Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Mafia Boss's Pregnant Bride: Kabanata 331 - Kabanata 340

“I think I am going to take you instead.”The words crawled under her skin like ice.Before she could process it, the club’s velvet hush shattered. The door burst open, slamming against the wall, and men in black poured through.Ricci’s hand jerked, and Suzi was yanked hard off the seat. He shoved her down behind the low couch, his voice slicing through the chaos.“Stay put, little bird,” he sneered.Gunfire cracked a heartbeat later. Loud, sharp, deafening. The chandelier above exploded, raining shards across the velvet booths. Suzi gasped, curling into herself as glittering glass rained over her hair and shoulders.Landon’s men were inside, guns raised, firing across the room. One dropped almost instantly, a bullet tearing into his chest. Another hit the ground rolling, firing back as two of Ricci’s guards fell near the entrance.The air was filled with smoke and screams. Wood splintered as bullets ripped through tables, chairs, and walls. Suzi pressed her hands over her ears, heart

Suzi slipped back into their bedroom. The curtains were drawn halfway, spilling a weak gray light across the bed. Max lay there unmoving, his body broad and strong but unnervingly still. His chest rose and fell only because the machines said it must.Suzi stood for a moment, her hands clasped in front of her, afraid to cross the room. Afraid to see him up close like this.Max was never still. He filled every space he walked into. He spoke and people listened. He laughed and it shook through everyone around him. To see him silent, weak, laid low, it felt wrong, like the world had turned inside out.Finally, she made herself move. She sat on the edge of the bed, barely letting her weight sink into the mattress. Her hand hovered over his before she dared to touch. His skin was too cold. She rubbed her thumb across his knuckles anyway, trying to give warmth back to him.“You would be so mad at me right now,” she whispered. Her voice cracked on the words, but she pushed them out. “I know y

The warehouse by the docks still smelled of smoke. A slit of morning light slid under the metal door and threw a thin blade across the floor. Ricci sat on a crate with his jacket off. Someone had left a bowl of clean water on a coil of rope. He dipped two fingers, wiped a line of soot from his cheek, then looked down at the streak on his skin and smirked like he’d won something.He could still hear the club. Glass breaking. Men shouting. The silence right before the gunfire. And her face through the haze, wide eyes that didn’t look away.Susan Costello.She hadn’t flinched. That part stuck with him more than the shooting. She looked fragile, but when it mattered, but she wasn’t.The side door banged open, and Robin walked in, still limping, a strip of white cloth tied around his arm. He carried a folded map, which he dropped on the crate. “We lost three,” he said. His voice was flat, but his eyes flickered. “Two at the bar, one on the stairs. Costello’s people were wired tight.”Ricc

At first, there was nothing. Just quiet.It was not the kind of quiet Max knew from the streets or from the long pauses before a trigger pulled.This was heavier. It felt like the world had gone still, like he was trapped under water.Then he heard it. A heartbeat. Not his own.It was quick, light. Familiar. He followed it.And then came her voice.“Max.”It was not loud, not even a whisper. But it reached him. It gave shape to the dark.Images flickered in front of him. Suzi on a couch with a blanket, drawing in her notebook. Suzi in the lavender dress, the one that had stopped him cold. Suzi’s small hands clinging to his when she was afraid.The pictures broke apart. Something else cut in.Smoke. Leather. A man’s voice, sharp against her ear. “Quiet.”Rage tore through him. He tried to move, but his body would not answer. He had no body here. Only the fight in his chest.Suzi.Her fear pulsed against him, pulling him closer. He pushed into it, forced himself toward her, though every

Suzi wanted him to keep talking. She wanted to buy time until Landon had time to plan something. But that wasn’t the only reason why. She wanted to get to know Ricci. Maybe it was unfair what happened to his family. Maybe the Costello family did owe him something.“It…it still doesn’t make any sense why you are so angry at Antonio,” she said.Ricci sighed. “Then let me explain. Julian was supporting Samuel. You see, my grandfather had always been bad with money, but since he was younger, Julian had taken care of him financially. The only reason Samuel even kept a roof over his and his wife’s heads was because Julian slipped him money.”Suzi said nothing.Ricci’s voice grew harsher, brittle at the edges. “But then Julian got killed by Antonio. Shot in some alley like a dog. And just like that, the money stopped. Samuel drank what little was left and gambled away the rest.”“And your grandmother?” Suzi wondered.Ricci’s mouth twisted. “My grandmother tried to keep things together. She s