“By who?”
“Connor O’Shea.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Please tell me that’s a joke. Your dad’s going to let that potato-eating prick watch over you and not one of my men. I don’t think so. No, not gonna happen, babe.”
“Connor is nice to me. He doesn?
?t hover like you and your men.”
“That’s because he doesn’t care about you like I do. He would never do what’s necessary to keep you safe.”
“My dad arranged it with the O’Sheas. Your dad is okay with it.”
“I can’t believe you kept this from me.”
Her betrayal stung, slicing into my chest. We’d never kept secrets. Gia was always honest with me.
“I never lied.”
“You hid the truth,” I countered. “Same difference.”
“I was waiting for the right time,” she hissed.
“You don’t want me to fuck you. My men are not good enough to watch over you. I feel like you’re giving me a hint without saying it.”
“It’s not a breakup, Angelo. Stop it.” Gia ran her fingers up my arm, tickling me. “My mom is dead. We’re sitting on the grass at her funeral when I should be inside. We are out here because I just had a fucking meltdown in front of hundreds of people. I need time to lick my wounds. That’s all, nothing more.”
“Fine. You get one week.” I leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead. “I will find who did this to your mom. I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“I never do. It might take time to figure all of this out, but I swear I will try my best. I can’t bring your mom back, but maybe I can give you some closure.”
She bit her bottom lip, making me want to take it into my mouth and suck on it. “I want to do it.”
“Do what?”
“I want to kill the person who killed my mom.”
I had no idea how to respond. Gia was dead set on getting her revenge. Blood demanded blood. I had to give it to her. She deserved justice. She deserved peace. Most of all, she deserved a better man than me. But I was too selfish to let her go.
Gianna Carlini was part of me, her essence engrained in every memorable experience I’d ever had. She could push me away all she wanted, but I would never let her go. She was mine.
Chapter Sixteen
Angelo
Two weeks had passed since the funeral. Gia was still distant with no signs of returning to me anytime soon. She blamed me for her mother’s death, even though I had no leads on who killed her or any sign of getting Gia the justice I’d promised. With everyone on high alert after the bombing, my dad had insisted I stay at his compound in South Jersey. All of us were sleeping under one roof like one dysfunctional, unhappy family.
By the time I reached the second-floor landing, about to make my descent, someone knocked on the front door. Our guards opened the door, ushering someone inside. A light flicked on in the living room, causing me to stop in my tracks because that meant my father had slept on the couch again. He would either crash on the sofa, or he wouldn’t come home at all. My mother knew all about the woman he’d kept on the side and hated him for it.
“Lorenzo?” My dad strolled down the hallway toward to front door, surprised. “Have you lost your mind coming here, and at this hour?”
Clutching the railing, I sucked in a deep breath. Gia’s dad was the last person I’d ever expected to show up at our door in the middle of the night.
“I know we made a deal to keep our distance, and that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Don’t worry no one followed me here.”
“Of course, we can talk,” my dad said. “But this is not the time nor the place.”