Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Gianluca
Gabriela’s family arrives today and I’m still pissed about what they thought they knew about me. I’m not sure they’ve changed their minds yet. But we’ll see what happens when they get here. They still haven’t told us who they got their information about me from.
My phone rings, it’s from the Panthers organization.
“Hello?”
“Hi Gianluca, it’s Pauline. We’ve been getting phone calls for you.”
It’s not unusual for people to call the office and try to get our numbers or information on us. But it is odd that Pauline is calling me about it. She’s the head of our legal department.
“I hate to bother you with this, but now we’re getting calls from someone claiming to be a lawyer for the father of Giancarlo. We told them that they needed to send us proof or stop calling. But they still kept calling. And today we got a letter. Phillip wants you to come in.”
What the fuck?
“I’ll leave now. It’s going to take me about two hours to get to the office.”
“No problem, I’ll let him know. We’ll see you soon.”
I hang up and call my papà.
“Figlio, what’s up?”
I tell him what Pauline told me.
“What the hell? Come to the office first. I’ll go with you and we should take Lorenzo.”
“But what about Gabriela’s parents? They’ll be here in five hours. And I don’t know if we’ll be back in time. I don’t want her to meet them alone.”
“I’ll call Giacomo and have a couple of his prospects pick them up and take them to Lake Renegade. And then I’ll call your mamá and have her greet them. And she’ll make sure that they don’t see Gabriela until we get back. Get Apollo to come with you. I’ll see you soon.”
“Grazie, papà.”
“Drive safe. It’s going to be fine.”
I hang up and go downstairs. Gabriela is in the kitchen with Carlo, Giovanna and her kids. I explain everything to them.
“I need you to stay with Gia. Even if you hear your family, stay in the house. My mamá will either call or text you to let you know what’s going on. And we’re going to hurry back. I love you.” I say to Gabriela as I kiss her.
“Okay. Please drive safe. I love you.”
I hug and kiss Giancarlo.
“Listen to Zia Gia and Gabriela.”
“Otay, papà.” He smiles as he hugs me. “I wuv you.”
“I love you too.” I smile as I hug him again.
It takes me five minutes to get to Apollos house. He’s outside yelling at his brother Eros.
“You’re loud.” I laugh as I get out of my car and hug them both. “I need you to come with me to the city.”
“What the fuck? Why him and not me?” Eros squints at me.
I chuckle. “You can come too.”
“No. I was invited. You stay home.” Apollo says to his brother as he rolls his eyes.
“Fuck that. I’m coming.”
They both get in, Eros jumping in the drivers seat and Apollo takes the passenger seat.
“Whoa. What the fuck? I’m not sitting in the back while you two argue up front.” I sigh at them.
“Get in the back little brother.” Eros smirks.
“You’re a dick.” Apollo grumbles as he gets into the backseat.
I shake my head at them and get into the car.
“We need to pick up my papà and Lorenzo and then head to the Panther’s office.”
“Why are we going to the Panther’s office?” Apollo’s voice is muffled.
“What…”
I turn to look at him and he’s stuffing a sandwich in his mouth.
“Where did you get the sandwich? I swear you didn’t have that in your hand when I drove up.” I say as Apollo takes another bite.
“It was in my pocket.” He shrugs. “Don’t change the subject.”
“See this is my point. You only think of yourself.” Eros frowns.
Apollo shoves the bitten sandwich at Eros.
“You want some?” Which comes out sounding like oo ant fun?. I can’t stop laughing.
“Aww gross. You spit food at me. No I don’t want your sandwich. You slobbered on it and me.”
“I don’t slobber.”
The Athanasiou and Nikolaidis families are shifters.
Which makes Eros’ slobber comment funnier.
Because they’re polar bears and I have seen them slobber and drool.
They spend the rest of the drive arguing and it’s a good distraction for me.
Because I have an idea who’s doing this and I have a bad feeling about how this is going to go.
My papà and cugino are waiting in the lobby for us when we get to the Legacy hotel. We get back into the car and head to the Panther’s office.
“Tell me what you were told.” Lorenzo says to me.
I tell him what Pauline told me. “The only thing she didn’t tell me was what that letter said.”
“Do you have any idea who could be doing this?”
“I think it’s Faith’s ex. The one she was running from when she came to Lake Renegade.”
“His name was Yakov Koslov, right?”
“Yeah, she called him Yasha. When he didn’t come around earlier, I thought he had just given up.”
Apollo snorts. “Yakov? Seriously?”
Papà shakes his head at Apollo as he chuckles.
“What? It’s not my fault that his parents hated him from the start.”
Everyone laughs as Lorenzo gets on the phone to his brother Sebastiano. He and Francesco Bastianini are our top IT guys and they can find anything we need. I listen to him tell Sebastiano everything that’s going on.
“They’ll get back to me ASAP. We did get some information on Yakov before, but what if it’s not him?”
There’s no one else that I know of that would try and claim my son. I really hoped that Yakov was going to do the right thing and just stay away.
We don’t hear anything before we get to the office. There’s a new girl at the front desk.
