Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Gianluca
My papà and zio’s finally join us, with them is Giacomo Bastianini. The looks on their faces tells me that I’m not going to like what they have to say. Giacomo goes over and kisses Caitríona.
“Have you all ordered lunch?” Zio Enea asks.
“We ordered appetizers, but decided to wait for all of you before ordering lunch.” Aintín Graínne smiles as he kisses her.
I stare at my papà and frown. I hate waiting to find out what’s going on.
“Let’s order lunch and then we can talk about what’s going on.” Papà says as he looks at me.
It takes longer than I’d like for everyone to get their orders in. After the waiter leaves, my zio Enea clears his throat.
“I know Leonardo talked to the both of you earlier. But I need to hear what you both want. And because this could turn into a bigger situation, I called on Giacomo, Elio, Zeus and Panagiotis.” He says to Gabriela and me.
Lake Renegade has a council that makes the final decisions on anything that involves our families.
The council is Zios Enea and Antonio, my papà, Giacomo, Zeus Athanasiou, Panagiotis Nikolaidis and Elio Salvadori.
Zeus and Panagiotis are the heads of their families and Elio is the head of the Southside Mafia.
If they’re all coming, that tells me that they don’t think this situation will be an easy one.
Gabriela and I tell my zio the same thing we told my papà earlier and he nods at us.
“Well your papà isn’t happy that you want to stay. But he’s agreed to talk with us more tonight. He wants the two of you there when we talk.”
“I’m sorry this is becoming a big deal.” Gabriela says, looking sad.
“Don’t be sorry, if this is really what you want, we’ll do whatever we can to help. Now none of us know your papà, but I’m hoping he’ll be reasonable about all of this.”
“I never thought my parents would stop me from being with the person I choose. They’ve always said that we all could choose who we love. But now it feels like they were lying.”
“Are any of your brothers married?” Giacomo asks.
“No. None of them even have someone they want to be with. Or if they do, they’re not telling anyone.”
“Do you think they’ll force her to go back to Valencia?” I ask.
“I wish I could say no. But I don’t know her parents, so that’s not something I can say either way. But, Gabriela, you have to realize that if you fight your parents, you could lose them.”
“What do you mean?” she asks.
“Your parents are old school and what that means for you is that your papà expects you to obey what he says. No questions and no fighting. But if you want to be with Gianluca, you have to fight him.” Zio Antonio says to her.
“So you’re saying my family might disown me?”
“Sì. But know this, you’ll always have a home here. You’re part of our family now.” My papà says to her as everyone at the table nods in agreement.
“Gracias. I really appreciate that.”
I take Gabriela’s hand and kiss it. I’m going to do whatever I have to to show her parents that I love her and I can take care of her.
My family uses this time to get to know Gabriela more.
The more she talks about her home, the more I realize how much she’ll miss it and her family if she’s forced to choose.
Me or them. I really hope it doesn’t come down to that.
It would be like me having to choose between her and baseball.
Gabriela
The more I get to know the families of Lake Renegade, the more I love all of them.
They show how much every one means to each other.
It’s not something I’ve grown up with. My family is very affectionate.
We hug a lot and always say I love you. But outside our family?
That’s not what we do. But here? They’re not all blood family, but if you were to watch them?
You wouldn’t know that. They’re all family and they all show their love. It’s how I want to live.
As I look around at the parents, I love how each of the men show their wives how much them mean to them.
All the time. Not just sometimes. Gianluca looks at me that way.
And I’ve been thinking about what Antonio said.
Am I willing to lose my family for Gianluca and Giancarlo?
Yes. I would shout that from the highest mountains.
Fuck. Yes. They are my family now and I won’t leave them.
“We’re doing a video conference call at three pm our time.
I don’t know who will be with him on his end.
I’m thinking your mamà and your brothers.
But I’m not sure if he’s going to have his council there.
But we will have Lake Renegade’s council with us.
Just in case he wants to show his power, we will show ours too. ” Enea says to me.
“I’ve been thinking about what Antonio said. How I could lose my family over this. If my family decides to give me an ultimatum? I choose Gianluca.”
“Are you sure? Sometimes things like this can’t be taken back. These decisions you make could be permanent.” Leonardo says as he looks at me. It feels like he’s staring into my soul to make sure I’m not going to hurt his son.
I sit up straighter. “I’m sure. I love Luca and I love Giancarlo. They’re the ones I want to be with. Even if that means losing my family.”
