I stifle a laugh. “Yeah she sucked, but I don’t think forcing her to be happy is going to work either.”
“I’m not forcing her to be happy. I just want her to take a damn shower!”
“I know, but she has to do it on her own.”
Gemma is 23 years old, a grown woman with a college degree. She doesn’t need her two big brothers hovering over her every move. Though nothing could stop us from protecting her.
“Yeah, yeah.” He groans.
“I’ll go talk to her while you set up for dinner, yeah?” I clap him on the shoulder as I pass.
“It’s me.” I announce knocking on Gemma’s door before opening it. There’s little privacy in this house.
Her room is still painted a girly shade of pink she picked out when she was twelve. She has posters on the wall of boy bands and she sleeps in a white four-post bed. It’s still every bit of the teenage haven she left when she went to college. The plan had been for her to look for her own apartment after she graduated, but after Ma’s death she was too depressed to even google apartments.
I had tried to drag her out to look at some, but she had no interest, and part of me didn’t want to leave dad alone either. So I stopped pushing her and let her stay in this teenage dream room instead.
Gemma is curled under a fleece blanket in the middle of the queen bed. “What are you doing?” I ask, plopping down on the edge of the white comforter.
She unwraps herself just enough to look at me. “Nothing.”
“I see that.” I smile easily. “I brought dinner.”
“I’m tired, Gio.”
“I know.” I sigh. “Just come eat with us and then you can come right back up here.”
“Fine,” she groans, giving into me. “And then you leave me alone?”
I extend my pinky, “Pinky swear.”
She throws off the fleece blanket and pulls herself out of bed. She’s wearing leggings and a T-shirt so large it reaches her knees, though that isn’t hard to do with her small stature.
“What’d you get?” she asks, padding on bare feet out of her room.
Gian already has plates laid out filled with pasta and chicken when we reach the table. “Finally, she appears!” dad taunts when he sees Gemma up and out of bed.
Gemma gives him a half-hearted smile. The joke since we were kids is that Gemma is his favorite, though I’m not sure it’s a joke. She’s the baby and the only girl, of course, she was a daddy’s girl. Dad was easy on her and non-judgemental, which encouraged her to share with him. They had coffee every Sunday morning, even when she was in college. He’d drive to Brown and take her out to their regular cafe. Neither Gian or I had a standing coffee date with dad.
“How’s work, dad?” Gian asked as we settle at the table. Giuseppe owns his own law firm, though he mostly handles famiglia related cases. Occasionally something else would stumble across his desk.
He makes an annoyed sound under his breath. “Petty cases, drug dealers, that sort. Nothing big, unfortunately.” He pushes a fork full of pasta into his mouth. “I need a big case, I’m bored.”
The remark makes me laugh. Giuseppe lives for the drama of a court case. That’s where he’s in his element. He has a long history of making problems disappear. It was good for la Famiglia and it was really good for his wallet. The former boss paid Giuseppe handsomely to make their problems go away, and Gian wasn’t about to be the exception if he got the position.
It wasn’t even that he needed the money, at this point he had more than he could ever spend, it was all about the thrill for him.
“Gem’s gonna start in the office on Monday,” he adds.
‘What?” Gian nearly spat his food.
“Begrudgingly,” Gemma added.
“I need some help and she’s not doing anything.” Giuseppe winked. It was true, the only thing Gemma had been doing since graduating college six months earlier was sleeping or clubbing. She had no in-between.
Gian’s shocked filled face looks at me.
“Okay then,” I mutter just as surprised.
“I’m just going to be his secretary’s secretary. Don’t get too excited.” she mumbles, using her fork to stab at the pasta on her plate.
“Consider me unenthusiastic.” Gian smiled.
My cellphone begins to ring, which draws everyone’s eyes to me. The DelGado’s only had one rule for family dinners, no phones.
The caller ID reads Annie.
“I just need to take this.”
