Page 30 of Unwanted Marriage with the Mafia Boss

I don’t have a lot of women working for me, but I know that those who do can get the job done.

“Why do you think they’ll stop? They’ll be in a hurry to get home.”

“A young girl like their daughter alone in the middle of nowhere with a broken-down car? Yeah, they’ll stop. Trust me.”

“Okay. I’ll set everything up. We don’t have much time.”

I clap him on the shoulder. My plan will work. I just know it.

My phone screenshows the direct feed from the camera in my room, but I’m driving, so I have to keep my eyes off Chiara. Nothing’s happening anyway. Rocco is keeping watch, and she can’t go anywhere while she’s cuffed to the bed.

Her parents are in the basement of my safe house, and I’m on my way there. Some things are better done in person, and I want Paradossi to finally meet me.

As I pass next to a pizzeria, I see a man with two young boys at one of the tables. It reminds me of my life with Gennaro. Heused to take Matteo and me for pizza when he was pleased with us or for our birthdays.

Once, he even gave me a gun for my birthday, which was the first and only gift I’d ever gotten. When we were all together at a pizzeria, we had a good time. Gennaro would even be smiling, laughing, and joking.

For an hour or so, we seemed like a normal family. Maybe the kind of seemingly perfect family that Chiara would like to see. It was nice. I used to think Gennaro and Matteo were my family then, but I was wrong.

Matteo was my best friend at one point. One time, he and I got into a fight with some boys after a soccer game. We thought Gennaro would lose his mind, but he looked so proud of us. He took us to a pizzeria as a reward.

But things quickly changed once I was arrested. My so-called family dissolved into ether, just like my friendship and brotherhood with Matteo.

Will Paradossi change his mind about his daughter? I don’t think so, but we’ll see. He doesn’t have any true wealth or power, so he has to satisfy himself with the only thing he can get—love from his family.

As soon asmy men open the door to the cell where Paradossi and his wife are, I inwardly groan. Chiara’s parents are a sniveling, crying mess on the floor. It’s beyond pathetic.

“Please let us go!” Paradossi’s gaze lifts to me.

He’s all chained up, so he can only push himself up to his knees.

“Quiet!” My voice booms through the cell. “Do you know who I am?”

“I...” Paradossi mutters.

“Adriano Gaviani. Nice to meet you.” I flash them a smile.

“You...” Chiara’s mother utters, but Paradossi shushes her.

Smart move. She’s irrelevant to me anyway.

“If this is about selling my—” Paradossi starts.

“Yeah, it’s about that, but it’s also about something else. Do you remember a loan you took?” I pull a copy of our contract out of the pocket of my jacket and hand it to him. “Remember this?”

“You... I took a loan fromyou?” Surprise fills Paradossi’s eyes.

“Yeah, you did.”

“But I’m paying you back, as we agreed!”

“You are, but there’s also something in the contract that you didn’t quite read, or maybe you did.” I spread my arms. “It’s about your daughter. Go on. Read those tiny letters before the last paragraph.”

“What about Chiara?” her mother asks.

Paradossi stares at the contract. The chains clink as he flips to the last page.

“I agree that my daughter will marry—” His mouth falls open, his eyes going wide. “No, that can’t be!”

---