Page 89 of Mafia Shade's Reluctant Bride
“You were my best friend,” Luca’s voice cracked. “You were my best damn friend, and you lied to me every day.”
Lorenzo took a step closer, hands raised. “I never lied to you.”
Luca’s laugh was bitter. “Oh? So you just forgot to tell me you were Shade?”
Lorenzo exhaled, running a hand through his hair. “I wanted to tell you. I wanted to tell you so many times.”
“You don’t get to stand here and act like you had no choice. You let us believe some ghost was responsible for everything, and the whole time, it was you. You were that fucking ghost. You are Shade.” Luca’s breathing was ragged. “You let Maria….”
Lorenzo’s eyes darted to mine, and my heart stopped.
I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to demand answers. I wanted to hate him.
But I couldn’t.
The man in front of me wasn’t a monster. He was the same man who held me when I couldn’t sleep and the same man who took care of me when I was sick. He was the same man who kissed me like I was the only thing that mattered.
But the truth was still the truth. And I couldn’t ignore it. He lied to me.
Luca’s fists clenched. “I swear to God, Bianchi, I’ll find the evidence. I’ll make sure you rot in prison and die there. You deserve the same fate.”
Lorenzo flinched like the words had hit harder than any punch. Luca turned on his heels and stormed out, slamming the door so hard that the entire house seemed to shake.
And then it was just me and Lorenzo. Silence. The kind of silence that suffocates.
He turned to me, his eyes pleading. “Maria.”
I took a step back. My throat burned. “Don’t.”
His chest rose and fell, his hands twitching like he wanted to reach for me. “Please. Don’t do this.”
I stood there, looking at the man I thought I knew. The man whose touch once felt like safety, whose laugh I could find in a crowd, whose voice used to calm the storms inside me. And yet, in that moment, it was like I didn’t recognize him at all.
How was it possible for someone to feel like home one day and a stranger the next?
I had trusted him. No caution. No fear. I let my walls down. I let myself believe in something soft and something steady.
But now, standing in front of him, I felt like I had been holding hands with an illusion.
And maybe that was the part that hurt the most—realizing that I didn’t lose him today. I might never have fully had him in the first place.
There was a time when I could read every flicker in his eyes and when his silence spoke louder than words. But now? His face held pieces I didn’t understand and shadows I hadn’t seen before. Secrets, maybe. Or maybe just distance. Whatever it was, it chilled me.
I swallowed hard. My heart was breaking into a million pieces, and I didn’t know if I could ever put it back together again.
“I can’t marry you.”
Lorenzo sucked in a sharp breath, like I had just ripped the air from his lungs.
“Maria,” his voice was hoarse. “Please. Don’t do this. Don’t walk away.”
Tears welled in my eyes, and I bit down on my lip so hard that I tasted blood.
“I trusted you,” my voice cracked. “I trusted you with everything. And now I don’t even know who you are.”
Lorenzo took a step closer, but I took another back.
“I’m still me,” his voice was barely above a whisper. “I’m still the man you grew up with. The man who you know,” his voice broke. “I’m still the man who would do anything to protect you.”
