The Older Mafia Boss Had Given Up on Dating—Then His Curvy Friend Secretly Set Him Up With Her
Chapter 11
Marcus stared at Adrian.
“Don’t say that again.”
“I’m sorry.”
“My brother is dead.”
“I thought so too.”
Adrian placed a photograph on the desk.
It showed a man leaving a private airport.
Older.
Heavier.
But unmistakably Daniel.
Marcus took the photograph.
His hand shook.
Elena watched quietly.
“My brother died in a boating accident.”
“That’s what we were told,” Adrian said.
Marcus remembered that night.
The phone call.
The body recovered.
The funeral.
Everything.
“Why would he fake his death?”
“Because Daniel was the one who originally built the network.”
Marcus looked at Adrian.
“What?”
Adrian explained.
Daniel had started illegal operations before Marcus knew how deep they went.
When Marcus tried to leave that world, Daniel opposed him.
Their relationship collapsed.
Then Daniel disappeared.
Marcus had assumed he died.
Instead, Daniel had built another organization overseas.
Vincent worked for him.
And now Daniel wanted Marcus’s remaining territory.
Marcus couldn’t breathe.
Elena stepped beside him.
“What are you going to do?”
Marcus looked at the photograph.
“I don’t know.”
That was the truth.
For the first time in decades, Marcus had no plan.
Elena took his hand.
“You don’t have to become the man you were.”
Marcus looked at her.
“What if that’s the only way to survive?”
“Then survive differently.”
Her words echoed in his mind.
Later that night, Marcus met Daniel.
They stood in an empty warehouse.
Daniel emerged from the shadows.
He looked older than Marcus remembered.
But his eyes were the same.
“You should have stayed away.”
Marcus stared.
“You’re alive.”
Daniel smiled.
“Obviously.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I needed you to believe I was gone.”
“Why?”
“Because you were becoming a liability.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“You threatened Elena.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Daniel looked past him.
“Someone you brought into your life.”
Marcus turned.
Elena stood near the entrance.
Daniel smiled.
“Your friend Sophia.”
Marcus’s heart stopped.
