“Maybe the next time you should talk to us before believing stories from a madman.” Zio Enea says as he stares at Ramón. “Especially when he tells you that my nephew also kidnapped a child? You know enough about my family to know that we don’t hurt women and children. When you asked Rosaura if we could take in Gabriela, we didn’t hesitate to say yes. If any of us thought that Gianluca would hurt her, we never would’ve let him be with her. I can promise you that. As for the situation with Giancarlo. He is Gianluca’s son. We’ve done a DNA test, before Faith passed, she signed the paper to have them tested. And she told us her story. Yakov Koslov abused her physically and mentally. As far as we know he didn’t touch Carlo. But we aren’t sure. The only thing we are sure of is that Faith was running away from him and coming to Gianluca when she was hit.”
Ramón stands up and comes over to me.
“I apologize for assuming that Ivan was telling me the truth. But how do I know you truly care for my daughter? You just met. You can’t tell me you love her.”
I stand up and face him.
“I’m sorry if you don’t believe me. But I do love Gabriela and my son loves her too. Time isn’t an indication of how much you love someone. So even though I haven’t spent years with her, I know I love her. I know that she’s my future wife, mother of my children, my world. And I don’t care if you believe me. You’re not the one who has to. Only Gabriela matters when it comes to knowing if I’m being truthful or not.”
“And what about your son? You left his mother to raise him alone. And you were careless because she got pregnant in the first place.”
“If you must know, I had no idea that Faith was pregnant or that she had him until she came to Lake Renegade. And she and I dated for about six months when she told me she couldn’t deal with my baseball life. I would never force someone to be withme. So we parted ways. And I’ve never taken chances when I’ve been with women. You don’t seem to understand that baseball has been my true love since I was a child. I was never going to jeopardize that?—”
“So then you’re saying that my daughter comes second to baseball for you. And you just want someone to take care of your son. Change diapers and clean up after him.”
“No. I’m saying that’s how it was for me before I met Gabriela. Now I’m finding a way to love all three of them. Gabriela, Giancarlo and baseball. And when we have more children, they’ll fit into our lives too.”
Ramón laughs. “You think I’m going to give you my blessing to marry my daughter? Why would I give you permission to hurt her?”
“Papá! Were you not listening to Gianluca? He’s never given me a reason to think he’s unfaithful to me. Or that he would ever do anything to hurt me. And I love Giancarlo.”
“You want to raise another woman’s child?” Ramón frowns at her.
“Sí, papá. I believe that if Faith were still with us, she and I would be friends. That we would find a way to both be there for Giancarlo. Shame on you for acting like it’s a bad thing to raise someone else’s child.”
Gabriela comes closer to me and takes hold of my hand. This woman is my heart and I’m the luckiest person around.
“And what will you do when he does cheat on you? I’ve heard the stories of pro athletes. They all end up cheating on their wives.”
“Whoa. No we don’t. I’m sorry, I’m done listening to you say that we’re bad people because of what we do. Yes. I admit that there are women that push a lot of boundaries. But it’s up to us to say no. And I take offense to you saying all pro athletes cheat. I never have and I never will. I can say with one hundred percentcertainty that every athlete in our family would never cheat on anyone they’re with.” My cugino, Domenico says to Ramón.
Everyone in our family is agreeing with Domenico.
“I respect you because you’re my Gabriela’s papà. But that’s where my respect ends. You’re trying to convince her that I’m a bad person. But I’m not. My son is innocent in all of this and he loves Gabriela. I’m done defending myself to you. If you don’t like me being with your daughter? That’s your problem. Because we are together. And I will be marrying her.”
Ramón starts to open his mouth when his wife steps in.
“I’m sorry that my husband is being so stubborn about this. We don’t all feel the same way. I’ll admit, when we first heard what Ivan had to say about you, I believed him. But watching you talk about my baby, I can feel your sincerity. And I thank you for loving her so fiercely. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for her. Someone to protect her heart and keep it safe.”
“I promise you I will do that till I take my last breath.”
Lourdes comes over to me and hugs me. Ramón is still staring at me, I wasn’t lying when I said I don’t care what he thinks. I’m done trying to convince him of who I am.
“Now if we’re done trying to make my nephew the villain, we can get back to your situation with the Bratva. We can help you deal with them, but we need to know that you’re going to work with us.” Zio Enea says as he looks at Ramón and his sons.
“We would like your help.” Ramón says.
“Tell us the whole story about what Ivan wants from you. And then we’ll tell you what we’re dealing with on our end. Because we have a situation with them too.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Gianluca
“Do you always conduct business with your women around?” Ramón asks.
“Yes. We have no secrets from each other. We’ve learned that only leads to people getting hurt. And besides, why do you need to hide anything? It’s not like our wives and daughters don’t know what our lives are about.” Zio Enea says as we all nod.
“My wife and daughters are on my MC council.” Giacomo adds.
