Undressed By The Mafia God novel Chapter 349

Chapter 349: Give Him Your Card

The jeweler made the professional choice not to react.

She gestured toward the salesman. "Give him your card."

Massimo looked at her, then at the ring, then back at her. "Why am I the one paying?" he asked. "I’m quite certain Luca gave you his card."

Carol stared at him in theatrical disbelief. "You would have your son—who is currently fighting for his life—pay for this?"

Massimo opened his mouth.

"What kind of father are you?" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The guilt landed exactly where she meant it to. Massimo closed his eyes briefly, calling on reserves of endurance.

"Fine. Fine," he muttered, pulling the card from his wallet and handing it over. "Take it."

The jeweler accepted it with both hands. Carol looked deeply satisfied. Massimo, meanwhile, leaned slightly closer to her once the man stepped away to process the payment.

"You know," he said, "you do not have to act repulsed by me all the time. You try too hard," he added. "And we both know that is not exactly how you feel." Massimo looked pleased with himself.

Carol wasn’t listening anymore. Not really. Massimo’s last smug little remark faded into the hush of Salvadori Venezia as her attention drifted back to the display case. Beneath the glass, diamonds lay arranged—princess cuts, emerald cuts, pear shapes, marquises—each one flashing under the warm showroom lights.

Behind the counter, the jeweler was wrapping the selected ring. For a moment, all she could see were the ghosts.

A younger version of herself. A younger Massimo. A life that might have been softer if she had loved a different man—some ordinary man, boring perhaps, kind perhaps, a man whose name did not come with blood debts and armed convoys and enemies.

But she had fallen in love with Massimo Genovese. And loving him had been like stepping into a beautiful house already on fire.

Now she was older, and the years had not passed so much as hardened around her. She had sons she loved more than her own pride, a grandchild on the way, and an ache inside her for the life she never got to keep.

Old and alone. Her eyes lifted slowly to Massimo.

"You cannot turn this child into you," she said. "At least let one generation find peace, Massimo," she said. "Let this bloodshed skip a generation."

"It is who we are, Carol," he said. "After all this time, you should have accepted that the famiglia doesn’t bend. The moment we begin to, everything crumbles."

"Massimo, please. I’ve never asked you for anything. Please," she said again, quieter this time. "Just please."

Massimo schooled his expression back into stone and turned his gaze ahead just as the jeweler returned, the small engagement box resting in both hands.

"Signora," the man said.

Carol turned to take the package. Her eyes stung suddenly with tears. He wasn’t going to listen.