“Hi, I’m Gianluca Mancini, we’re here to see Pauline and Phillip.”
“Holy crap. I-I mean just a minute.” She gets on the phone to let Pauline know we’re here.
“Hasn’t she met you before?” Eros whispers to me.
“She’s new. I’ve never seen her before.”
“No wonder. She’s staring at you like she wants to eat you.”
“Ew.”
“Hey, Gianluca. Why don’t you all come on back with me.” Pauline smiles as she greets all of us.
We all follow her into one of the conference rooms where Phillip is waiting for us.
Phillip Sadler is the owner of the Chicago Panthers.
He’s always been a hands on type of owner.
The kind that actually cares about his team and players.
The day I was drafted, he sat down with me and my parents to talk about what he saw in me.
And what he hoped I would bring to the Panthers.
This year my contract is up and we’re in negotiations.
Phillip has said he won’t let me go to another team.
So it’s just a matter of both of us getting what we want in my next contract.
Phillip stands and greets all of us.
“I always forget how big your family is until I see them again.” Phillip chuckles.
“One day you’ll have to come to a family barbecue.” I laugh as my papà nods.
“If I’m invited? I’ll be there.”
“Pauline said that you got a letter?” I ask.
“We did. And we’re making sure it’s a real lawyer firm.” He says as he hands me the paper.
Fuck. It is Yakov Koslov. I hand the paper to Lorenzo.
“My cousin, Lorenzo is our family lawyer.”
“We’ve already established that Gianluca is Giancarlo’s biological father.” Lorenzo says as he looks at my papà.
My papà nods at him, giving him the green light to tell Phillip some of the things we know.
“Yakov Koslov was with Giancarlo’s mother before she passed.
From what Faith told us, he was abusive to her.
She was on her way to Lake Renegade to tell Gianluca about their son when she was in the car accident that took her life.
But before she passed, she was able to tell us some things.
One that he was never on Giancarlo’s birth certificate.
I’m not sure how she did that, but she did.
We have his original birth certificate. She gave us permission to do a DNA test, she died before we got the results.
But she did sign a letter saying she wanted Giancarlo to be with Gianluca. ”
“I never doubted you all had this in order. I’m not sure why they sent all this here to us instead of you.”
“Probably because they hoped you would panic and do what they wanted. The other thing you should know is that he hasn’t seen Carlo for eight months now. Not that we would allow it, but he hasn’t even tried.”
“What do you want us to do?” Phillip asks.
“Nothing. We can handle it, but if you get any more phone calls, please forward it to us. Same with the letters.” Lorenzo says as he hands Phillip and Pauline his business card.
“I’m sorry you’re going through this. Every time I’ve seen Giancarlo, he’s always so happy.”
“Thanks. He’s a great kid, I only wish Faith was around to see him.”
We all shake hands with Phillip and Pauline. And thank them for the heads up on this situation. Five minutes into our drive back home, my sister texts.
Fiorella: Gabriela’s family is here. She’s at the house with me, and her parents and brothers are at the bakery with mamá. How long till you get home?
Gianluca: We just left the Panthers office. We have to drop papà and Lorenzo off at the hotel so they can get their car. So probably two hours?
Fiorella: Okay. Gabriela’s nervous. I can tell
Gianluca: I hate that I had to leave. Tell her I love her
Fiorella: I got you, fratellino
Gianluca: Ti voglio bene, sorellina
Fiorella: Ti voglio bene, fratellino
I truly don’t know what things would be like without my family. While I know that no one can take Carlo away from me, it’s still frustrating that I have to deal with this.
“So Bastian said that the law firm is real and it looks like the one that works with the Koslov Bratva. But he has no claim on Giancarlo. Did Faith ever tell him that he wasn’t his father?” Lorenzo asks.
“I don’t know, I didn’t’ ask her that. All I know is that she told me that she always knew I was his father. And that Carlo never wanted to call Yakov papà.”
Apollo snickers.
“You’re a child.” Eros says as he rolls his eyes.
“Again. It’s not my fault that’s his name. I didn’t name the asshole.”
My phone rings, but I don’t recognize the number so I let it go to voicemail. Whoever it is leaves a message.
“Gianluca Mancini. You have my son and I want him back. It took me a while to find out who had him. But now that I know it’s you?
I want him back. Giancarlo is mine. I’ve raised him with that whore that was his mother.
So sad that she’s gone. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s mine.
I don’t care what she told you. I know he’s my blood.
And this is kidnapping. Next time I call? Pick up the fucking phone.”
How the fuck did he get my number? And who the fuck does he think he is? I play the message for everyone in the car.
“Fuck him.” Eros frowns.
“Well I guess that answers my earlier question. I wonder how he never questioned things. I mean Giancarlo looks exactly like you. He didn’t look anything like Faith. So either he’s dumb or playing dumb.”
“Well his name is Yakov…” Apollo grins.
“I’m so sorry for my brother…”
We laugh as we drop my papà and Lorenzo off. I need to get home and hold my girl and my son.