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He shook his head, irritated. “Gia, this behavior is unacceptable. Your security detail is for your safety. Thi
s is not a joke.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Unacceptable? I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m living a life I don’t want, all because you fear Angelo’s dad.”
His face scrunched in anger, the red from his cheeks spreading down to his neck. “I’m not afraid of him. I am only trying to protect you from what happened to your mother…” His voice died off in his throat as he choked on his words.
He hardly ever spoke of my mom anymore, and when he did, I could tell it was too painful for him to discuss. I felt the same way. We were not the type of people to hold each other and share feelings.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me. Angelo will take care of me. We are getting married. I will be a Morelli one day. Your grandchildren will bear the same name, share the same blood.”
He sighed, releasing his grip on my shoulder. “I only want you to have a good life, Gianna. I don’t want you to spend the rest of your years owing favors to men who want to use and abuse you. That family will suck the life from you. I don’t want to see the sparkle in your eyes disappear from being tied to the Morellis.”
“Let me make the decision, Daddy. I love him. I want to spend the rest of my life with Angelo. I can go behind your back and elope with him, or you can give your blessing and be included in our wedding.”
He raised his hands above his head in anger and took a few steps back from me, shoving his fingers through his dark hair. “I guess I was wrong to think I was doing the right thing by you.”
“You’re a good dad. But let me make my own decisions.” I threw my hands onto my hips, awaiting his response, but he remained stoic. “Please. Just say okay. I need to hear you say it.”
He lowered his hands to his side and shoved them in his pockets. “You have my approval, honey. I shouldn’t have asked you to choose. I already lost your mother, I can’t afford to lose you, too.”
The one thing I’d hated most about my imprisonment was that my father would not take me seriously. All of my irresponsible behavior had begun as a way to get his attention. I wish it hadn’t taken him so long to notice.
“You won’t. I promise. I will be careful.”
He pulled me into his arms, squeezing the air from my chest.
“I hate fighting with you,” I choked out between happy tears.
“Me, too, sweetie.” He patted my hair with his hand, his grip tightening on me. “Time for you to get some sleep.” He held me at an arm’s length, studying my face before he released me. “You have work in a few hours.”
“Night, Daddy.”
“Night. Tell Angelo to use the door from now on. Sneaking you out of windows is dangerous. You could have broken your neck doing that.”
“How did you know?”
“I heard the ladder a few nights ago.”
“You never said anything.”
“Nope, I figured you were home and safe.”
I turned the knob and pushed open my bedroom door. “One more thing. Angelo proposed to me tonight.” I offered the ring for him to see, and he smiled. “I’m glad you changed your mind about him.”
“See you in the morning,” he said. Then, he strolled down the hallway to his room.
Once inside my bedroom, I dropped my shoes and handbag on the chair in the corner and plopped down on my bed. I slipped the sleeping mask from my nightstand over my eyes and turned on my sleep machine, filling the quiet room with ocean sounds. My hand was heavier, my heart so full of love. Everything was beginning to fall into place. Or at least that was what I’d thought.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Angelo
Three days after I proposed to Gia, I got a tip from one of our associates about Enzo’s crew being on the move again. No one had seen or heard from any of his guys in weeks. Without eyes on them, the threat was always there. We had no way of planning our attack. So, we had to sit and wait, keeping up our guard until they were dumb enough to resurface.
“Yo!” Sonny tapped me on the shoulder. “Check this out, Lo.” He held out his cell phone for me to look at a message from Dom about a fire at Vitale’s, one of the restaurants my father was part owner.
Dominic “Dom” Barone was one of the twenty men in a crew led by my older brothers. Pete was in charge, but when he wasn’t around, Marco took the lead.
