Undressed By The Mafia God novel Chapter 259

Chapter 259: I’m Calling Your Bluff

Veronica’s eyes flicked instinctively toward the corners of the room, as if she might find a camera hidden somewhere.

"I’m calling your bluff," she said. "Marco will not let this happen." She needed to believe that.

Needed to believe someone else would step in where Luca refused to. But Luca only shook his head slightly.

"If he wouldn’t let it," he said, "then I wouldn’t have asked him to be here. His only job here is to make sure you get out once I am dead."

Veronica stared at him, disbelief written all over her face. "No," she said immediately, shaking her head. "I don’t believe you."

Believing him meant accepting that this was real. That no one was coming.

"That’s up to you," Luca replied simply.

"You know..." she began slowly. "I’ll be twenty-six soon." She let out a faint breath, her fingers brushing absently against the edge of the sofa. "Val is nineteen." Her lips curved into the smallest, saddest smile. "We used to think that by now..." she continued, her eyes unfocused now, "I’d be married. I’d have one kid..."

"And Val would be living with me, of course," she added, a faint, almost fond huff escaping her. "She always said she’d just follow me wherever I went."

For a brief second, the tension in her shoulders eased because she had stepped into a memory that felt safe.

"We thought we’d have this perfect little family," she said. "A great husband. A quiet life." Her gaze slowly shifted back to Luca. "Instead..." she whispered, the sadness returning fully now, "I fell in love with a psychopath."

"A hot psychopath, by the way."

The response came after a brief pause, almost like Luca hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

The air was changing. Each breath felt thinner, less satisfying, like her lungs were working harder for something they weren’t fully getting anymore. A faint sheen of sweat had begun to form along her skin, her body reacting instinctively to the shift.

Across from her, Luca wasn’t untouched either. There was tension in his posture now, subtle but there. His shoulders rose slightly with each controlled inhale, his jaw tightening every now and then as he forced himself to stay steady.

"Vee," he said again, more firmly this time. "Pick up the gun." His gaze flicked toward the table briefly, then back to her. "You do not have to die here," he continued. "You can still have your happy ending. Pick up the gun."

Veronica shook her head faintly, her breaths already beginning to shorten, her chest rising and falling unevenly. She leaned forward slightly, her elbows resting on her thighs as she tried to ground herself, to steady the spinning in her head. "No..." she whispered.

"What did you think you would be doing with your life by now?" she asked.

"Uh..." he began. "Well... my goal was to have at least eighty percent control over New York."

A faint, almost distant look crossed his face, like he was remembering a version of himself that had been simpler.

"That used to be just it," he continued. "Business. The famiglia is my life."

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify