Chapter 11
LELANI
I can’t shake off this feeling that my world as I know it is about to come to a swift end.
Even without my family’s shenanigans, tonight would’ve been as dramatic and filled with unexpected events as always.
Still, with their vicious plotting as a backstory, everything becomes more consequential, more hurtful.
More shocking.
My eyes hover over Callum’s face, collecting evidence for the case I’m building against him in my head.
Why did he have to stay in our family after my mother’s death?
Why?
Why does he even have to play a role in this story when my family, as the chess masters that they are, have made several moves to secure more power for themselves by trading me away?
What is their plan after all?
Are they positioning my future husband and me against this man?
Callum O’Hara is at the helm of our empire as we speak. Perhaps not formally, but he is.
While Giorgio runs the businesses in the background, Callum is the deterrent for anyone thinking of messing with my family.
Is that not enough?
Who is threatening our family that he has to take proactive steps and forge another alliance?
The way I see it, Giorgio is operating a multi-front war, securing as much leverage as he can.
He brought Callum into our family and made it worthwhile for him to stay, even though he was fully aware of what a risky move that was.
So he needs to balance that out, and why not shop around for a husband for little old me?
Get someone else into the mix, just as powerful, and add a safety feature to this arrangement that so far has given Callum full power and worked for the Gallos.
This is one scenario that plays in my head.
The other one is that he’s facing a threat in one of his territories and tossing me into the mix to annihilate that danger.
If that’s the case, my role in this will be significantly reduced.
If these scenarios play out in the end, I can’t stop thinking about what a mess my crushing on Callum will create.
Moving away from my rumination, I center my focus on the man in question.
He is just as guarded as he is handsome, rocking a sharp suit and a tie despite the balmy weather, while his eyes glint with the power of a thousand swords.
He looks even more magnetic than I remember, with his lips drawn into a knowing smirk, his moves smooth and powerful, his eyes barely gliding over the people in front of him.
I wish he had looked for me.
I wish he had asked about me.
My attention shifts to the woman next to him.
She’s closer to his age––in her late thirties––and looks like a royal in her sheer floral long evening gown.
I wish I could say she is just another woman he picked up at a bar or a restaurant, someone who was here for drinks and food, or to mingle with the people.
Unfortunately, she seems to play a role in his life.
Although I doubt he’ll get married again.
It would defeat the purpose of him being in our family, but who knows, really?
Giorgio has always been in the pimping business, playing Cupid and all.
He was always of the belief that women should play a well-defined role in this life by helping the criminal machine cogs move smoothly.
So, if Callum wants to get married again or have a woman by his side, I don’t see Giorgio opposing that, provided the woman is properly vetted and kept out of the loop.
I can’t tell much about this woman, other than that she is beautiful, confident, and has a smoking-hot body.
Her dress highlights her hourglass shape. Big ringlets of dark hair move around her shoulders every time she tilts her head toward the people in the audience.
She’s too old to be a mafia princess, someone like me who just now stepped into the game.
She’s also too refined not to have had some world experience. She can’t be in an arranged relationship with him. They make a great couple.
The thought makes me queasy.
A beautifully crafted necklace graces her delicate neck, and I instantly check her ring finger and then his.
He’s wearing his well-known signet ring with a flat engraved bezel and nothing else.
The woman’s hand is free of rings.
It doesn’t matter. She’s with him. He brought her here. He knew I’d be here.
Just another reminder that I mean nothing to this man.
Like the rest of them.
“Okay, I need to go,” I say. “They’re waiting for me. Or not. But I need to play my role. Stay close. If I don’t see you when I come back, I’ll come to your room.”
I kiss Rory’s cold cheek and walk away.
LELANI
Giorgio Gallo makes the introductions.
Antonio Sandoval is tall like his brother, but slightly less muscular. They both have dark hair, chiseled features, and stern looks.
Marco’s eyes glint with a pang of interest, which is more than his brother shows me.
He sports a sexy stubble and has green eyes, while Antonio has dark amber eyes.
It’s difficult to say in this light.
We connect hands briefly, and that’s that. Neither of them seems to be in awe of me. The feeling is mutual.
I don’t know what their problem is, but I know what mine is. I don’t like to be traded away.
The older guys seem more animated, and now I wonder whether they’re related.
Giorgio mentions their names in passing, and none of them seems to be connected to the Sandoval brothers.
Callum has his back to us and speaks to a man, while his lady friend studies the crowd, uninterested in their conversation.
“Are we heading inside?” Sylvia asks, attempting to huddle them up and move our conversation into the dining room.
So far, things have been awkward. People are bored stiff, and also glaringly uninterested in what’s up for sale, while I, on the other hand, would love to leave this place, walk away from my current life, and never return.
One day, perhaps, I will make it happen.
I’m still holding out hope that Callum would pivot to us and maybe join us. It’s still not clear to me whether he’ll have dinner with us or not.
I find it rude that he ignores me. I’m still part of the family, and he still needs to have some manners.
One of the people he’s talking to, an athletic man with dark blonde hair and blue eyes, notices me as I repeatedly look in their direction.
The next time I glance at them, his eyes meet mine unapologetically. I give him a smile, and for the first time this evening, something is finally working.
The man smiles back at me.
Encouraged by his reaction, I step away from my grandmother and stretch my hand out.
“Leilani Gallo,” I say just as he wraps his hand around mine.
The man’s lips tilt into a charming smile.
“Paxton Maclean. Nice to meet you.”
The man must be unaware of what is going on.
How else can I explain his rather normal reaction to me?
He seems pleasantly surprised by my move and gives me a flirtatious smile, which is totally normal, considering that this is a party, and he’s not afraid to show me that he’d like to know more about me.
“Same here. I’m the heiress to the Gallo empire,” I announce emphatically. “And this is my beloved father,” I say, pressing a hand on Callum’s forearm. “Not my real father, of course,” I joke just as Callum O’Hara tilts his head to me, his eyes tearing into me with blazing fire.
My familiar gesture is more than I’ve ever dared to do to him in public.
My favorite joke doesn’t land for anyone except the blonde man in front of me, who breathes a low chuckle, slowly shaking his head.
Callum’s eyes meet mine for the first time, and that saying comes to mind.
If looks could kill…
My hand is still on his sleeve, slowly gliding over the fabric that’s smoothly falling over his frame.
He lifts an eyebrow at me, suggestively enough to make me take my hand off him.
His woman fixes her eyes on me. They’re heavy with curiosity.
My first impulse is to drop it.
A confrontation with Callum O’Hara, witnessed by so many people, would only create more problems down the road, yet a voice inside my head keeps nudging me in the wrong direction.
Brazenly holding his eyes, I tilt my chin toward the woman.
“Is she my new mommy?” I drop on him, watching with immense satisfaction how he’d like nothing better than to smack me, although I doubt that it’s his style.
I’m sure he can think of better methods to punish me and put me in my place.
A muscle pulses in his jaw, while his eyes remain dipped in molten steel, never letting out anything, never offering the slightest clue on where his mind goes.
“Vittoria Pietro,” the woman says.
Our hands connect without a kernel of warmth or meaning.
She’s mature enough not to encourage me to behave like a spoiled brat, so she’s chosen the safest way to get out of this awkward situation.
“Enchanted,” I say, and pull my lips together before winking at Callum in a dare and moving my focus to his friend.
“Let’s go inside,” I say, and much to everyone’s shock, I curl my arm through Paxton’s and lead the way.