Page 16 of Taking His Heart

Aurelio drives into the valet section of the Wild Card. And I jump out.

“Mr. Bianchi.” A young kid nods his head at me. Elias, Aiden, and Alfie are already waiting by the door.

“Keep it here. We won’t be long,” I tell him.

“Yes, Sir.” The valet nods and grabs for the keys Aurelio holds out towards him.

I walk through the casino floor, heading to the bank of elevators. If Frankie brought them here, I know exactly where she is. My cousin has a favorite dance club in this hotel.

Sure enough, when I step into the darkened space, I look towards the roped-off VIP section and there they are.

Emilio walks towards us. “They’re fine,” he says.

“They’re fine. She was just shot at. She shouldn’t be out,” I growl at my younger cousin, pushing him out of my way as I march towards the woman I shouldn’t even be thinking about, let alone making a scene over.

What I should be doing is letting her brother handle this. But before I can think better of it, I’m stepping over the rope and stopping right in front of Daniella. “Get up. We’re leaving.”

Her head tilts upwards, her eyes meeting mine with a challenge. “Oh yeah? And who the hell died and made you the boss, CJ?”

“Daniella, I’m not fucking around. Get up,” I growl.

“No, I think I’m good right here.” She smirks at me. “Want a drink? You really look like you could use one.” She holds up a glass, and I snatch it out of her hand, sculling the sugary red liquid before slamming it back down on the table. “Hey, I was going to drink that.” She pouts—fucking pouts—and it’s all I can do not to bite down on that bottom lip of hers.

“Daniella, I will throw you over my shoulder and walk right out of here, and not a single person will do a thing to stop me. Get. Up.” I lower my mouth to her ear.

Daniella looks at the crowd gathered around, watching the interaction between us. And then she pats my cheek with her palm. “Nice try, but there is no way Aurelio is going to let you walk out of here with me over your shoulder, caveman.”

“Who do you think told me you were here, Dani?” I raise a brow at her, and her gaze shifts to her brother.

Then she’s standing. “You know what? I don’t care who you think you are, CJ, but you are not the boss of me. I came here to dance and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Rosie, come on.” She takes her sister’s hand and walks right past me towards the dance floor.

“Well, that went as about as good as I expected.” Aurelio chuckles beside me.

“You wanna do something about getting them home? Or are you happy to just sit here and laugh at me?”

“Both,” he says. “Watch and learn, CJ. There’s a certain knack to handling my sisters.”

I watch him walk over to them. They share a few words before the girls nod their heads and they’re following Aurelio towards the door.

What the fuck did he say to them?

It doesn’t matter. What matters is Daniella is going to be back behind the walls of my parents’ estate.

Chapter Eight

I’m surprised we had as much time as we did in that club before my brother stormed in to take us home. I did not, however, expect CJ to be the one doing the storming and demanding. Although it’s a lot easier to ignore his threats and call him on his bluffs.

But the moment Aurelio said he was going to call Dad, I knew he wasn’t bluffing, which is why I’m following him out of the club, right alongside my sister.

“You know, if he had been a girl, our life would be so much easier,” Rosie moans.

“I agree.” I laugh. “Mom and Dad really screwed up on that conception.”

“I can hear you,” Aurelio says.

“Good,” Rosie counters. “Just once, I wish you could just have fun with us, Aurelio. You never have fun.”

Aurelio spins on her. We’ve just made it out to the casino floor. “Have fun? How the fuck am I supposed to do that, Rosie, when all you two do is find trouble? And it’s my job to take care of the both of you.”