Page 124 of Dark Mafia Bride

Ettore needs it too, especially after the heated moment we shared was interrupted by a man he saw kissing me.

“I just want you to know that. You believe me, right?” I ask, my voice tinged with nervousness as I brush a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

“Mirabella…” Ettore’s gaze softens, the hard edges of his expression easing. “I believe you. I made a terrible mistake for not doing so before…when I should have.”

I bite my lower lip and nod, a wave of relief washing over me. “I just…I called him earlier because I hadn’t seen him inlectures for over a month, and I was worried. Maybe something had happened to him. But he didn’t answer, so I texted hi?—”

My rambling is abruptly cut off as Ettore leans in and presses his lips against mine. The kiss is warm, tender, and disarming, and in an instant, my defenses and anxieties dissolve. My breath catches as his hands cup my face, his thumb brushing my cheek with such delicate care that I almost want to believe everything will be okay.

In the distance, my phone stops ringing, but my mind is too clouded, too overwhelmed by the heat of the kiss to stop. I slide my hand over his rough stubble, savoring the way it scrapes against my palm. Ettore makes a low, rumbling sound in his throat as my fingers find the nape of his neck. One hand slides to the back of my head, holding me in place as he deepens the kiss.

I moan into him, my body responding in ways I can’t control as my pulse quickens. His other hand moves dangerously close to my lap, and just as his thumb nears my center, my shrill ringtone slices through the moment again. A sharp exhale escapes me as I push Ettore away, the break more for my own sake than his.

“I need...” I gasp breathlessly, my voice shaky. “...I need to take this call.”

Before he can say anything, I push the driver’s side door open and stumble out of the car, my legs unsteady beneath me. The fresh air hits my skin, but it does little to calm the storm of desire and confusion raging inside me. My chest heaves, not just from the kiss but from the jumble of confusion swirling in my gut.

Ettore follows, unfolding his tall frame from the car. The way he watches me makes my heart ache. There’s something tender in his eyes, but beneath that tenderness, I can sense a mixture of lust and frustration. He says nothing, crossing his arms over his broad chest, the muscles in his jaw clenched tight.

I swallow hard, glancing down at the phone still vibrating in my hand. With a deep breath, I press answer. “Milo?”

There’s a brief pause on the other end before a long sigh.

“Mirabella,” Milo’s familiar voice fills my ear, but it’s not the same. His tone is rough, drained—so different from the boyish playfulness he used to have. “I’m…sorry. For everything.”

It feels as if I’ve been holding my breath for days, but his words don’t bring the relief I expected. “Where have you been?” I manage to ask, the guilt thick in my voice. “I haven’t seen you in weeks, Milo. I was worried.”

He exhales shakily. “I took some time off from college. After everything…I just needed to get away. Needed space to think about what I’d done.”

“I saw you a few days after…after what you…” I glance at Ettore, who’s watching me closely, eyebrows raised. “...after what happened. That’s not why you stopped coming, is it?”

A selfish part of me hopes that it wasn’t. I would hate to think Milo skipped a month, missing important quizzes and assessments, all because I couldn’t bring myself to accept his apology.

“No,” Milo says quietly. “It wasn’t that. Something else happened.”

Even though these were the words I’d hoped for, they still send a shock through my chest, leaving my heart suspended in midair. I grip the car door for support, the metal cold beneath my fingers.

“What do you mean?” My voice comes out as a whisper, and I can feel Ettore’s gaze burning holes into me, but I can’t bring myself to look at him now.

“There’s something you need to know,” Milo continues, his voice cracking with emotion. “A woman—she, uh...approached me. She offered me money—fifty thousand dollars—to get close to you, to make you look bad. She wanted to ruin you.”

The world seems to blur around me, and I feel like I’m teetering on the edge of a cliff, ready to fall. “What?”

“I thought…” he chuckles bitterly, the sound heavy with regret. “I thought it was some kind of miracle. Here I am, stressing about student loans, and a wealthy stranger offers me more money than I’ve ever had just to befriend someone.”

“So you...you took the money?” My voice comes out small, almost childlike, and I hate how vulnerable I sound.

“I did,” Milo admits, the weight of guilt clear in his voice. “But then I met you, and everything changed. You were so real, so kind to me. I didn’t expect to…to like you, let alone fall for you. But I did. And that kiss—it was real, Mirabella. I swear.”

The betrayal slices through me, deeper than I ever imagined it could. Tears prick at my eyes, but I force myself to blink them away. “But you still went along with it,” I whisper, my voice trembling. “You still lied to me. You still kissed me knowing I was married and that it would hurt me, that it would definitely implicate me, just like you were paid to do…”

“I’m sorry,” he says, and his voice cracks. “That was selfish, and I hate that you suffered because of it. I’ll never forgive myself for that.”

“Is this why you called me? To tell me you’ve skipped classes for so long because you feel bad?” I spit, anger surging through my veins like fire.

“I stopped attending after I heard about your accident,” he admits, exhaling a shaky breath. “I felt like somehow I had a part in it.”

I don’t know how to process his words. He hurt me. His actions hurt me. But at the same time, it wasn’t his fault that I got hit by a damned bike.

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