I Called the Don My Future Brother-in-Law. He Called Me His Chapter 03

I Called the Don My Future Brother-in-Law. He Called Me His Chapter 03

That single sentence landed like a stone in dead-still water, sending shock waves rippling through the room.

The atmosphere in the private dining room changed completely.

Every gaze on me turned strange.

Only Elias seemed as if he had known something all along. Almost by instinct, he took my hand and pulled me behind him.

“Rafe, whatever happened before is in the past.”

“She will be my wife someday, and she will also be your sister-in-law.”

Rafe ignored him completely.

His gaze stayed fixed on our joined hands, and his eyes darkened little by little, like the sea going still and low before a storm.

One of the capos behind him took half a step forward, while the other silently moved to the door.

They did not look like they had come to attend an engagement dinner.

They looked like they had come to wreck the place and take the bride-to-be with them.

Rafe let out a cold laugh.

“You said it yourself. Someday.”

His gaze finally shifted to Elias’s face, filled with undisguised contempt.

“You think you can steal my woman and live long enough to marry her?”

The private dining room went so quiet that even a pin dropping would have been heard.

Everyone could tell he was not making an empty threat.

He was giving notice.

Rafe had always been like that.

As the publicly acknowledged heir of the Vittori Family, one word from him was enough to set half of Manhattan’s underworld in motion.

“I’ll make this clear.”

“Whoever dares to marry her dies.”

“If you don’t believe me, try it.”

He said those words while looking straight at Margaret Whitmore.

The effect was obvious.

Margaret, who had been looking at me with such warmth only moments ago, looked completely different now. When she looked at me now, there was nothing left in her eyes but blame, as if I were the one who had dragged a madman like Rafe to the Whitmore family’s door.

She stepped forward and pulled Elias away from me.

“I’m sorry, Sera.”

“I still don’t think the two of you are right for each other. You should not become Donna of the Whitmore branch.”

I lowered my eyes and looked at my suddenly empty hand as my fingers slowly curled into my palm.

Elias refused to leave.

“Mom, what do you mean we’re not right for each other? I’m going to marry Sera!”

Margaret had already dragged him to the door. When she saw that he was still struggling, the usually gentle woman suddenly raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face.

“Rafe just said he’ll kill anyone who marries her!”

“Do you have a death wish?”

Her voice trembled, and her eyes were full of fear.

“Have you forgotten? He and that mother of his are both reckless lunatics who don’t care whether they live or die!”

Elias went quiet at once.

He stopped struggling.

He let Margaret drag him away.

When my mother saw that, she immediately chased after them. I knew she was unwilling to let this go and wanted to save the marriage for me.

Soon, only Rafe and I were left in the private dining room.

His two capos stood nearby like shadows.

One stood at the door, as if blocking every possible escape route.

The other stood silently behind Rafe, as if he were waiting for one order to drag me away for him.

I did not want to keep entangling myself with Rafe, so I walked around him and prepared to leave.

But as I passed him, he suddenly caught my wrist.

“Sera.”

He called my name in a low voice, with something dangerous buried beneath it.

“After all this time, you have nothing to say to me?”

I tried to pull free, but I could not.

He was still like this, no different from six years ago.

I sighed, my voice carrying a trace of helplessness.

“Rafe, hounding me like this won’t work.”

“I already said everything I needed to say six years ago.”

He stared at me, but he showed no intention of letting go.

For one instant, I even felt that if I provoked him one more time, he really would take me away from this engagement dinner in front of everyone.

Fortunately, my mother returned in time.

She rushed forward almost immediately, shoved Rafe away, and shielded me behind her. She looked at the man in front of her with obvious wariness and fear in her eyes, but she did not say a word. She only took my hand and led me out.

After we entered the elevator, I thought she would ask me what exactly had happened between Rafe and me.

But she did not ask anything.

She only saw that I was shaking badly and pulled me tightly into her arms.

“Sera, I won’t let anyone bully you.”

My mother smelled faintly sweet.

I took a deep breath and nodded gently in her arms.

But the moment we stepped out of the elevator, she suddenly clutched her chest and bent over.

My mother had always had a serious heart condition.

In the blink of an eye, her face turned terrifyingly pale.

I panicked at once and desperately shouted for help.

The doors of another elevator beside us happened to open.

Rafe stepped out and immediately saw my mother.

In that instant, almost all the hostility on his face vanished.

Without a word, he swept my mother into his arms and rushed outside.

“Bring the car around!”

One of the capos immediately strode outside.

The other had already taken out his phone, his voice calm and efficient.

“St. Aurelia Private Hospital. Prepare emergency care. Don Rafe is on his way.”

At that moment, I could no longer care about the grudges between Rafe and me.

I only hoped he could get my mother to the hospital as fast as possible.

On the way there, Rafe held my mother while quietly reassuring me.

“Don’t be afraid. Your mother will be fine.”

Many years ago, in the darkness, he had once said the same thing to me.

“Don’t be afraid, Sera.”