Chapter Eleven
Gabriel
War is brewing but I am the happiest fuck in town.
Watching Gianna’s plump ass as she passes down some of her treasured things to me, I smirk. I stand on the floor while she balances on a stool, her tiny skirt barley covering her ass. I dip my head, smirk growing wider when I see a flash of her bare pussy. Good girl. I told her not to fucking bother with panties anymore.
I need instant access to her tight pussy at all times. I am insatiable for the grip of her around my cock, for the wild sounds she makes when I am driving into her, the way she glows when she comes for me. I have fucked her on my desk, on her little princess bed, at a restaurant after I kicked everyone out, my need just never ends.
“Flash me that princess pussy again, I am going in for an afternoon delight, baby,” I warn her, sliding my hand up the back of her thigh, letting two of my fingers spread her wetness over her folds.
“Gabriel! I am not showing it off,” she pouts even as she bites her lip as I pump my fingers into her.
We’re at her father’s place, getting whatever she wants. I told her I would buy her two of everything if she never wanted to come back here. All she wants is some of the little music boxes she collects and some notebooks where she wrote down all her dreams. I would never make her give those up.
Outside half a dozen guards wait for us. Her father has vanished like the fucking coward he is. Santino put word out he wants me dead. Too bad for him no one respects him enough to take the contract. Our war has been pretty quiet thus far, though some of the Marconi’s have gone to ground.
They will come out of hiding eventually. Once they do they will be picked off one by one, unless they align themselves with the remaining families. There has never been an alliance this strong before. I think we owe it all to my little princess.
“Little liar. Always showing off because you want me to stuff my tongue in that little pussy,” I tease her, swatting her ass before I take the glittering Disney music box she passes down to me.
Gianna giggles and fuck almighty, it is the sweetest, hottest sound. There has been a lot of laughing lately. I never laughed this way before. It was always bitter, bland. Now I am smiling, laughing, teasing even Dario and Stefan. Primo is wildly annoyed with me, but he adores Gianna, so he tolerates my golden retriever bullshit.
I barely remember my life just a few weeks ago. Life before she sauntered into that room, striding over to steal my heart right out of my chest. I had just cut a man’s fingers off for stealing a couple grand from me. After I found her, I would have sewn those fingers back on if she had told me to do it.
“Tick-tock, princess. I want to get you the fuck out of here.”
Gianna nods, turning to hand me one more precious box. It is a bright green hot air balloon with a golden glittering basket. Standing there, she twists the gears, winding it up to play a tinkering song. As it starts to play, I hear a commotion from outside.
We exchange a look—then a gunshot rings out.
Snatching her down by the waist, I put her behind me as I pull my gun from my hip. Hitting the safety, I put my finger on the trigger and bring it up to aim. Another gunshot before a thudding boom sounds. That is the front door. I put a finger to my lips to hush her, pressing her back against the wall as we edge towards the door.
Beneath us more shouts ring out. More bullets. I can hear plaster crackling as bullets sail through walls. Glass crashes. A feminine scream—her mother, no doubt. That fucking monster was shouting all sorts of nonsense at Gianna when we stormed in her earlier. I told her to shut up or I would but a bullet in her fucking head. As her screams die out, I suspect that someone else did me a favor.
Glancing back at Gianna, I feel my heart double time. No fucking away I am taking her through a goddamn shootout. Shoving her into the closet, I hand her the gun strapped to my leg. Thankfully, my girl did grow up with this shit all around her, so she flicks the safety off, giving a nod.
“Do not fucking move. Stay here, Gianna. I love you,” I whisper, bending to press a kiss to her lips.
“I love you too,” she calls back, letting me close her in the closet.
Taking a shaking breath, I head for the door leading out of her room to the main hall. I hear Dario shout for me. Then Stefan. I rush out to the landing, calling back to them. Before either of them can answer, Ceasar Bianchi rushes to the bottom of the stairs.
“Should have known it was you she ran to. Both my wife’s kids seem to have a soft spot for Capelli’s.”
