We all head to the restaurant on the twenty-fifth floor. Charmaine greets us, she’s married to one of the enforcers in the Cimaruta MC, Liam Murphy. They’re part of our Lake Renegade family. The president of the Cimaruta is Giacomo Bastianini, he’s Caitríona’s husband.
“Do you think I’m going to have to go back home?” Gabriela whispers to me.
“I don’t know. But I trust my papà and he’ll make sure you’re safe no matter what we have to do.”
“I don’t want to leave you or Carlo.”
“Trust me, I don’t want you to leave either.” I say as I kiss her. “I love you.”
“Te amo. When my parents told me I was coming here, I was so angry that they would send me away. But now? I’m thankful that they did.”
I kiss her head as I look at my mamá. She’s smiling at us. I pray that she won’t have to go back. I don’t think I could handle that.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Gianluca
My papà and zio’s finally join us, with them is Giacomo Bastianini. The looks on their faces tells me that I’m not going to like what they have to say. Giacomo goes over and kisses Caitríona.
“Have you all ordered lunch?” Zio Enea asks.
“We ordered appetizers, but decided to wait for all of you before ordering lunch.” Aintín Graínne smiles as he kisses her.
I stare at my papà and frown. I hate waiting to find out what’s going on.
“Let’s order lunch and then we can talk about what’s going on.” Papà says as he looks at me.
It takes longer than I’d like for everyone to get their orders in. After the waiter leaves, my zio Enea clears his throat.
“I know Leonardo talked to the both of you earlier. But I need to hear what you both want. And because this could turn into a bigger situation, I called on Giacomo, Elio, Zeus and Panagiotis.” He says to Gabriela and me.
Lake Renegade has a council that makes the final decisions on anything that involves our families. The council is Zios Enea and Antonio, my papà, Giacomo, Zeus Athanasiou, Panagiotis Nikolaidis and Elio Salvadori. Zeus and Panagiotis are the heads of their families and Elio is the head of the Southside Mafia. If they’re all coming, that tells me that they don’t think this situation will be an easy one.
Gabriela and I tell my zio the same thing we told my papà earlier and he nods at us.
“Well your papà isn’t happy that you want to stay. But he’s agreed to talk with us more tonight. He wants the two of you there when we talk.”
“I’m sorry this is becoming a big deal.” Gabriela says, looking sad.
“Don’t be sorry, if this is really what you want, we’ll do whatever we can to help. Now none of us know your papà, but I’m hoping he’ll be reasonable about all of this.”
“I never thought my parents would stop me from being with the person I choose. They’ve always said that we all could choose who we love. But now it feels like they were lying.”
“Are any of your brothers married?” Giacomo asks.
“No. None of them even have someone they want to be with. Or if they do, they’re not telling anyone.”
“Do you think they’ll force her to go back to Valencia?” I ask.
“I wish I could say no. But I don’t know her parents, so that’s not something I can say either way. But, Gabriela, you have to realize that if you fight your parents, you could lose them.”
“What do you mean?” she asks.
“Your parents are old school and what that means for you is that your papà expects you to obey what he says. No questions and no fighting. But if you want to be with Gianluca, you have to fight him.” Zio Antonio says to her.
“So you’re saying my family might disown me?”
“Sì. But know this, you’ll always have a home here. You’re part of our family now.” My papà says to her as everyone at the table nods in agreement.
