Forced To Be The Mafia King's Bride

Untitled

[Antonio's POV]

“Luca is dead.” Enzo's voice cracked through the room.

His boots slammed against the hardwood floor, he'd been pacing non stop for the past ten minutes, his hands raked through his hair every few seconds.

“How the hell is that even possible?” Enzo said, his voice cracking with a sudden edge of panic. “We buried what's left of him two years ago.”

I took out photographs from my pocket and spread them across the polished wood.

The images were blurry. But I could still recognize the face staring back at me.

My dead brother.

“If he's dead,” I said, nudging the surveillance photos I took in Calabria towards Enzo, “How can you explain this.” I said tapping on the photo.

Enzo picked one of the photographs, observing it like a difficult math problem. “Hell no!” He put the photo down. “It’s possible it's just someone who looks exactly like him.”

“I know who I saw.” Enzo stared at me. “You're having a hard time believing he's alive and so am I. But that was definitely Luca. I saw the scar on his left cheek he got while we were playing as kids.”

Apart from Enzo, Luca was the only person I trusted with my life. We'd grown up together. He knew the darkest corner of my soul and never flinched. I had tortured the person who killed him for 3 days before finally burning him in an abandoned warehouse.

Or so I thought.

Now he was alive. Working for a man called “The Butcher.” And using a fake identity, Matteo Belluci.

Enzo settled in the chair opposite mine. “This doesn't make any sense. Why would he fake his own death? Why would he fake his identity?”

“I don't know.” The words came out sharper than I'd meant. The frustration in my voice surprised even me.

“He sent someone after you, Antonio.” Enzo's voice was quieter now. The man in the cellar was following you. If Luca is working for the butcher, if he's the one who sent the man to track you…”

“Then he wants something from me.” I finished the sentence before Enzo could.

“Or he wants you dead.” Enzo's jaw tightened.

I didn't answer. I couldn't. Because the truth, I had no idea. And that was what terrified me the most.

Enzo expressions softened a little with understanding. He knew what Luca meant to me. “What do you plan to do now?”

“We’re going to find out the truth.” I reached for the drawer of my desk, pulling out the disassembled pieces of my custom matte-black pistol.

“How?” Enzo threw his hands up. “He disappeared two years ago and he's been working under a fake identity. If he's been that careful, he's not just gonna leave a trail for us to follow.

“He already has.” My fingers trailed the matte-black pistol.

Enzo frowned. “What are you talking about?”

I slid the assembled pistol into my waist holster. “We're gonna use his network against him.”

Enzo's brow furrowed in complete confusion. “His network? What network?”

I didn't answer him. I simply picked the desk phone and dialed the line to the basement.

“Bring him up.”

Two minutes later, a knock cut through the tension in the room.

“Come in.”

Marco stepped inside, one of my most trusted men. His expression was carefully neutral, but I caught a flicker of unease in his eyes. Two other bodyguards dragged the man inside.

He was a complete mess, his knees buckled before my men forced him to his knees. His hands were bound behind his back. His shirt was torn and stained with blood from earlier interrogation. A bruise was already blooming across his cheekbone.

I stood up slowly, resting my hands on the dark mahogany desk before crouching down to his level close enough to smell the blood and sweat on him.

“Look at me.” I commanded.

The man forced his bloodshot eyes to meet mine. He was shivering violently.

“What's your name?”

“D… Dario. Dario Rinaldi.”

“Dario.” I let the name settle between us. “ How long have you been working for Belluci?”

“Three… three years sir.” His voice trembled.

Three years. Luca had been dead for two years. That meant whatever game my brother was playing, he'd started long before his supposed death.

“How do you receive your orders?”

“A… burner, the man stammered blood leaking from his cracked lips onto his chest. “A satellite burner phone…it's in my left jacket pocket… I'm supposed to call… every two days only at midnight… To tell him… to update him on your activities.

“where does Bellucci operate from?”

I don't know exactly… He usually moves constantly. He… he never stays in the same place twice. But the last drop point was an old warehouse near the port in Naples.

I studied him carefully. The tremor in his voice, the way his shoulder trembled, the desperate way his eyes kept flicking to the door like he was calculating his chances to escape.

He was telling the truth. Or he believed he was.

I stood. “Clean him up.”

Enzo blinked, completely thrown off. “Clean him up? Antonio, what the hell are you doing?”

Dario's eyes widened. “W…what?”

“You heard me.” I turned to Marco. “Get him fresh clothes, food, water and a bed for the night.”

Marco nodded and pulled the man to his feet. Dario stumbled still staring at me like he was waiting for the catch.

“You're gonna make your midnight call.” I said evenly. “ You're going to keep reporting to your boss.”

Enzo took a quick step forward, his jaw dropping. “Are you out of your mind?!”

I leaned closer to Dario, lowering my voice until it was nothing more than a dangerous promise that made the man's breath hitch in his throat.

“You're going to report to him, “I whispered. “ But from this second on, you only tell him what I tell you to say. You work for me now.”

The man nodded frantically, tears cutting clean lines through the dirt on his cheeks. “Yes…yes sir…whatever you want…I'll do anything…”

“If you hesitate for even a single second, or you try to signal him…” I paused, letting the silence stretch until he visibly shook. “I’ll make sure you never see your family again, and you'll spend the rest of your short life in that cellar.”

“I won't! I swear to God, I won't.”

“Good.” I nodded to Marco. “Take him”

The door closed behind them with a heavy click.

Enzo leaned against the desk, arms crossed. “You really think he'll stay loyal?”

“I think he'll do anything for his family.” I walked slowly to my desk and settled into it. “That's enough.”

“What if he tries to inform Luca about your plan?” Enzo's brows furrowed

“That's why I've signaled Marco to keep an eye on him.”