is deep and thick with Italian accent.

“This is a shopping mall, Nico. You can’t follow me into the women’s restroom,” I tell him, just in case he hasn’t noticed. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

When I turn around and take my first step, I notice they’re still following me. I spin around. “Do you want me to call Vincent and tell him you want to follow me into the restroom to watch me pee?” I raise my phone. “I can’t begin to imagine what he’ll think of that.”

Nico doesn’t back down. Abramo holds him by his shoulder and says something in Italian. Nico stares at me as he decides his next action, then he takes a reluctant step back.

“I thought as much.” I turn around and briskly walk to the bathroom, praying so hard my legs won’t give out before I make it inside. The second I’m in, I bring the phone up to my face and wait for Elio’s call.

My phone rings. I swipe and put it on speaker. “I’m in the restroom at the shopping mall.”

“I told you where to find my men,” Elio says angrily.

“My bodyguards are outside. Did you think they’d just let me come to you?” I retort with even more fury. I’m afraid. Fuck that, I’m trembling, with cold sweat breaking out from every pore in my body, but I can’t let it show.

I can’t let Elio break me down like that.

“Take the hallway to your right. You’ll find a secret exit. Follow it.” The line goes dead.

I hold my phone and inhale, rubbing one hand over my stomach. I can’t just walk into Elio’s trap like this. Not when I know what he’s capable of. He’ll kill me and probably dispose of my corpse in a garbage dump somewhere in the city.

Even worse, he’ll use me to bring down the Romano brothers. Letting out a sigh and with shaky hands, I share my location with Vincent and hide my phone in my bra before I follow the path leading to the emergency exit.

Rays of afternoon sunlight hit my face the second I’m outside. I squint, peering around the open space for Elio’s men. I hear footsteps behind me but before I can turn around, I feel a sting in my neck and the world goes dark.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Vincent

“What the hell do you mean you lost her?” I growl, grabbing Nico’s shirt and tossing him into the wall. “You had one job. One fucking job and it was to keep her safe.”

“She—”

“One word from you and you’ll lose your goddamn tongue,” I say, cutting Abramo off. It doesn’t matter what stupid excuses he has to offer. They lost Isabella. I can’t live without her.

The thought of anything happening to her and our unborn child fills me with fear and rage.

“Calm down, Vincent,” Dominic says behind me. “We’ll find her.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” My fists clench and they slam into the wall before I can stop myself, causing a dent. “Elio took her.” A red haze blurs my vision. “What if he hurts her?”

“It won’t come to that. We’ll find her.” Marcus walks to Abramo. “Where did you lose her?”

“She said she needed to pee and asked us to wait outside the shopping mall,” Abramo explains. “We waited ten minutes. Then we felt something was wrong, and she was gone.”

“Shut the hell up.” Marcus snarls. “You couldn’t even protect one woman.”

My heart is pounding in my chest, a mix of fear and fury coursing through my veins like wildfire. Isabella is out there somewhere, in the clutches of that vile bastard, Elio. I can't bear the thought of her in danger, especially now she's carrying our child.

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