All Chapters of The Mafia’s Runaway Bride: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

ROSA’S POVThe air changed before I saw him. I noticed people in the crowd start to whisper and stare at usand I knew that Enzo was about to do something crazy.I turned my head just slightly and there he was, cutting across the dance floor like he owned theroom. His eyes locked on mine, but they weren’t soft. They burned. And they were aimed at DonSalvatore.“May I cut in?” Vicenzo asked, his voice sharp beneath the smoothness. He didn’t try to maskthe disdain on his face.Salvatore didn’t flinch. He merely smiled, charming to the last second, and released me with agentleman’s grace. “Of course, Signor Moretti,” he said, inclining his head. “Though I fearyou’ve interrupted a very good story.”“I’m sure she’ll remember it,” Vicenzo said coolly, already placing his hand at the small of myback. His touch sent a rush up my spine, but I stiffened.Salvatore’s eyes lingered on me for a moment longer. “Ti rivedrò Rosa,” he said in perfectItalian, "I'll see you again, Rosa. Soon.”I

ROSA’S POVHow had I gone from being an independent woman struggling to pay my daughter’s hospital bills to his? Vicenzo’s mistress? How had everything fallen apart so fast? I should have known. Should have known the minute I decided to return that I would bump into him.The new apartment was nice. Too nice. The floors were polished, the walls pristine white, and furnished with sleek furniture that had probably never been touched. It had no soul. No warmth. Just the echo of Vicenzo’s control in every detail. Nothing to suggest that it was a home.He’d picked it, no doubt. Had his people furnish it, stock the fridge, arrange the security. I had wanted to do it but he claimed it was too dangerous for me to walk around the city and only he and his men knew the safe places in the city. I hated it all but here I was, trying to settle in with Sofia while pretending this wasn’t just another gilded cage. Sofia was in her room, playing quietly w

ROSA’S POVThe apartment was too quiet. So quiet I could hear the ticking of the grandfather clock on the mantle and the sound of it was driving me crazy. I wasn’t used to this, used to staying in one spot, not doing anything, not hustling for survival.There were no cartoons playing in the background, no little footsteps racing around, no Sofia singing to herself in the other room. Just silence, and the low hum of the fridge. I stared at the half-eaten sandwich on my plate, then pushed it away. The couch felt too big without her curled up beside me. I had enrolled her in school last week, thinking it would help, that it would give her structure, friends, normalcy. But the mornings had become long and strange. I wasn’t used to stillness. And Enzo, well… he was consumed. Between the threats, the murders, the tension rising on every corner of the city, he barely slept. I didn’t blame him. But I missed him. It was hard to admit but I missed his attention. I glanced at my phone again.

ROSA’S POVI didn’t even need to check my phone to know the photos had made it to Vicenzo. I didn’t need to call him and ask. Vicenzo knew everything that happened in the city and someone must have sent the picture to him. The air around me felt heavier today, like it knew a storm was coming. I stood on the sidewalk, two blocks away from my apartment, arms crossed tight over my chest, my hair pulled up into a rushed bun. I hadn't wanted to come out but Salvatore had been pressuring me over the phone and I didn’t want him to show up at the apartment. His car rolled to a stop a few minutes later in front of me and he stepped out of his car

ROSA’S POVI couldn’t stop shaking.The door slammed behind me with a loud, final crack and I leaned against it, my chest heaving, and my hands trembling. My palms stung where they’d scraped the rough sidewalk trying to get between them, between Vicenzo and Salvatore, two men with fire in their veins and blood in their eyes. But it was Vicenzo’s voice that gutted me. He had meant every word of his threat and I couldn’t wrap my head around how fiercely Vicenzo loved Sofia even though I had told him she wasn’t his. He had told me he would kill me…me, if I let Salvatore near her. He didn’t know Sofia didn’t eve