Gianluca pulls me closer to him. as I turn to look at him, he kisses me.
“I love you.” He says softly.
“I love you, too. You’re my future, no matter what happens tonight.”
“And you’re mine.”
We finish having lunch and head back to Lake Renegade.
Being back in our town always feels like nothing can touch us here.
Like we live in our own Lake Renegade bubble.
I’m sad that I might have to make the decision to not see my family again.
I never thought I’d be in that kind of position.
I’m hoping my parents will understand that I love Gianluca. And I choose him.
My parents had an arranged marriage. And from what my mamá’s told me, she hated him for a while.
She was in love with another man when her papá told her she would be marrying my papá and she said she was so angry.
But she grew to love my papá and now she can’t imagine her life without him.
I also remember her telling me that she hoped that I would find my person one day.
The one man that would make me feel like I was the only woman for him.
And I have found him. I just need my parents to listen and understand.
We all gather in the Cimaruta MC’s clubhouse. They have a big room with a TV that’s hooked up to the program that Sebastiano created for video chatting. I’m nervous to see my parents and brothers. But I’m also excited for them to meet my Luca.
“Are you okay with everyone being here with you?” Enea asks me.
“I am. I feel better having the support from everyone. I really hope my parents understand what I want. And are okay with it.”
“I am too. I think part of it is that they need to see you when you talk to them. It’s easier to understand when they can see you and Luca.”
I nod. “I really hope so.”
Gianluca holds my hand as we wait for my parents to pick up on their end.
“It’s going to be okay.” He whispers to me.
I take a deep breath as we see my parents appear on the TV.
“Ramón, I’m Enea Mancini.”
“Enea, it’s nice to meet you. This is my wife, Lourdes.”
Enea introduces everyone in the room. He saves Gianluca for last.
“And this is my nephew, Gianluca.”
My papá nods at us. There’s something odd about the way my papá’s acting. And the look on my mama’s face is making me wonder if there’s something else going on.
“Gabriela needs to come home. Things here are fine and we’d feel better having her home.”
“Ramón, I mean no disrespect, but how did you resolve things so fast?” Antonio asks.
“We made a deal with the Russians. Things are fine now.” He says stiffly.
“There’s something wrong.” I whisper to Gianluca.
He nods. “I’ll let Zio Enea know.”
Gianluca stands up and walks out of the camera frame. He motions to Enea to come over to him. Enea looks over to me and I give him a slight nod.
“Ramón, if you need help, we can give it to you.” Enea says as he walks back in front of the camera.
“Why would we need help?” my papá frowns.
Enea stares at him, then changes the subject. “We need to talk about Gabriela and Gianluca. Gabriela has told us that she wants to stay here in Lake Renegade with Luca.”
“No. That’s impossible. We need her to come home.”
“But papá…I love Gianluca, I want to stay here with him.”
“How could you even know you love him? You’ve only been there a few weeks.”
“I just know. Please, mamá. You told me before that one day I’ll meet someone and I’ll know. Well I’ve met him.”
“We’ve heard the stories of Gianluca.” Papá says.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Leonardo snaps.
“He has a certain reputation that my daughter doesn’t deserve to deal with.”
“Again, what is that supposed to mean?”
“The women he’s been with. I don’t want my daughter with a man who can’t be faithful to one woman at a time.”
“Wait a minute. I’ve never cheated on a woman before. And I’ve also never been in a relationship since I was in college. I love Gabriela and I would never hurt her.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Papá. You don’t even know Gianluca—”
“I know he has a son from a woman who he abandoned.”
“I don’t know where you’re getting your information from. But I never abandoned my sons mother.”
“But you were never with her, yet you were reckless enough to get her pregnant. That tells me that you sleep around without care.”
“That’s not what I do. Yes. I’ve slept with women. But I’ve never been careless about it. And until I met Gabriela? I didn’t want to settle down with anyone.”
“And your son? Where’s his mother? And why is she not with you? A child needs their mother.”
“Faith is gone.” Rosaura says softly. “We lost her eight months ago.”
The look on my mamá’s face changes.
“We were told that Gianluca took the boy from her.”
“My son would never do that to anyone.” Rosaura frowns. “Who’s telling you this?”
“I think we need to speak in person.” My papá says.
“Why don’t you come to Lake Renegade.”
“We will be there in two days.”
I wish I knew what was really going on with my parents. Two days can’t come fast enough.