“No business at the table.” Giuseppe scolds.
“Just a sec, dad.” I excuse myself from dinner. “Hey sweetheart,” I answer coolly, entering my father’s study and shutting the door to block out my family’s conversation.
“Gio,” the voice on the other side was Annie’s but not the cool collected one I have come to know. She sounds scared and like she’s crying.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Um, I-” she stutters over the words.
“Just tell me, Annie. What’s going on?”
“It’s Johnny.”
Her fucking brother. “Yeah? What happened?”
“Rob just called me. They’re at the casino in Boston and Johnny’s losing. I’m scared they’re going to hurt him. I didn’t know who to call, I didn’t know what else to do.” she hiccups a quiet sob.
My vision blurs with red. I take a deep inhale before I respond to her. “It’s okay, I’m gonna come over to your place now, okay? We’ll go get him.”
“Please, I don’t want you to hurt him.”
I sigh. Part of my frustration is her lack of trust with me. I guess I can’t blame her, but I also don’t understand why she’s still defending that piece-of-shit brother of hers. After all he put her through, why is she so damn protective of him?
“I won’t,” I tell her, hoping I’m not lying.
I hang up the phone and send a quick text to Frank to grab one of the guys and head to the casino.
“I need to head out, I’m sorry.” I give my family a brief apologetic look. Gemma is amused, but my father on the other hand looks annoyed.
“ For what?” He questions.
“Business.”
“Everything okay?” Gian asked.
“Yep.” I grabbed the black bomber jacket I had hung over the dining room chair. “Just need to handle something real quick. I’m sorry pops, I’ll stop by this weekend, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.” he grumbled.
I quickly exit. I need to get a certain blonde that’s currently scared and crying in her apartment, my family can wait.
Annie is silent the entire hour drive to Boston. I’m trying not to push her as she sits anxiously in my passenger seat. She alternates between picking at her nails and shaking her leg. In anyone else, those habits would drive me mad. In her, I find them sweet, endearing even.
She’s nervous.
She probably should be. I’m not sure what we’re about to walk into. There are two possible scenarios I see. One, the Irish could be letting Johnny rack up some more debt, hoping that I’ll pay it off again. Or two, they could be hoping to kill him as payback for involving me, something they probably saw as Johnny crying to the Italians.
Italians and Irish don’t mix. Never have.
The Irish crime family aren’t the biggest fans of the DelGados. They really didn’t care for Italians at all and the drama between them and la Familia’s former boss really doesn’t help matters. Plus, I might have gone toe to toe with the sons of the O’Connor family. Niall O’Connor had three sons and two daughters and as far as I know, they are all awful. Liam O’Connor was in my territory one night, out at a bar not owned by la Famiglia, but I didn’t care too much. I wanted him gone, and caused quite a bit of trouble getting him out. I don’t have one damn regret about it though. To me, all of the Irish goons are scum.
Now that they know Johnny is connected to me they could be trying to fuck with him to get to me. It doesn’t help much that Johnny Byrne is the dumbest son of
a bitch I’ve ever met. If it wouldn’t crush Annie I would end him tonight.
But I made a promise to her not to hurt him. I’m not a good man, but I am a man of my word. I’ve never been stuck on a woman like I am Annie.
Damn her. She’s going to be my weakness.
In my line of work, weakness isn’t a good thing to have.
I just need to get through the Pearce job and then I’m going to let her go. I’ll delete her number from my phone and rid myself of Annie Byrne.
Yeah.
Right.
Frank and Tony are already at the casino when we arrive.
“You should stay in the car,” I tell her as I pull the Porsche under the grand porte-cochere in front of the casino.
“Why?” Her tears had dried on the drive and the feisty girl I’ve come to appreciate reappeared.
I exhale a sigh. “Because I don’t know what to expect in there.”
Her blue eyes search mine. “I need to go in with you.”
“You don’t though. I can handle it. You just need to sit here and wait for me.”
