The Older Mafia Boss Had Given Up on Dating—Then His Curvy Friend Secretly Set Him Up With Her
Chapter 10
Marcus found Elena at the bakery.
She was safe.
But the message haunted him.
If Elena wasn’t the target, who was?
The answer arrived the next morning.
Sophia.
Again.
Someone had followed her from the hospital.
Marcus realized Vincent wasn’t trying to destroy Elena.
He was trying to isolate Marcus.
Make him distrust everyone.
Sophia.
Adrian.
Elena.
His own family.
Then Vincent called.
“You’re losing control.”
Marcus held the phone.
“Where are you?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to look you in the eye.”
Vincent laughed.
“You’ve become sentimental.”
“No.”
Marcus looked at Elena across the room.
“I’ve become tired.”
“Of what?”
“People dying for my decisions.”
Silence.
Then Vincent said:
“Come alone.”
Marcus agreed.
Elena grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
“I have to.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I won’t let him drag you into this.”
“You already did.”
Marcus froze.
She stepped closer.
“If you go alone, you’re making the exact mistake you promised you wouldn’t make.”
“What do you suggest?”
“We stop reacting.”
She pulled a folder from beneath the counter.
“I’ve been keeping records.”
Marcus opened it.
Dates.
Times.
License plates.
Descriptions.
Everything Elena had noticed over the previous weeks.
Marcus stared.
“You’ve been tracking them?”
“I’ve been paying attention.”
One vehicle appeared repeatedly.
Marcus recognized it.
It belonged to a company connected to Vincent.
But there was something else.
The registration had been changed recently.
The previous owner was…
Adrian Cole.
Marcus looked up.
“Adrian?”
Elena nodded.
“Could he have betrayed you?”
“I don’t know.”
They returned to Marcus’s office.
Adrian was recovering.
Marcus confronted him.
Adrian finally admitted the truth.
He had been communicating with Vincent.
But not to betray Marcus.
He had been trying to find out who inside Vincent’s organization was ordering the attacks.
“There is someone above Vincent,” Adrian said.
“Who?”
Adrian hesitated.
Then he whispered:
“Your brother.”
Marcus went completely still.
His younger brother, Daniel, had died fifteen years earlier.
At least, that’s what everyone believed.