Narrowing a glare at him, I keep my gun aimed at him. My gaze sweeps left to right fast, too fast for him to make a move. I take a few steps down, but I won’t give up the high ground. Ceasar’s thin lips twist into a sneer as he points a shotgun right at my chest.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Dario’s voice hums with the slightest hint of humor. Moving up behind Ceasar to press his Glock against the man’s head. “Let’s not make a bigger mess than we have to, yeah? Drop the fucking gun.”
“Whatever you fucks think you got going, it won’t be ratified.”
Grinning ear to ear as I keep my gun trained on him, I laugh. “Always a dozen steps behind. It was ratified before I found your favorite slime trying to force himself on Gianna. Your daughter! Your fucking blood ! The one fucking person in this world you ought to be standing behind.”
Ceasar laughs now, hands up after he dropped the gun at his feet. Dario checks him for other weapons, even as shooting continues in other parts of the house. I glance down the hall towards the kitchen. Yeah, that was her mother getting gunned down a moment ago. Pretty sure he was the one who took it out, based on the smirk on his face.
“My blood? Talk about being steps behind. None of my wife’s kids were mine. Still had to take care of them, feed them, pretend to give a shit if they lived or died. Because I made a vow to her. That is what a man does. He keeps his word. He sticks by his vows.”
“A man? If you ever become one, let us know, yeah? Not your daughter. Then whose is she? Is it Scarsi? Is that why you wouldn’t let Anto get close to her?”
Sighing, he nods his head. Well shit. That will please my princess. At least her father is not a worthless piece of shit. All the good he ever did was take care of her mother for us. One less body on my hands.
It goes quiet in the house, as my guys call out to me. Clear. Room clear. Enemies taken down. Smiling at Ceasar, I shake my head. He could not handle his business even on his own turf, in his own fucking house.
“Gianna would hate you, if you do this. I may not have been her daddy, but I was her father. How could she forgive you?”
“Ceasar, I got the greenlight from your daughter. Gave her blessing. How will she forgive me? I suppose by becoming my wife and giving me children. Because I fucking love her. I would die for her. Or kill for her,” I add nonchalantly as I pull the gun back up, pressing it to his forehead.
There is always a moment when you kill someone. A moment when they think it won’t happen. When they hold their breath and wait for the nightmare to pass. In the blink of an eye, it passes. They know it is coming. There is no stopping fate. It was decided long before I took a gun in my hands and long before I wound up right here, right now with Ceasar.
Squeezing the trigger, I relish the smell of gunpowder. Damn, I love that shit. I pull the trigger once more. Double tap, never leave them with a chance. Ceasar manages to blink before the life flickers out of his eyes. He falls to the floor with a thud as Dario and I step out of the way of his body.
“I should not have worn this suit today. I just fucking got it,” Dario sighs, brushing blood splatter off the navy-blue suit. Yeah, too bad. I liked that one too.
Chuckling, I start to holster my gun as I turn back to the stairs. Before I can move, I hear three fast pops. I duck but it is too late. Dario grunts as he gets hit, his new suit exploding at his thigh. I curse because, damn, he can’t catch a break. Then pain blossoms in my shoulder before I feel wetness soaking through my own suit.
Someone is screaming. More pops fill the room and I lift my head from where it hit the floor next to Ceasar. Santino. Dario is storming towards him, pulling the trigger on his gun until it clicks. He empties an entire clip into the guy. Santino stumbles back before he makes a strange wailing sound, then he folds to the ground in a heap.
“No! No! Nooo! Gabriel. No, no, you can’t. Baby, please,” Gianna’s voice is faint, as if she is in a tunnel. I blink to clear my vision, but I can’t. Everything is cloudy. My fucking chest is burning. Determined to tell Gianna everything is fine, that everything is over, I lift my head.
“Oh, shit,” I mutter, wincing as pain sluices down my left side.
“Dario. We have to go. We have to get him to a doctor,” Gianna shouts, slipping me into her lap with some kind of super strength.
Smiling up at her as her pretty eyes find mine, I nod. Good girl. Not to a hospital, just to a doctor. Our own doctor. That’s my princess. I tell her how good she is at being a queen. That we can rule this kingdom together.
Something else is more important. “I love you, Gianna. Love you forever and ever, I promise you. Till we stop breathing.”
And then, I promptly stop breathing.