Mafia Billionaire’s Forlorn Wife
Chapter 60

The ground slips from underneath my feet as I stare at the blurry camera photograph presented to me and know for a fact, in a mere instant, that the woman I am looking at is, in fact, my wife.

But the only problem is, that she doesn’t look like my Arabella whatsoever.

The woman in the picture is wearing a hooded jacket but her face is turned up towards the camera. She’s dressed in all black and even the single hair strand that is flying across her face is stark raven in colour and not the golden blonde that she used to have. But it isn’t the hair colour, or the outfit that stuns me…it is the gun she that she’s pointing towards the camera and the hatred that she’s carrying inside her heart.

She does not have the same warmth in her eyes that I remember her as, that I see in my dreams whenever I close my eyes. She’s holding a gun when the Arabella I remember talked about how she would burn all the weapons in this world if she could.

And god…she looks like she has been through so much that it hurts to even look at the picture for longer.

“Where did you get this?” I hiss, unable to take my eyes off of the photograph but still addressing Dominico with the full might of my anger.

I have been unable to find her with my endless resources and here he is, sitting in front of me, showing me her picture.

After what I know about her childhood, I know that Dominico will never have good intentions for her. He has been cruel towards her in the past and I will not trust him with her safety now.

“This was caught in Spain. About six months ago. She was there to procure something for the will of Gabriel Cabrera, do you wish to know what it was?” Dominico asks, staring at me with an inquisitive stare.

Gabriel Cabrera was a Spanish aristocrat who made quite a buzz in the markets and the underworld in his early years. But then, by the time he turned fifty, he dissociated from the rest of the world to spend time in mourning after his wife’s untimely death.

That man was one of the major players in our underworld and he’s rumoured to have a special ledger of records that hold the secrets to many leading governments and organisations. That ledger is valued in billions in the black market and there are bounties placed on finding it.

Please God…why is Arabella anywhere near this mess? Please let this be someone else…

The Cabrera family is an extremely dangerous and influential family in the underworld. Mancini doesn’t even come near them and the only time that I met Gabriel Cabrera, he was a man with a thousand secrets and about a million tricks up his sleeve.

“Enlighten me.” I mutter dejectedly.

Mancini smiles, his lips curling up, “it was the Ledger, Mikhailov. It seems like my daughter has gotten herself involved in some shady stuff and it is a possibility that she might be in danger.”

That is what brings anger to my heart as I meet his gaze with nothing but pure rage, “you have been sitting on this photograph for six months, for six months you’ve known where she was and now is when you’re choosing to tell me about this?” I growl, glaring heatedly at him as I try to control myself from going completely berserk and just grabbing the bastard by the neck.

Dominico’s face changes expressions as he meets my gaze in all seriousness, “don’t talk to me as though I don’t know what’s best for my own daughter.”

“Oh, spare me your indignation, Dominico! We both know that the only thing you care about is yourself. Arabella has always been the last person you would ever think about and it is a well established fact considering the childhood that she has had.” My words fall venomously as I continue glaring at him, wanting to make him see just how little I trust him and how close I am to bashing his head into the wall.

Dominico’s expressions change for the worse as the nerve in his forehead looks like it is ready to explode. “And you care about her? Because if you did then you wouldn’t have f*****g lost her in the first place!”

That’s it.

That’s the limit of my tolerance.

And without sparing another thought I dash towards him and grab him by his collar, pulling him up roughly as I vaguely register the sound of guns being drawn and loaded in my direction.

Dominico smirks for a moment, turning his head towards his bodyguards but frowns immediately when he feels the cold nip of my palm knife pressing against the thin skin of his neck while I hold him in place with my other hand.

Ace too is frozen in his place but I have a feeling that there isn’t much he will do to stop me anyways. He hates his father almost as much as I hate him.

“Ask your men to stand down, Dominico.” I say softly, not keeping my voice above a soft decibel as I stare at him while he stands frozen, “because if these guns keep pointing at me, I will be tempted to bury this knife in your jugular and not think twice about it. You know what my reputation has become these days, don’t you? You know they call me the Enforcer of Death in their inner circles, right?”

I smile inwardly at the utter fear that is oozing out of Dominico’s eyes as he stares at me before turning his gaze to the side and nodding ever so carefully to motion to the men to lower their weapons.

And when they do, I press my knife a little more into Dominico’s neck as he grunts when the blade pierces the skin ever so slightly, “remember that you killed my father Dominico. Remember because I have still not forgotten about that. So don’t you dare say that I do not care for Arabella because me standing here without killing you should be proof enough. Are we clear?” I ask sharply.

Dominico gulps fearfully, realising just how far he has fallen and how his glory days are over.

I could kill him right this second and get my long awaited revenge of twelve years but Arabella is my priority right now.

And if she is really involved in the underworld in some manner then I will have to use Dominico’s bare minimum resources too if that is what it takes to find her and get her out of trouble.

When Dominico nods in agreement, I finally let him go and sit back in my chair with a stoic expression on my face as Dominico turns to glare at Ace.

“Well, thank you, son! You really saved me!” He chides in a voice full of sarcasm but Ace continues to fiddle with the butter knife as he shrugs.

“You provoked him first.” He says nonchalantly, “you should know better considering your current social standing.” The distaste in Ace’s voice is enough to make me chuckle as the Mancini heir just continues to stare at the table cloth.

Dominico grumbles under his breath but there isn’t anything that he can do so he just shakes his head before finally looking at me again.

“I will give you everything I have on Arabella. To be honest, the trail went cold after Monaco. After that it was like she had disappeared off the planet again. I have been trying to look for her since the first time this photograph was shown to me, but I haven’t had any success.” He says waving his hand dismissively.

I know this bastard wants something. He just doesn’t care enough about his daughter to even want to find her. He has been keeping this information because he was looking for the right time to ask something of me, and I know for a fact that he even started looking for Arabella to have leverage over me.

“Get to the point.” I bark, “what the f**k do you want from me in exchange?”

Nothing comes for free in our world. And people like Dominico wouldn’t even let someone breathe the same air as themselves for free.

Dominico passes a glance to Ace who looks completely disinterested, and then, sighing once, he says, “I want you to kill Franco Cabrera.”

And that is when my eyes widen.

Franco Cabrera is the current owner of the Cabrera mafia, and he is one hard man to pin down because even though the Bratva has good business with the Cabreras, Franco and I like keeping our distance.

“Why?” I mutter.

That is when Dominico shakes his head, “that’s not important for you to know. Kill the last living Cabrera and I will give you everything that I have on Arabella’s last appearance.”

And with that, he stands up, buttons his suit, and walks out of the restaurant.

Ace looks at me like he wishes to say something, but when Dominico calls from the door, he sighs and runs along too.

Leaving me sitting here in my thoughts, wondering what the f**k is the connection between Dominico and the Cabreras and how does Arabella come into play between all this…

Everything is so messed up.