“You did this for me?”
She shrugs. “I unfairly kept you here, away from them. You’re a part of my life, and you’re a part of theirs.”
“How would you like to move forward?” Evander asks, relaxing a little more.
She smiles. “I want you three to attend the gala with Gage and me.”
Mateo raises his eyebrows. “To announce the alliance?”
“Exactly.” She tucks her legs under her crisscross style and leans forward, still holding my hand. “Leo needs to be announced as the new Perez heir.” She shrugs. “It will make other families follow suit if they see I can put what happened behind me.”
Evander looks at me. “Are you okay with that? Being announced as an heir?”
I’ve been waiting to be introduced as a Perez. It’ll change the whole trajectory of my life. Until I met Alessa, I didn’t plan on staying in California long-term. I was going to get to know my brothers and then visit occasionally. If they tell everyone I am now an heir to Frankie, there is no way I can go back home around Mom; too much danger followed these names. I don’t question what I’m doing now that I have Alessa.
“I’m good with that,” I answer honestly, surprising Evander andMateo. We’ve already talked about me going back home, but my home is now wherever Alessa is. And Gage, if I have to admit it.
“This is an invitation-only, and we don’t have one,” Evander informs Alessa. “My father made sure we aren’t welcome.”
“Consider this your invitation as a thank you for taking care of me at your bar,” she answers with a smile.
“There’s no thanks needed. You were fun,” Mateo laughs.
She groans. “I don’t even remember what I said.”
“Don’t worry. You didn’t share any trade secrets,” Evander says with a chuckle.
“Thank fuck,” she mumbles, then shakes her head with a laugh.
I love how she handles things with the most confidence in the world. She took on five uniquely different guys at the same time without batting an eye.
“Food’s ready, ma’am,” Gage says with an exaggerated flourish, stepping into the room.
“Fuck off,sir,” Alessa replies with a glare.
“Oh, Pretty girl, you can call me sir any time you want,” Gage says, waggling his eyebrows. “You too, Pretty boy,” he adds, blowing a kiss at me before walking out of the room.
Alessa loses it and starts laughing. Evander and Mateo’s eyebrows hit their hairline at the same time. it’s almost comical if I wasn’t dying of embarrassment.
Evander looks at me, and I shake my head. “Later,” I tell him.
“You better count on it,” Mateo adds.
I told them about the whole thing with Alessa, but I didn’t say anything about Gage. I didn’t know how to bring it up, and my reaction just now showed everything they needed to know.
After a surprisingly laid-back dinner,Alessa told me to spend some time with Evander and Mateo, so I led them to my new favorite spot in this house, the patio by the pool.
“Things seem to be going good,” Mateo comments, sipping the beer Alessa brought out for us.
“Yeah,” I agree.
“What about with Ryder?” Evander asks, kicking back in the chair.
“He doesn’t say much, but he stopped glaring at me.” That’s all I can really ask for right now. For a while, if he could kill me with his fucking eyes, he would have. “I went on a job with them today.” Evander raises his eyebrow. “We paid a visit to the Moretto’s.” I left out the part where Alessa shot one of them at point-blank range. I’m not sure what I’m allowed to tell them.
“You know there’s a rumor Jerry Moretto is dead,” Evander says, tilting his head to the side. Well, I guess I won’t have to hide too much. “There’s also a rumor your black-haired beauty in there took care of him.”
I stare blankly at them and let them draw their own conclusions. Mateo laughs. “Good. He was a fucking worm.”
