Dangerous Secrets: My Mafia Stepbrother

Really? Isabella didn’t think so. She didn’t see any threat from him, yet he seemed to take pleasure in tormenting her, even to the point of wanting to kill her. Still, she was curious about what Grazia had mentioned regarding his kidnappings.

“Has he been kidnapped so many times before?” Isabella inquired.

Grazia replied, “In the past, Emanuele was quite lively and adorable. As his sister, my mother and I took care of him. He had the innocence of a child. But things changed later on. The first time it happened, our mother was kidnapped by those despicable thugs. They gang-raped and killed her, but our father claimed it was an accident.”

As Grazia recounted this, Isabella found it extremely disturbing. My God, was this what women associated with mafia bosses had to go through? She had just gotten entangled in all of this and was already dealing with assassination attempts and kidnappings. She couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if she had been successfully abducted. What kind of horrors would those thugs have subjected her to?

“At the time, Emanuele was only six years old and vaguely aware of some things. But as he grew older, he learned how his mother had really died,” Grazia continued, sighing. “The second time, when Emanuele was eight years old, he was almost taken from his own bedroom. Our father arrived in time and killed those two scoundrels. He also gave Emanuele a good beating.”

Isabella found it hard to believe. “Why would they beat Emanuele? He was the victim, wasn’t he?”

“Because he was too weak. As the heir to the Chicago mafia boss, his weakness would only lead to his demise. Our father couldn’t allow his son to be like that,” Grazia sighed again. “From then on, our father took Emanuele to the shooting range every day to train his marksmanship. He even took him to the dungeons to see the prisoners, teaching him how to maximize their suffering to extract useful information from them.”

Isabella couldn’t imagine an eight-year-old going through all of that. “And then, Emanuele changed. He didn’t smile as much, and his eyes were always stormy. His lips turned cold, replacing the warmth. But most of all, it was the last kidnapping that changed him the most.”

“At the age of twelve, Emanuele was kidnapped again, but this time, he managed to kill those abductors himself. It was his first time killing someone, and three kidnappers lost their lives to his gun. They had let their guard down, never expecting a twelve-year-old to kill, let alone carry a weapon with him. After that, our father was proud of him, considering him his pride,” Grazia explained, sighing. “From then on, killing became a habit for Emanuele. If he came home one day without the smell of blood, I’d find it strange.”

Isabella looked at Emanuele talking to someone in the corner, never imagining the extent of his past experiences. Still, what did this have to do with her? Even if he had gone through all this in the past, it didn’t justify him tormenting her.

“Isabella, as women, our responsibilities are not as heavy as those of the men,” Grazia said with a cheerful smile. “We can buy the things we like and enjoy life to the fullest. Of course, we may face some risks now and then, but most of the time, we don’t need to worry too much. It’s just that sometimes, we may be required to marry a mafia boss or one of our father’s subordinates. We don’t have the right to refuse.”

Isabella’s complexion turned pale at those words, and thoughts of Emanuele’s demand for marriage within a month flooded her mind.

Isabella couldn’t help but clasp Grazia’s hand tightly. “Grazia, do I have to marry someone too?”

Seeing Isabella’s nervousness, Grazia gently stroked her hair. “Isabella, don’t worry. You’ve only just entered our family, and you haven’t even finished college. How can anyone expect you to get married?”

“But what if Emanuele wants me to marry?” Isabella cautiously asked.

Grazia, wearing a serious expression, fixed her gaze on Isabella. “I don’t know, Isabella. I chose my own marriage. Both my father and Emanuele told me that as long as I was happy, it was fine. Being with Andrew makes me happy, but I also understand that Emanuele is the boss now. If I were still unmarried, and he wanted to arrange my marriage, I wouldn’t have a choice. Isabella, that’s our fate.”

Our fate? No, she refused to accept that. She had been forced into this family, and she certainly wasn’t any mafia princess.

“Grazia, what if I refuse? I want to have control over my own marriage.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“In that case, Emanuele might kill you because you’d be defying him, challenging his dignity,” Grazia replied solemnly.

Isabella looked towards Emanuele, that demon-like man. Was he her creator? Why did he have the power to decide her life and death?

Emanuele had spotted her too, narrowing his eyes slightly, and began walking towards them.

At that moment, Grazia continued her well-intentioned advice to Isabella. “Isabella, I know this may be hard for you to accept, but as my father’s stepdaughter, you might share the same inheritance rights as I do. This might reduce the share that Emanuele and I were originally entitled to. I’m fine with it; I think Andrew and I have enough wealth to last us a lifetime. But Emanuele is ambitious. Even though he has power and money to spare, he’s reluctant to let others share his fortune. What I mean is, that’s his nature. If you’re destined to share his assets, he might expect you to shoulder some responsibilities or pay a price.”

Grazia recalled her father’s former girlfriend. Initially, she had considered bringing the woman into the family, hoping to have more children. But the woman had an unexpected pregnancy. When her father was preparing for a wedding, the woman had a fatal car accident.

Although it appeared to be an accident, who could be certain that Emanuele hadn’t tampered with it? Since then, her father had never mentioned having more children. Now, he had married Sophia, who was no longer young and had undergone sterilization surgery, and only then did Emanuele allow her to enter their family.

So, Isabella might be destined to be a thorn in Emanuele’s side, but considering how they interacted now, it seemed like she might have been overly concerned.

Isabella wanted to say something, but Emanuele had already gone upstairs and walked up to them.

“Grazia, I need to talk to Isabella.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Grazia replied before heading downstairs to attend to other guests.

Emanuele firmly grasped Isabella’s arm and pulled her into a nearby cloakroom.

“Emanuele, what are you doing? Let go of me!”

The cloakroom door was closed behind them, leaving a spacious room with only the two of them. Isabella felt fear creeping in and took a few steps back, trying to stay in the corner, out of Emanuele’s reach.