All Chapters of Bound To The Mafia: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

ISADORALuca tensed the moment he saw Rafael’s face. Whatever he was about to say, I knew it wasn’t good.“They left a message,” Rafael said, his voice clipped.Luca’s jaw tightened. “What kind of message?”Rafael glanced at me, hesitating. That was all the confirmation I needed—it was bad, and it involved me.He exhaled sharply. “They know about her, Luca. About you. And they’re not done.”My pulse spiked. “What does that mean?”Rafael pulled out his phone, tapping the screen before turning it to face us. My stomach dropped.A picture. Of me. From tonight.At the docks.My breath hitched as I took a step closer, my eyes locked on the grainy image. It wasn’t a random shot. It was deliberate. Proof.“They were watching,” Rafael said. “The whole damn time.”Luca’s expression darkened. His hand curled into a fist at his side, but his voice was eerily calm. “And?”Rafael swiped to the next image.Blood.Not mine. Not Luca’s. Just a smear of red streaked across the pavement, with a message

ISADORAThe cold realization settled deep in my bones.This was about me.The Scorpions weren't just playing mind games with Luca anymore. They wanted to make it clear-l was fair game.I forced myself to look at the body again, the blood stark against the concrete. Whoever this man was, he had been used as a message. A pawn in a war I didn't even fully understand yet.My stomach twisted, but I wouldn't let myself break. Not here. Not now.Luca still hadn't moved. His entire body was rigid, his breathing slow and controlled, but I knew better. I could feel the rage simmering just beneath the surface, barely held back by the thin thread of restraint he had left.Rafael shifted, his expression unreadable. "They're getting bolder."Luca didn't respond."Luca," Rafael tried again, his voice edged with warning. "We need to move. We can't stay out here"I know." His voice was quiet, deadly. He turned to me, his eyes dark. "Get in the car, Isadora."I hated the way he said it, like he was bar

ISADORAI felt like I was underwater. Sounds were muffled, my own heartbeat too loud in my ears.Luca’s words kept replaying in my head. Over and over.Your father sold you.I handled it.Alicia betrayed me. She didn’t get far.I had spent months believing Luca had killed his ex-wife, that he was some cold-blooded murderer I had to be careful around. And now? Now he tells me he didn’t do it—he just let it happen.And I believed him.That realization sat heavy in my stomach, twisting into something I didn’t want to name.But my father—my father—that was something else entirely.I always knew he didn’t love me. He barely acknowledged me unless it benefited him. But selling me?That was a different level of sick.I wanted to scream. Break something. Find him and demand to know why. Why I wasn’t even worth basic human decency to him. Why he saw me as something he could trade away.But instead, I had sat there and told Luca I needed to study.It wasn’t a lie. My finals were coming up, and

LUCAI stood there in the doorway, watching her, feeling the weight of every unspoken word between us. She was shutting me out again. I saw it in the way she refused to meet my eyes, the way her hands clutched the notebook like it was some kind of lifeline.But it wasn’t going to fix anything.Her words cut through me, though I knew they weren’t meant to. "You can’t fix everything with a kiss, Luca."The truth was, I never expected to fix everything. But I did think I could make her see that I wasn’t the monster she imagined me to be. I had hoped she would believe me about Alicia. I had hoped that after everything, she would see me.But it wasn’t that simple. It never was.“I’m not trying to fix everything, Isadora,” I said softly, stepping into the room, letting the door close behind me. There was a quiet resignation in my voice, but beneath it, there was something else—something stronger. Something raw. “I’m just trying to be here. For you.”She didn’t answer, and for a long moment,

LUCARafael led me down the hallway, and the urgency in his step matched the tension that had been building since he called out to me. I could feel the weight of something heavy in the air, and as I followed him, the pit in my stomach grew. What the hell was so urgent that it couldn’t wait?We reached the door to one of the secured rooms in the building, and Rafael paused before opening it. The moment he swung the door open, a shock ran through me. There, sitting on a chair in the dimly lit room, was Alicia. Alive. The last person I ever expected to see again.She looked broken—fragile, worn down, and thinner than I remembered. Her hair hung in messy waves around her face, and her once-impeccable appearance was now nothing more than a shadow of what it had been. Her eyes met mine, but there was no warmth there. Just pain and regret.“Alicia,” I muttered, barely able to process it. My chest tightened, and for a moment, I was frozen in place.Rafael stepped forward, his voice low but fi