“Really? you expect me to sit in the fucking car?” her eyes burn with rage. The overprotective sister side of her has come out in full force.
“Annie.”
“Gio.”
We’re in a stand-off. “Damn it, woman. Can you just listen to me?”
“No.” she responds, this time a little softer. “I need to see.”
“Fine.” I huff. “But you keep your mouth shut. Do you understand me? Those men in there are not like me and they don’t give a flying fuck about hitting a woman who gets to mouthy, you got me?”
She swallows thickly, but nods.
“Say it, Annie, tell me that you’re going to stay behind me and be quiet.”
She gives me an irritated look but obeys. “I promise I will stay behind you and be quiet.”
“Good girl,” I praise her, which only earns me another glare.
We exit the Porsche and before we enter the casino I give the valet a stern warning not to fucking touch my car. This shouldn’t take too long.
The Boston casino is grand, it rivals Vegas’ smaller ones. If I didn’t hate the O’Connor’s so much I would give them a pat on the pat for putting together such a nice place.
But I do hate them.
So instead, I enter the casino with Annie on my trail hoping this isn’t a death sentence.
Is that Gio DelGado, at my casino?”
The man in front of us has light brownish hair and a clean shaved face with striking blue gray eyes. He was shorter than Gio, but it didn’t stop him from trying to flex his muscles. He wore a clean gray suit with a linen dress shirt and shiny loafers. He looked powerful in his business attire, but it didn’t rival Gio’s sharp looks and the badass aura he was letting off in his black leather jacket and tight jeans. If I had to choose between the alpha males in front of me, I would always bet on Gio.
“In the flesh.” Gio flashes a wicked smirk. “Nice place you got here Declan.”
I feel small standing in the midst of these men. Tony and Frank are flanking us, and have been since we entered the building and the hostess led us to this private room. Johnny is sitting with a swollen eye and three large men around him.
It took everything I had not to scream as soon as I saw him.
The man, Declan, returned Gio’s smirk. “I hear this one is yours?” he gestures to Johnny.
I type out a quick text to Rob to get the hell out of here. At Least one of us should leave tonight unscathed.
“I-” Johnny barely opens his mouth when Gio gives him a silencing look.
“Shut up.” He tells him. “He’s not mine,” he directs to Declan. “But out of curiosity, what does he own?”
“One hundred g’s.”
I stiffen. One hundred thousand dollars? How in the world did my brother rack up that much debt in one night?
Declan looks smug waiting for a response from Gio.
“You know he’s never going to pay that right?” Gio asks. Despite what feels like chaos to me, Gio looks calm and in his element. He grabs a chair, spinning it so he can straddle the seat.
My heart is sinking. My brother, with a black fucking eye, is in more debt that I ever could possibly imagine. And Gio, the man I thought would help him, is fucking around. We’re never going to get out of this. I steal a glance at the men on either side of me, both stoic looking with their eyes glued to Declan and his men.
“He has nothing. Why would you loan to him?”
Declan lifted his smug gaze to meet Gio’s. You’re right. He won’t pay. But I think you will.”
Gio considers him for a moment. “FIfty k and you never lend him a dime again.”
“Hey-” Johnny’s protest is once again met with a look from Gio. I wish I had that ability to silence him with just my eyes.
“One hundred and I loan to whoever the fuck I want.” Declan shoots back.
“Good luck then.” Gio stands from the chair and adjusts his jacket.
“Wait-” Declan stops him. “Seventy-five.”
“Fifty.” Gio returns.
Declan laughs. “Fine, fifty. But if he comes back here it’s on you.”
“He won’t be back. Tony?”
Tony pulls a large stack of cash out from the message bag he wore and tosses it to Declan.
A smile lights up Declan’s face as his man picks up the stack. “Nice doing business with you.” he gives Gio a nod.
Gio pulls Frank close to whispering instructions before turning around, directing me back out towards the front.
