Page 143 of Mafia Daddy's Christmas Bride
It’s not a typical diary.
It lists places Isabella can go. How she can get a name change.
But then there are notes about her meetings with a man called E that can only be Ernie.
I skim through until the beginning of November.
E keeps making comments that La Corona is weak. Needs new leadership or to be destroyed with a new leadership rising. How can he know what’s going on inside unless S is telling him? I need to tell Leo. I want Isabella safe, but I can’t be a part of this.
My eyes narrow. S. Salvatore?
I look up at Marco, rage building inside me. "Salvatore was staging a coup. He's been playing us this whole time."
Marco takes the folder back, reading through it again. "And now he's got Isabella."
My heart turns to lead in my chest. The image of Isabella in Salvatore's hands makes me want to tear the world apart.
"He'll kill her," I say.
"We don't know that," Marco says, but I can tell he doesn't believe it.
"Don't we?" I snap. "He's cleaning up loose ends. Isabella got her hands on her mother's notebook, the proof that Salvatore betrayed La Corona. He can't let her live." Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. “He was in my office earlier telling me to off her. I should have killed him then.”
“Daddy?” Angelica looks up at me clutching her favorite stuffed rabbit and holding her bag.
Oh, fuck. I can’t have Anglica hear all this.
I force myself to soften my expression, kneeling down to her level. “Yes, Angel. You ready?”
She nods, but her eyes are still wide with fear. "Are you going to kill the man who stole Isabella?”
“I’m going to find Isabella.” I want to promise, but I can’t find the words.
“Mr. Ginetti.” Mrs. Rossi comes rushing in looking as terrified as I feel. “Don Calabresi called me. I can take Angelica to Ms. Vitale’s house.”
I look at Marco, who shrugs. I feel bad that earlier, I was questioning his loyalty to me.
“Thanks,” I say to both of them. I kneel down again. “Angel, baby, Mrs. Rossi is going to take you to Elena’s, okay? I’m going to find Isabella.”
Angelica throws her arms around me. I hug her and for the first time get a real sense of how growing up in a family like mine as a girl, a woman, is so fucked up. Angelica deserves to never be this scared.
“Daddy loves you, you know that, right?”
She nods and sniffs, using her sleeve to wipe her nose. I hand her over to Mrs. Rossi, and only when she’s out of my sight do I let Roman the enforcer come on full force. Salvatore is about to discover what wrath really looks like.
I rush to my office, open my safe, and pull out every weapon I own. Guns, knives, even brass knuckles. Not my bat. No, that’s too gentle for what I have planned. Salvatore isn't walking away from this.
“I’ve called in help,” Marco says from the doorway.
“Nothing will keep me from decimating Sal, one pound of flesh at a time.”
“Still, we don’t know how many men he has with him.”
I follow Marco out the door, and as I do, I see a scrap of fabric on the floor. Isabella must have dropped it when Salvatore showed up.
Losing Emilia had been the worst thing in my life. I hated that with all my power and strength I couldn’t protect her from cancer.
And now I could lose Isabella.
