I nod. “I’m beginning to see that.”
We hear a car pull up and my heart flutters. I don’t know how, but I just know when my Gianluca is near. I smile as he walks into the house and heads straight for me. I hug him tight as he kisses me. Carlo comes over and puts his arms up to Luca. He picks him up and he hugs us both. I love my little family.
“Your family is headed here, we’re going to meet them at the clubhouse.” Gianluca says.
“Can I pway wif cugino’s?” Giancarlo asks.
“Sì, amore.”
“Yay!” he squirms down and runs over to Rowan to tell him that they can go and play.
Watching all the little ones make me want some of my own. I hope Gianluca wants more babies.
“You know we’re going to have to give Giancarlo brothers and sister, right?” Luca whispers to me.
I look up at him. “I was hoping you’d want more babies.”
“Lots of babies.” He smiles and kisses me.
I love how sure he is about us. It’s something I’ve always dreamed about, but never really knew if it would happen. And he’s even more perfect than I dreamed he would be. We all walkto the Cimaruta clubhouse. My stomach is in knots the closer we get to it.
Gianluca squeezes my hand.
“It’s going to be okay. No matter what, I’ve got you.” He says as we walk into the clubhouse. I see my parents and my brothers waiting inside. My family comes over and hugs me.
“We’ve missed you.” They all say to me.
“I’ve missed you all . This is Gianluca.”
They all nod at Gianluca. My papá shakes his hand.
“Your daughter means everything to me. And to my son.” Gianluca says as he looks at my papá.
I see a frown flash on my mamá’s face and I don’t like it. I feel like she’s judging my Luca for having Carlo. And that’s something I won’t let happen.
“We should sit down and talk. I introduced our council when we did our call. They’re all here because our council is not only for Lake Renegade issues, it’s for our family too. We’re all one family here and Gabriela is now part of our family.” Enea says to my papá.
“You may think she is part of your family, but she is still my daughter.”
“Papá, we agreed to keep an open mind.” My oldest brother, Álvaro says softly to him. He frowns and nods as they follow Enea into the next room. We all take a seat at the table.
“Please tell us who told you these things about Gianluca. And why you believed them without talking to us first. Especially after you asked us for help.” Leonardo says to my papà.
“As you know, we’ve been having problems with the Koslov Bratva. They are threatening to take over our territory. I asked for your help because they told me the only way they would stop is if I gave them my Gabriela. They wanted her to marry one of their youngest boys, Yakov Koslov.”
“Wait. Did you say Yakov? Does he live here in Illinois?” Enea asks.
“Sí. Yakov Koslov is the second youngest of the Koslov boys. There are nine of them the oldest, Fyodor was killed and next in line was his brother, Ivan. He’s now the boss, he said he’s met you before and that you know not to cross him.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Antonio growls. “I told you we should’ve made sure they were all taken care of.”
“So if they wanted you to give them Gabriela, how is it my Gianluca is involved now?” Leonardo frowns.
“When I told him that I wouldn’t give my daughter to them, he got angry. I’m not sure how he found out where we sent her, but he did. Ivan called me and told me that Gabriela was dating a guy who was cheating on her. He told me that Gianluca had kidnapped his younger brother’s son. The same brother he wanted my daughter to marry. And that angered me. But what made me even more angry was that he was saying that your son was cheating on my Gabby. My daughter deserves better than that. I sent her to you to keep her safe and to keep her out of the reach of the Koslov’s. Only to hear that your son was taking advantage of her.”
Gianluca
Listening to Ramón talk about me like I’m an asshole who treats women badly is pissing me the fuck off. It’s taking all of my patience not to stand up and tell him to fuck off. To believe something without proof is fucking insane. As the head of his family, I would think he would find out the facts before believing someone like Ivan Koslov. That bastard has done enough to our family.
