The Mafia Principessa’s Nine Knights Chapter 11

The Mafia Principessa’s Nine Knights Chapter 11

After that night, Angelica disappeared from the Marino orbit completely.

It wasn’t just a breakup.

It was a cleatt wipe. Root and branch.

Within a matter of days, every major supplier dropped Theudore’s company. Several major banks

called in their loans.

The twenty million he owed ballooned to fifty million overnight.

Theodore showed up outside the Marino corporate building and dropped to his knees on the

sidewalk for hours.

Security didn’t even bother to move him along.

But nobody came out.

Eventually, Dante sent his assistant out with a message.

“Your daughter liked to use her hands. The Marino family prefers a heavier touch.”

Theodore crumpled to the ground and wept.

A story started making the rounds among the city’s elite that day.

Someone laid hands on the Marino family’s princess.

And then that someone’s entire family was ruined.

The rumor was exaggerated, obviously.

The Rossis weren’t “destroyed.”

Theodore’s company just went bankrupt and was liquidated. That’s all.

Angelica lost her job.

Everyone she knew had seen the video and the screenshots. Nobody knew who’d leaked them.

Her Instagram comments turned into a war zone overnight.

She went from posting dozens of times a day to radio silence.

Word was, she’d moved away.

Where she went, nobody cared.

As for me.

After the banquet, Luca walked me back to my room.

Neither of us spoke the whole way.

I walked beside him, watching the shadows of the maple trees stretch across the grounds.

Estate lights flashing by, one after another.

Luca walked beside me.

Quiet.

But his hand was wrapped around mine.

Heavy and warm.

We reached my bedroom door.

I reached for the handle, but his voice caught me.

“Bella.”

I turned.

He was still in the hallway.

Half his face caught in the light; the other half was shadow.

“I’m sorry.”

I froze.

“It’s my fault.”

His voice barely came out.

“I shouldn’t have brought her home.”

“And I shouldn’t have made you go through that alone.”

“That night, when you told me she hit

He stopped.

He swallowed hard.

you…”

‘I wanted to make her disappear. Right then.”

“But I wanted to do it right.”

“I wanted everyone to see who she really was.”

“I wanted to take sure she could never get near you again.”

“But that meant… you had to live with it. For so long.”

He looked up at me.

His eyes were red.

“So I’m sorry.”

I stood in the hallway.

The marble floor felt cold beneath my feet.

But nothing inside me felt cold.

I stepped toward him.

I wrapped my arms around his neck.

And I held on like I never wanted to let go.

“Luca.”

“Hmm.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“I never did.”

His arms came around me.

Tight around my waist, holding on like he was afraid I’d disappear.

“Bella.”

“Hmm?”

“If anyone ever hurts you again.”

“Don’t hold it in.”

‘I don’t need you to protect me, princess.”

“I just need you to be happy.”

I buried my face in his shoulder.

I nodded.

The tears came again.

But these tears were warm.