Dangerous Secrets: My Mafia Stepbrother

“Between two men?” William heard Emanuele’s words and replied, “Emanuele, you do care a lot about Isabella. It seems I’ve bet right this time.”

Upon seeing William’s message, Emanuele felt a surge of coldness in his heart. He cared deeply for Isabella, and upon learning about her predicament, his emotions had become somewhat uncontrollable. Seeing William’s message, he instinctively replied, but he hadn’t expected William to so accurately guess his inner thoughts. “If you hand over the Chicago Mafia to me, I’ll return Isabella to you.”

Emanuele cursed William fiercely in his mind. He swore that if William appeared in front of him, he would shoot him dead. However, now that Isabella was in his grasp, faced with William’s provocation, Emanuele could only suppress his impatience.

He chose not to continue the conversation with William and directly called James, “We must quickly find out where Isabella is.”

After speaking, he looked at Zak, “See if we can trace his current location from the phone number William used to message me.”

He could not relinquish the position of the head of the Chicago Mafia, so he had to find Isabella quickly. Until then, he needed to delay William as much as possible, making him believe that Emanuele was willing to negotiate a partnership with him. That way, William wouldn’t harm Isabella.

Zak immediately began operating the computer, but soon a look of difficulty appeared on his face. “His phone number is disposable and the address is hidden. I can’t find where he is.”

On the other side, after receiving Emanuele’s call, James turned to Evelyn, “I have to go deal with something. Be careful.”

Evelyn nodded.

Leaving that dreadful apartment, Evelyn’s emotions gradually calmed down. She was settled in a hotel with food and drink, and James arranged for a doctor to check her body. Pippo had injected her with too many drugs, and the doctor found some issues with Evelyn’s body, prescribing her some medication to take. James also specifically arranged for a female guard to look after Evelyn.

Seeing James answer the call to leave, Evelyn immediately stopped him, “James, has Isabella returned?”

James shook his head, “I’m preparing to intensify the search.”

Hearing James’s words, Evelyn felt as though her world was collapsing, she felt very sad, truly deeply upset. “God, why does Isabella have to encounter such terrible things? I would rather it be me, I don’t want Isabella to face these things. Isabella shouldn’t have been kidnapped in the first place. If only I had been smarter and braver earlier, if only I had let Isabella know Pippo’s true nature, she wouldn’t have encountered this. Unfortunately, I was too foolish. Not only did I fail to protect myself, but I also implicated Isabella. Pippo was able to easily take Isabella away because of me, because I was friends with Isabella. Pippo could get closer to Isabella and understand her better, that’s how he was able to take her away.”

Evelyn fell deep into self-blame.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“Evelyn, it’s okay, don’t be sad. I will do my best to bring Isabella back,” James spoke.

He was a strong man, distant and cold to everyone, like a stone that no one dared to easily approach. But now, speaking to Evelyn, his tone was gentle, as if comforting her. Because Evelyn was Isabella’s best friend, and now that Isabella was in trouble, James felt that he should take care of Evelyn more, to bring warmth to her heart.

After speaking, James left. There was someone here to look after Evelyn, and there was no need to worry about William barging in to take Evelyn away. He estimated that William’s influence wasn’t that great; he had taken Isabella, so it would be difficult for him to focus on taking anyone else. So, he needed to quickly find William’s trail. Where on earth would this damned scoundrel go?

…

Isabella felt as though she had slept for a very long time. When she woke up, her mind felt heavy, almost unable to open her eyes.

Isabella instinctively tried to move her body, but she quickly realized she couldn’t. Her hands and feet were tied to the chair. How did this happen?

After a moment of confusion, she suddenly remembered. She had been planning to exercise with Elisa, but because her clothes weren’t suitable, she had gone upstairs to change into something more appropriate. As she entered the room, someone appeared behind her, using a cloth soaked in a heavy sedative to cover her nose. It had caused her to immediately pass out.

Now she had woken up in this place. She looked around at her surroundings. Everything seemed chaotic, surrounded by darkness and clutter, with only a single bright light above her head. Isabella surmised that this must be some sort of abandoned warehouse. She knew that as the wife of Emanuele, the head of the Chicago Mafia, she would inevitably face danger someday, but she hadn’t expected it to come so swiftly. Was she going to die here? Was her disappearance known to Emanuele? These questions swirled in her mind.

Isabella endured her inner turmoil and adjusted her sitting position to make herself as comfortable as possible. Despite the circumstances, she tried to appear relaxed, almost as if she had given up resistance.

At that moment, a tall figure appeared before her, the light casting a long shadow over her. “Isabella, long time no see.”

Isabella gazed at the man before her. Despite her efforts to appear calm, her eyes betrayed her disbelief and fear. How could it be… Pippo!

If it had been any enemy of Emanuele, Isabella felt she might not have been as frightened. She had been prepared for that. Yet, the person standing before her was someone familiar, someone she remembered as gentle, kind, and considerate.

Had he kidnapped her?!

In that moment, Isabella felt her inner being shatter. “I thought we were friends. Why would you kidnap me?” Isabella asked.

“Who said we were friends, Isabella? You should have known from the beginning that I liked you,” Pippo said, reaching out to touch Isabella’s cheek.

Previously, Isabella had been the woman he dared not touch, but now, he could touch her whenever he pleased. Isabella tried to evade Pippo’s touch, finding it repulsive, causing her stomach to spasm, almost making her feel nauseous.