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Fifteen minutes later, I pull up outside of Rafe's, parking sideways in front of the house. I need his help. I don't care if he hates me for what I have to say. He can hate me after he helps me find his sister.
Until she's safe, nothing else matters. Nothing.
"Rafe!" I shout, bursting through the front door like a fucking comet. I charge into the living room, my heart pounding like a drum.
A dozen sets of eyes stare back at me, but I only see one.
I only see her.
"Aurelia."
She's seated on the sofa with Amalia's arm around her, her perfect face ravaged by tears.
Relief floods through me, damn near driving me to my knees.
"You fucking lying prick!" Rafe roars, launching himself at me. His fist connects with my jaw, snapping my head back, but the pain barely registers.
All I can focus on is her.
She cries out, cowering into Amalia. The sight of her fear hurts worse than Rafe's punch. It's white-hot and razor-sharp, slicing right through my fucking heart.
"Aurelia," I breathe. "Don't cry, little mouse. It's all right. Ti amo."
She sobs, turning her face away from me into Amalia's shoulder.
My heart shatters, but I can't give up. I need to be near her, to hold her, and make her understand that she's everything to me. I take a step toward her, but Rafe, Luca, Gabriel, and Nico step in front of me, standing between us like a solid wall, defending their sister.
And even though part of me fucking hates them in this moment for standing between me and what belongs to me, the other part is proud as hell of them for standing between her and the man they believe is a danger to her. She deserves that loyalty.
I hope she sees it and she understands that she has family now. Vincent may have delayed the inevitable when he abandoned her, but her brothers aren't Vincent. They're men worthy of her.
"Move!" I growl at Rafe, my eyes locking on his in a silent battle of wills. I don't care if he's the Capo dei Capi. Right now, he's standing between me and my wife.
"You aren't touching my fucking sister, Agostino," Rafe snarls at me. "You're lucky you're still breathing right now."
Aurelia whimpers at his words, the sound pained.
"Get out of the fucking way, Rafe," I growl, my patience wearing thin as he and his brothers continue to block my path to Aurelia.
"No," Rafe replies, his voice cold and flat. "You've done enough damage to last a lifetime."
I can see the disappointment in Luca's eyes as he looks at me. "We trusted you, Mattia."
"None of this has anything to do with you," I snap, looking at Gabe and Nico, too. "It has nothing to do with any of you."
"It has everything to do with us!" Rafe roars, yelling in a way he hasn't in years. "She's our fucking sister, a fact you didn't feel relevant to tell us before you married her!"
"I did what I had to do to protect her."
"No, you did what you wanted to do," he snaps. "You could have come to me. You should have come to me. You chose to hide her from us instead."
"I won't apologize, Rafe. If that's what you're after, it's not going to happen. I made the choice I made for a reason."
"You made the choice you made because you're a fucking lying prick," he growls. "We trusted you, and the entire fucking time, you were playing us for fools."
The entire time? Is he kidding me right now? I'll take the lumps I deserve, but this isn't one of them. I've spent every goddamn waking moment of my life keeping him, his brothers, and this family safe. I've done everything in my power to protect them, even when they were incapable of doing it themselves. I fought and bled for them. I killed for them. And I never fucking complained.
But I won't stand here now and let them come between me and Aurelia. That's where I draw the line.
