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“The same way that I can trust you.”
Father’s lips twitched, and I relaxed. He was intrigued by my husband, I could tell. There weren't many men willing to interrupt him. I personally had never seen an omega speak up to him in such a way. Until Joey.
“Take a seat,” Father said.
We both sat, but I didn’t let go of Joey’s hand.
“Our associates may not trust this,” he said. “What plans do you have in place to assure them your loyalties lie with us?”
“Fuck them,” I said. “Joey didn’t deal in his father’s business. The way they treated him was hardly a secret to anyone who had eyes. Our associates can trust that I’ll take care of what’s mine. This business is mine, and this omega is mine. We don’t have, nor will we ever have, any loyalty to Joey’s family.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed on me. “You didn’t do this for an alliance?”
I shook my head. “No.”
My father studied me for a moment, and my gaze never wavered. Finally, he nodded. “That’s settled then. I trust you’ll get him set up with a guard. You cannot have him in the presence of his former family unless he’s protected.”
Tension I didn’t know I’d been holding left my body. I hadn’t needed my father’s approval, but now that I had it, I reveled in it. I squeezed Joey’s hand. I owed it all to him. He’d stood up to my father on my behalf. Pride filled me. I knew I’d picked well for a partner, and every moment we were together showed me just how right I was. “Of course.”
Father turned to Joey. “You will join us for family dinner tonight. Though I have no doubt that Andro can appease our allies and demonstrate he made the right choice, my acceptance will go a long way. And you have it. Welcome to the family.”
Joey’s breath hitched. “Thank you, sir.”
8
JOEY
“Hello, Father. It’s me.” It was cowardly to make this call instead of speaking to my father face to face, but I was a coward. And even though I officially had the Ferrini family swearing protection and loyalty to me, I didn’t trust my own family to make that kind of promise.
Based on what Andro and his father said, they didn’t count on it either.
“Where the fuck are you?” His voice was deep and growly, more so than usual. Not that he ever spoke nicely to me, but this seemed worse somehow.
I clenched my jaw, begging for strength not to hang up.
“I don’t know what kind of stunt you’re trying to pull, but you need to get your ass home. We’ve got shit to do.”
“I…” I cleared my throat, wondering how I was possibly going to explain this. “The thing is…”
“Spit it the fuck out, Joseph. Some of us have real jobs and don’t sit in a little office sipping hot chocolate all day.”
He was making it easier. I cleared my throat once again and started over, pulling from the unknown source of strength I’d used when I’d defended Andro to his father. “I got married, Father. To Allesandro Ferrini. I’m part of his family now.”
His heavy breaths bounced off the phone’s receiver faster now, but my father was otherwise silent.
“Dad? Are you still there?”
“Don’t you dare fucking call me Dad when you’re gonna come up with bullshit stories like that. It ain’t funny, Joseph.”
Shit. “It’s not a joke. We’re…in love.” I felt awkward saying that with Andro sitting beside me, but we needed to sell the story, and that was what we agreed to tell people. “I live here now. If you still want me to work for the business, I–”
There was a loud crashing sound, and then the line went dead. He probably threw his phone against a wall. That was his go-to move when somebody pissed him off over the phone. As the accountant for the family, I’d tracked that expense. He went through ten phones last year alone.
Andro rubbed a circle over my lower back. “You okay?”
I took a second to take stock of myself. The answer came faster than it probably would have had I been in a healthy family. “Yeah, I am. He’s pissed, but he’ll get over it. Or he won’t. I don’t care either way.”
Andro pulled me onto his lap and held me against his chest. “You’re so brave, Joey. I can’t believe you put up with them for as long as you did. But that life is over now. You can do anything you want… Or nothing at all. I’ll take care of you.”