My heart is racing. “What about Johnny?” I ask frantically.
“Frank will get him.” Gio presses his arm to the small of my back and continues leading me out.
“Can I-”
“No.” he doesn’t even let me finish, just rushes me out of the casino.
I stay silent as he ushers me into the Porsche and pulls us out of the casino and onto the road. Inside, I’m boiling.
I know how this arrangement works between us, but is it really necessary for him to treat me like a worthless child? My hands tremble and my voice shakes when I finally talk again. “So I can’t talk to my brother?” I accuse.
He turns his head to give me a pained look. “I never said that.”
“Then why did you rush me out of there?”
Before he can answer me, his phone starts ringing through the car speakers.
“Frank.” He greets, answering via Bluetooth so I can hear the conversation.
“Skip,” he returns. “We have Johnny, we’re heading back now.”
“Good, put it on speaker. Annie wants to talk to him.”
“Oh,” I mumbled, surprised. Was this his plan all along and I’m sitting here bitching at him? I feel like the stupid child he’s made me out to be. “I didn’t realize he was calling.”
“Yeah, there’s a lot you don’t realize, hmm?” he gives me a pointed look.
I ignore him and focus on the fact that my brother is on the other end of the line. “Johnny?”
“I’m fine, Annie.” his voice is exasperated, dripping with accusations I’m not ready to listen to.
I exhale a long breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “Are you okay?”
“Why would you call him, Annie? I was fine.” Days ago Johnny was overly excited to have Gio in our life, now he’s acting like calling him was the worst form of betrayal. What was I supposed to do?
My chest burns. “You’re mad?”
“I didn’t fucking need your help!” he rages.
I feel sick in my stomach. I vividly remember my father screaming the same thing at me after I drug him from a bar for the one-hundredth time. He had a habit of throwing punches with his words. For the first time since we’ve left the casino, I’m happy he’s in another car.
I take a deep breath and try to suck in my tears. I don’t want to cry in front of Gio.
“Don’t speak to her like that.” Gio’s tone is
calm when he talks to Johnny, but I can see his hands tighten around the steering wheel.
‘Fuck you.” Johnny shouts through the speaker.
This time the tears do break through and I hiccup a sob.
“Where do you want me to take him, skip?” Frank’s voice comes through the speakers now.
“Home.” Gio responds. “I want a soldier outside his apartment and I want to know if his moves an inch, got it?”
Frank makes an affirmative noise and ends the call.
I feel broken as we drive in silence. Johnny is all I have, and he’s pissed at me. For helping him of all things. I wrap my arms tighter around myself.
All I ever tried to do was create a life for us.
Yet, here we are.
“It’s not your fault.” Gio breaks through my inner monologue. “Stop beating yourself up over there.”
“I’m not.” I lie.
“I can see it, sweetheart. You are. I get it, he’s family, but he’s shitty to you. You think you deserve that?”
He looks over at me when I don’t respond.
“You don’t.” he answers for me. “You’re a good person. Don’t let him bring you down.”
“I’m not a good person.” I return with a sad laugh.
He chuckles. “Yeah, sure.”
“I’m working for you. How does that make me a good person?” I look away from him, not wanting to see his response to those words.
“You think that makes you a bad person?” he asks, his voice sincere.
“Yeah.”
“Look at it this way, you’re only here to help your brother. Sometimes good people do bad things for good reasons.”
I study him for a moment. His dark hair slicked back, a single hand loose on the wheel, tight jeans pressed against his thighs. Is Gio a good person or a bad person?
“He’s my brother,” I finally say. “I have to help him.”
“Yeah, but sometimes family isn’t always blood.” he tells me.
I huff, pivoting my body away from him again. “Do you have siblings?”
“Two. A brother and a sister.”
“Would you cut them out of your life like you're asking me to do.” I give him a pointed look. Case made.
Gio: The DelGado Trilogy (An Enemies to Lovers Romance) Page 7