Page 24 of Taking His Heart

“Meaning?”

“You don’t want me to marry her off to a Don, you marry her yourself then,” he says casually while staring me in the eyes.

I don’t even know how to respond to that. “You want me to marry your daughter?”

“Daniella, yes,” he says with all the seriousness you’d expect from a crime boss discussing his daughter’s marriage.

“Don’t you think she should have a choice in this?” I’ve known the De Bellises a long time, and not once have I gotten the inclination that Gio De Bellis would ever auction his daughters off like this. He did his best to keep them away from anyone with a dick.

“She will agree when I tell her she has to,” he says.

At this, I laugh. Now I know he’s full of shit. “No way in hell will Daniella just go along with a marriage because someone tells her she has to.”

Daniella is strong-minded. It’s one of the things I love about her. She’s also stubborn as hell. It’s one of the other things I love and hate about her.

“You seem to be taking a vested interest in my daughter’s future, CJ. Why is that?” Gio asks me.

“I just took a bullet to ensure she had a future. So, yeah, I’m interested in making sure I didn’t save her, only to have her enter a life of hell because her father wants to marry her off to anyone who will have her.”

“Well, unless you want to be the one tied to her forever, I suggest you find something else to spend your time worrying about.”

I don’t respond. Instead, I walk out. I was planning on going to town, but now I’m logging into the houses CCTV to find Aurelio. If someone can stop Gio’s plan to marry off Daniella, it will be her brother.

I find him in the gym with Aiden.

“Did you know?” I push through the door.

“Know what?” Aurelio looks at me with the same blank expression we’ve all learned to master in the world we live in.

“Your father is marrying her off. He’s sending her home to marry some Don.”

Aurelio laughs. “Yeah, good one, mate.”

“I just had a conversation with him in my father’s office. He offered her to me. Told me if I didn’t want her married to someone else, I should marry her.”

“So…” Aurelio shrugs. “Marry her then.”

“You can’t be serious. You need to stop this, Aurelio. The only person who gets to decide Daniella’s life is Daniella.”

With that, I storm out of the gym and head into the garage. I need to get away from this house.

Chapter Twelve

My mum has been hovering over me all day. My dad? Well, he keeps checking in on me at least once an hour. And now Aurelio is on this whole hovering thing too.

“Okay, this has to stop,” I groan. My hands fly up into the air.

“What does?” my mum asks.

“You guys hovering over me like I’m some fragile little thing that’s going to break. I’m fine. This isn’t new for me.”

“Fine? So you’re not concerned Dad has arranged your marriage?” Aurelio questions.

“What?” My brows draw down in confusion.

“I hear he has some Don back home ready to marry you.” My brother shrugs.

“Aurelio, stop spreading rumors. There is no way your father would do that,” Mum scolds.