Chapter 7 #2
He raises his hand and rests the barrel of the gun against the eldest Santini’s head and cocks it. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it sure as hell wasn’t complete silence, like someone flipped a switch.
If I hadn’t been watching Andrew closely, I would have missed the slight arch of his eyebrow when he sees Asher.
Then he looks around the room, noting where everyone is.
Cheri’s leaning against my side, her tears soaking my shirt.
I know she’s horrified and blames herself for causing this.
She’ll never forgive herself if anyone gets hurt, but I refuse to let that happen.
It’s obvious her brothers are hotheaded assholes, but my brothers know better.
Normally, we’d let Andrew handle issues like this since he’s the oldest, but Cheri is mine, even if she doesn’t realize it yet. I’ll need to deal with her brothers for a long time, so I might as well start now.
Leaning down, I whisper into her ear, “Stay here, Little princess. Can you be good for me? I promise everything will be okay.” At first, I’m not sure she hears me. She’s shaking and clutching my shirt with both hands, but then she nods.
“Good girl. Thank you. I’ll be right back.
” When I turn, she releases her grip on me and looks up.
Her tear-stained face twists, making me want to rip her brothers to shreds, but that won’t fix this shit.
After sucking in a calming breath, I cross the room until I’m in front of the Santini brothers.
Asher is still holding his gun against the guy’s head, but he’d never pull the trigger in front of our women—the Santinis not knowing is a bonus for us.
I’m usually the quiet one, but they scared my Little one, and it triggers a rage I’ve never experienced.
I’m surprised steam isn’t escaping from my ears as I grind out, “Everyone needs to calm the fuck down. Is this how brothers are supposed to act? You’re scaring your sister, you assholes.
” I meet each of their gazes with a stern glare, and after a moment, they stand down, tucking their guns away.
Asher does the same. The tension in the room eases.
With the guns holstered and out of sight, I wave Cheri over, saying, “It’s okay now.” She comes right to me, which is surprising enough, since I expected her to run into one of her brothers’ arms. But then she grabs my hands, twining our fingers together.
“Now, how about we all sit down and discuss this like adults? I know Cheri is here to see her friend, but I don’t understand why you’re here and staging a hostile takeover of our home. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Cheri squeezes my hand, and I gaze down at the woman I intend to keep forever and smile.
Her eyes are red, her mascara smeared, but she still takes my breath away.
“I knew they were coming. They were annoyed that I left my apartment without telling them. I’m not supposed to travel without security.
They figured out where I was going from the tracker.
But they definitely overreacted. I’m so sorry,” she whispers, making sure I’m the only one who hears her while the others find a place to sit.
My eyes meet hers as I tell her, “We can talk about that later, okay? But you don’t have to worry; it’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it.”
“I believe you. I’m not sure why, but I do. My brothers are jerk-burgers, but I love them. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt.”
“Everything will be okay. No one is getting hurt, Little princess.” Unless they hurt her, then I’ll kill them myself.
But she doesn’t need to know that. While I lead her over to the side of the room, I tip my head to Andrew, who nods.
Looking at Cheri’s brothers, I say, “How about we start with introductions since you stormed into our home instead of being civil? I’m Aaron.
You met Adrian at the gate.” I gesture toward each couple and introduce them.
When I’m done, I look at the Santinis. “Your turn.”
“I’m Cristiano. These are my brothers Dante, Lorenzo, and Matteo. I suppose we do owe you a bit of an apology, but after chasing our sister down the eastern seaboard all day, we might have let our anger get the better of us.”
As apologies go, that one sucked, but it’s more than I expected. I’m about to ask why they felt the need to chase her when Cheri cuts me off. All traces of fear missing, she’s back to the feisty woman I met earlier.
“You didn’t need to come. It’s not like you didn’t know where I was headed. Merda. You have a freaking tracker on me. Sometimes you’re worse than Dad.”
“Watch your language, little sister,” Lorenzo says.
I hide my grin as she rolls her eyes. “Really? That’s what you’re worried about. You come here in the middle of the night and start all kinds of trouble, and that’s what you focus on. You’re all ridiculous,” she huffs, releasing my hand and folding her arms across her chest. She’s adorable.
“Rece, c’mon, give us a break. It’s not even ten yet, and you knew we were coming. If you didn’t want a scene, you should have waited for us at the airport. You’re not supposed to go off on your own. There are threats…” Matteo adds.
“We’re in the middle of nowhere. The only threats in this room are you. I wanted to see Jaclyn. She’s my best friend, which you know. I told you that the first time, and every other time you called today. How did you even find the mountain?”
“Good question.” Andrew nods. “I’d like an answer to that, too. I know how Cheri did, but none of you should have been able to get here.”
Dante grunts, shaking his head. “You think you’re so protected. Even before Cherise arrived, we knew how to get here, although her tracker made it easier once it got dark. We know all about you Gallants.”
Cheri moans. “I knew about the tracker and that they were following me. This is all my fault—”
“No, it’s mine,” Jaclyn interrupts. “If I’d texted you about the wedding like I promised, you wouldn’t have had to check on me. But I’m glad you’re here, even if it got out of hand. Too much testosterone in one place.”
“I’m so glad you’re okay. I was worried, but it’s not your fault you were busy. I mean, you got married today,” Cheri answers.
“I’m still not sure why you chased after Cheri. If you did your research, you know we’d never hurt her. I’m not sure we can say the same about your family under the circumstances. Especially the way you barged in here.”
Are they really that overprotective? Or is something more nefarious going on? It’s not normal to put trackers on your family. Or it shouldn’t be. I don’t care if they’re mafia; it’s wrong.