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He climbed up the steps until he was standing over me. “Did you hear my conversation with Lorenzo?”
I nodded. There was no sense in lying. My dad was a human lie detector.
“Forget the name Gianna Carlini, do you understand me?” He leaned so close I could feel his breath on my face.
“But—” I attempted to protest before he cut me off.
“No buts, Angelo. You are never to speak to Gianna again. Leave her alone.”
“No,” I shot back with fire behind my words. “Gia will be my wife someday.”
“I haven’t seen her around lately,” he growled. “From what I hear from the O’Sheas, she wants nothing to do with you. This should make it easy for both of you to move on.” He leaned against the wall and shook his head. “You are my namesake, Angelo. I expect more from you than your brothers. Do not let me down.”
Always the obedient one, I didn’t argue with my father. He owned everything and everyone in the city. We were nothing more than pawns in his game. I could only hope Gia would one day forgive me for the sins of our father’s past.
Chapter Seventeen
Angelo
I should have listed evading the cops as a special skill on my law school application. After dodging the Feds for the third time today, Sonny and I were getting good at it. It was like old times, long before we knew how to do illegal shit without getting caught.
“On your two o’clock,” Sonny said to me, as I stuffed the money in my pocket, drawing my attention to the unmarked car rolling past the alleyway. “We have to go.”
Avoiding the cops was a normal day for both of us. But we hadn’t had to run through the city to do it since we were in high school. My time apart from Gia was making me do stupid shit I never would have done if she were around. Making collections on foot between breaks from school wasn’t the smartest of ideas.
Scanning my surroundings, I pressed my back against the wall and watched the car creep by us. “Head down Diamond Street and cut through the Quad. They won’t follow us with all those people around. Then, we can make a run f
or the parking lot and stash the money in my trunk.”
Sonny nodded and followed me down the vacant alley with his hand up to his forehead to block the sun from his eyes. “Next time, we do this by car. Fuck running around like assholes.”
I picked up the pace. “There won’t be a next time. I graduate next week.”
He smirked. Even though he would never say it, Sonny respected me for following through with school. I never thought I would get a bachelor’s degree let alone a master’s degree in jurisprudence. Someone had to look legitimate in this family, and I was the only one smart enough to pull it off.
We hauled ass across the quad and into the throng of students. Fraternity brothers were on the lawn watching sorority girls lather up their bodies with tanning oil. With graduation around the corner, people were busy with finals. Some were already cleaning out their dorm rooms.
I looked over my shoulder at the unmarked car which was creeping down Broad Street and picking up the pace. Raising my middle finger in the air to the agent behind the tinted window, I smiled and darted through the Quad. This wasn’t one of my finer ideas for losing a tail, but I had to improvise.
Oblivious to my surroundings, I turned around too late and crashed into someone. It was Gia. She had a stack of books that fell from her hands. One of them hit me on the shoulder, and the rest were scattered on the grass next to us.
I flashed a cocky grin that made her lip curl in anger even though I seemed to have the opposite effect on her nipples. She was probably wet for me, too.
“Hey, beautiful.”
Blushing ten shades of pink from her cheeks to her neck, she rolled her eyes at me. “Don’t hey, beautiful me, Angelo.”
I sunk to the ground to collect her books and was planning to help her with them when she stole them from me.
She turned her body away from me, and I grabbed her wrist. “Wait. Can we talk, G?”
“Take your hands off me, Angelo.” She spoke with venom in her words and fire behind her beautiful blue eyes. “We can’t…” she trailed off.
Her words sliced through me. I never meant to hurt her. I wasn’t the one who killed her mother, but she blamed me.
Gia wiggled free from my grasp, the sexual tension burning between us like a lit match. I wanted to bend her over and fuck some sense into her.
She smiled, but it wasn’t for me. I turned to see who had commanded Gia’s attention. A man, about the same age as me, stalked toward us. He wore dark jeans and a tight black shirt that hugged his muscular frame.
