The Mafia Principessa’s Nine Knights Chapter 04

The Mafia Principessa’s Nine Knights Chapter 04

The next day.

Sunday.

The Marino estate.

Luca made me stay in an upstairs room.

He said, “I’ve got something to handle. Stay upstairs, okay? Have Maria make you coffee.”

I stood at the window, looking down.

A line of cars packed the driveway.

Black. Silver. Understated. Not one looked under six figures.

Dante was first.

Tailored suit. Expression carved from stone.

He stepped out carrying a manila folder.

Antonio was right behind him.

Then Carlo Marino.

Rocco Marino.

Vincent Marino.

…

Nine of them.

Every single one.

Sunday morning. Not one was late.

I watched them file into the living room. Edward shut the door behind them.

From upstairs, I couldn’t hear a thing.

But I could feel it anyway.

Something downstairs had gone very, very still.

Maria Finch came in with coffee.

Cappuccino. My favorite.

“Maria, what’s going on down there?”

Maria hesitated.

“Don Luca called a… family meeting.”

A family meeting.

The last time the family called one of those was when a rival syndicate tried a hostile takeover.

That syndicate went under three months later.

For a second, I almost felt sorry for Angelica.

Almost.

It lasted about half a heartbeat.

Then my left cheek throbbed.

The sympathy vanished.

Drink your coffee, Bella.

…

Downstairs.

The living room.

Luca sat at the head of the table.

Edward had set a cup of Earl Grey in front of him. He hadn’t touched it.

His nine cousins lined both sides of the table.

Dante dropped the folder on the table and slid it to the center.

“I ran all of it last night. Angelica, twenty-six. Her father is Theodore Rossi, runs a small-time construction materials company. He’s got over twenty million in unpaid invoices and debt on the books.”

He flipped the folder open.

“The divorce filing cited domestic abuse. Except she wasn’t the one being hurt.”

Antonio’s eyebrows went up. “She was the one doing it?”

“Her ex-husband.” Dante didn’t blink. “And his sister.”

The room went quiet.

Carlo leaned back and let out a dark, humorless laugh.

“Went after the sister-in-law then. Went after ours now.” He dragged the words out. “Is this a hobby?”

Luca said nothing.

He tapped the table twice. The way he always did when he was thinking.

“The footage.”

Edward brought over the tablet.

The footage was ready.

Living room camera.

Angelica on the sofa. Bella sitting across from her.

In the video, Bella was staring at her phone.

She stood up. Walked toward Bella.

Leaned over her.

Her hand caught Bella’s chin.

Her mouth moved. No audio.

Then.

The hit.

Bella’s head jerked to the side.

On-screen, she fell back against the sofa.

She stood up. Smoothed her skirt. Walked out.

The whole thing took under a minute.

The footage cut off there.

Edward didn’t press play on what came next.

Because the teacup on the table had shattered.

Luca’s hand was still clenched around it.

Broken porcelain had sliced into the skin between his fingers. Blood ran down his knuckles in thin lines.

He didn’t seem to feel it.

“Don.” Antonio’s gaze cut to Luca.

His voice was steady. His eyes weren’t.

“Give me the order.”

Dante leaned forward. “Legally, it’s simple battery. Minor injury. I can get her booked and cited, maybe held overnight if we push it…”

“Not enough.”

Carlo flicked his lighter open and closed.

“She goes after our princess and walks away with a citation? That’s it?”

Vincent was the quiet one. Always had been.

“Her father’s twenty million in the hole, right?”

“Yes.”

“Call it in. Tomorrow.”

He said it like it was nothing.

Everyone at that table knew what it meant.

A company Theodore’s size, if it got hit with a twenty-million demand overnight, he’d be done inside a week.

But Luca shook his head.

Every eye at the table turned to him.

“Not yet.”

He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood off his hand. Slowly.

“She hit my princess because she thinks she’s in control.”

He looked up.

His eyes moved from one face to the next.

“So let her think she won. Let her get comfortable. Let her show us exactly who she is.”

Dante got it. “You want her to make a bigger mistake on her own.”

“I want her to do it in front of everyone.”

Luca folded the bloodstained handkerchief and set it on the table.

“I want her on her knees, begging Bella for forgiveness. And I want Bella to not even spare her a glance.”

Carlo whistled low. “Cold-blooded.”

“But there’s one condition.”

Luca stood.

“Until this is over, she doesn’t lay another finger on Bella.”

He turned to Edward.

“Put two guards on Bella. Around the clock. She doesn’t need to know.”

“Yes, Don.”

“Dante.”

“Here.”

“Dig up everything. Every piece of leverage you can find. I want it thorough.”

“Give me a couple of days.”

“Antonio.”

“Hmm.”

“Anyone in her circle who likes to talk?”

The corner of Antonio’s mouth twitched up. “I’ll find out.”

Luca nodded.

Then he looked around the table.

“One last thing.”

“Bella doesn’t hear about any of this.”

“All she needs to know is that she’s protected. Always.”

…

The room emptied out.

Nine men filed through the door.

Dante was the last to leave.

He paused in the doorway.

Luca was still standing at the head of the table. Dante looked back.

“Don.”

“Hmm?”

“You’ve been wanting to end it with her for a while. You were just waiting for a reason.”

Luca didn’t answer.

Dante nodded.

“She handed you the perfect one.”

The door closed.

The living room was empty now.

Luca looked down at the cut on his hand.

Not deep, but still bleeding.

He kept seeing it, the way she’d cried in his arms the night before.

Shoulders shaking.

Voice buried against his chest.

“She said I was pathetic.”

“That I don’t get to be around you.”

Luca closed his eyes.

A vein pulsed at his temple.

He had never once thought of her closeness as a problem.

The opposite.

What terrified him was the day she’d grow up and stop needing him.

Stop running into his arms.

Stop looking at him like he was her whole world.

So anyone who tried to wedge themselves between him and his princess—he would destroy them.

Luca exhaled.

He picked up his phone and opened Angelica’s messages.

He typed one message.

[See you tomorrow.]