Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Gabriela
Waiting for Gianluca to come back is killing me.
I know my family is here, but Gianluca doesn’t want me to face them alone.
But this situation with Carlo is important and I hope it’s an easy fix for him.
Giovanna and her boys stayed with me and Carlo, we put on a cartoon and they’ve been watching and dancing to the music.
Fiorella joined us about an hour ago, I love how everyone steps in to help.
The families here don’t care if you’re blood related or not.
Everyone is important. It makes me sad that Faith is gone, I know they would’ve embraced her too.
Even if she and Gianluca weren’t together.
But she must have been a good mamá and I don’t want Carlo to forget her.
So I talk to Giancarlo about her. I don’t know a lot about her, only what Luca and the family has told me.
But I make sure he kisses her picture and says goodnight to her every night before bed.
“Are you doing okay?” Giovanna asks me.
“I’m worried. My papá can be stubborn and I wish I knew why he believed whoever spoke to him. And who it was that talked to him. It’s not like him to just believe someone.”
“We’ll find that out soon. I know it’s not easy to do this, but don’t worry. No matter what happens, our family will figure it out. This is what our families do best. Helping each other.” She says as she hugs me.
“When my parents told me that I had to come here, I was so mad. But now? I’m so glad I was sent here.”
“Fate is a funny one. I’ve learned to listen to it and just follow where it takes me.”
I nod. “I’m beginning to see that.”
We hear a car pull up and my heart flutters.
I don’t know how, but I just know when my Gianluca is near.
I smile as he walks into the house and heads straight for me.
I hug him tight as he kisses me. Carlo comes over and puts his arms up to Luca.
He picks him up and he hugs us both. I love my little family.
“Your family is headed here, we’re going to meet them at the clubhouse.” Gianluca says.
“Can I pway wif cugino’s?” Giancarlo asks.
“Sì, amore.”
“Yay!” he squirms down and runs over to Rowan to tell him that they can go and play.
Watching all the little ones make me want some of my own. I hope Gianluca wants more babies.
“You know we’re going to have to give Giancarlo brothers and sister, right?” Luca whispers to me.
I look up at him. “I was hoping you’d want more babies.”
“Lots of babies.” He smiles and kisses me.
I love how sure he is about us. It’s something I’ve always dreamed about, but never really knew if it would happen. And he’s even more perfect than I dreamed he would be. We all walk to the Cimaruta clubhouse. My stomach is in knots the closer we get to it.
Gianluca squeezes my hand.
“It’s going to be okay. No matter what, I’ve got you.” He says as we walk into the clubhouse. I see my parents and my brothers waiting inside. My family comes over and hugs me.
“We’ve missed you.” They all say to me.
“I’ve missed you all . This is Gianluca.”
They all nod at Gianluca. My papá shakes his hand.
“Your daughter means everything to me. And to my son.” Gianluca says as he looks at my papá.
I see a frown flash on my mamá’s face and I don’t like it. I feel like she’s judging my Luca for having Carlo. And that’s something I won’t let happen.
“We should sit down and talk. I introduced our council when we did our call. They’re all here because our council is not only for Lake Renegade issues, it’s for our family too. We’re all one family here and Gabriela is now part of our family.” Enea says to my papá.
“You may think she is part of your family, but she is still my daughter.”
“Papá, we agreed to keep an open mind.” My oldest brother, álvaro says softly to him. He frowns and nods as they follow Enea into the next room. We all take a seat at the table.
“Please tell us who told you these things about Gianluca. And why you believed them without talking to us first. Especially after you asked us for help.” Leonardo says to my papà.
“As you know, we’ve been having problems with the Koslov Bratva. They are threatening to take over our territory. I asked for your help because they told me the only way they would stop is if I gave them my Gabriela. They wanted her to marry one of their youngest boys, Yakov Koslov.”
“Wait. Did you say Yakov? Does he live here in Illinois?” Enea asks.
“Sí. Yakov Koslov is the second youngest of the Koslov boys. There are nine of them the oldest, Fyodor was killed and next in line was his brother, Ivan. He’s now the boss, he said he’s met you before and that you know not to cross him.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Antonio growls. “I told you we should’ve made sure they were all taken care of.”
“So if they wanted you to give them Gabriela, how is it my Gianluca is involved now?” Leonardo frowns.
“When I told him that I wouldn’t give my daughter to them, he got angry.
I’m not sure how he found out where we sent her, but he did.
Ivan called me and told me that Gabriela was dating a guy who was cheating on her.
He told me that Gianluca had kidnapped his younger brother’s son.
The same brother he wanted my daughter to marry.
And that angered me. But what made me even more angry was that he was saying that your son was cheating on my Gabby.
My daughter deserves better than that. I sent her to you to keep her safe and to keep her out of the reach of the Koslov’s.
Only to hear that your son was taking advantage of her. ”
Gianluca
Listening to Ramón talk about me like I’m an asshole who treats women badly is pissing me the fuck off.
It’s taking all of my patience not to stand up and tell him to fuck off.
To believe something without proof is fucking insane.
As the head of his family, I would think he would find out the facts before believing someone like Ivan Koslov.
That bastard has done enough to our family.
“Maybe the next time you should talk to us before believing stories from a madman.” Zio Enea says as he stares at Ramón.
“Especially when he tells you that my nephew also kidnapped a child? You know enough about my family to know that we don’t hurt women and children.
When you asked Rosaura if we could take in Gabriela, we didn’t hesitate to say yes.
If any of us thought that Gianluca would hurt her, we never would’ve let him be with her.
I can promise you that. As for the situation with Giancarlo.
He is Gianluca’s son. We’ve done a DNA test, before Faith passed, she signed the paper to have them tested.
And she told us her story. Yakov Koslov abused her physically and mentally.
As far as we know he didn’t touch Carlo.
But we aren’t sure. The only thing we are sure of is that Faith was running away from him and coming to Gianluca when she was hit. ”
Ramón stands up and comes over to me.
“I apologize for assuming that Ivan was telling me the truth. But how do I know you truly care for my daughter? You just met. You can’t tell me you love her.”
I stand up and face him.
“I’m sorry if you don’t believe me. But I do love Gabriela and my son loves her too.
Time isn’t an indication of how much you love someone.
So even though I haven’t spent years with her, I know I love her.
I know that she’s my future wife, mother of my children, my world.
And I don’t care if you believe me. You’re not the one who has to.
Only Gabriela matters when it comes to knowing if I’m being truthful or not. ”
“And what about your son? You left his mother to raise him alone. And you were careless because she got pregnant in the first place.”
“If you must know, I had no idea that Faith was pregnant or that she had him until she came to Lake Renegade. And she and I dated for about six months when she told me she couldn’t deal with my baseball life.
I would never force someone to be with me.
So we parted ways. And I’ve never taken chances when I’ve been with women.
You don’t seem to understand that baseball has been my true love since I was a child. I was never going to jeopardize that—”
“So then you’re saying that my daughter comes second to baseball for you. And you just want someone to take care of your son. Change diapers and clean up after him.”
“No. I’m saying that’s how it was for me before I met Gabriela. Now I’m finding a way to love all three of them. Gabriela, Giancarlo and baseball. And when we have more children, they’ll fit into our lives too.”
Ramón laughs. “You think I’m going to give you my blessing to marry my daughter? Why would I give you permission to hurt her?”
“Papá! Were you not listening to Gianluca? He’s never given me a reason to think he’s unfaithful to me. Or that he would ever do anything to hurt me. And I love Giancarlo.”
“You want to raise another woman’s child?” Ramón frowns at her.
“Sí, papá. I believe that if Faith were still with us, she and I would be friends. That we would find a way to both be there for Giancarlo. Shame on you for acting like it’s a bad thing to raise someone else’s child.”
Gabriela comes closer to me and takes hold of my hand. This woman is my heart and I’m the luckiest person around.
“And what will you do when he does cheat on you? I’ve heard the stories of pro athletes. They all end up cheating on their wives.”
“Whoa. No we don’t. I’m sorry, I’m done listening to you say that we’re bad people because of what we do.
Yes. I admit that there are women that push a lot of boundaries.
But it’s up to us to say no. And I take offense to you saying all pro athletes cheat.
I never have and I never will. I can say with one hundred percent certainty that every athlete in our family would never cheat on anyone they’re with. ” My cugino, Domenico says to Ramón.
Everyone in our family is agreeing with Domenico.
“I respect you because you’re my Gabriela’s papà.
But that’s where my respect ends. You’re trying to convince her that I’m a bad person.
But I’m not. My son is innocent in all of this and he loves Gabriela.
I’m done defending myself to you. If you don’t like me being with your daughter?
That’s your problem. Because we are together. And I will be marrying her.”
Ramón starts to open his mouth when his wife steps in.
“I’m sorry that my husband is being so stubborn about this.
We don’t all feel the same way. I’ll admit, when we first heard what Ivan had to say about you, I believed him.
But watching you talk about my baby, I can feel your sincerity.
And I thank you for loving her so fiercely.
That’s all I’ve ever wanted for her. Someone to protect her heart and keep it safe. ”
“I promise you I will do that till I take my last breath.”
Lourdes comes over to me and hugs me. Ramón is still staring at me, I wasn’t lying when I said I don’t care what he thinks. I’m done trying to convince him of who I am.
“Now if we’re done trying to make my nephew the villain, we can get back to your situation with the Bratva. We can help you deal with them, but we need to know that you’re going to work with us.” Zio Enea says as he looks at Ramón and his sons.
“We would like your help.” Ramón says.
“Tell us the whole story about what Ivan wants from you. And then we’ll tell you what we’re dealing with on our end. Because we have a situation with them too.”