my only friends, except for my brothers. Finding people that you could trust if your name was Falcone was close to impossible. “He won’t marry Gemma. I don’t care what I’ll have to do to make her mine.”
“The Carluccis and the Bazzolis are loyal families,” Nino drawled. “Offending them would come with a price. Our soldiers respect us because we’re just. If we force the Bazzoli girl into a marriage with you despite her engagement to Michelangelo, that could lead to dispute among our men.”
Remo nodded. Usually, he didn’t give a fuck about other people, but as cruel and twisted as he was, he took care of his men. “Nino’s got a point. We have to handle this carefully, or this could snowball into something very ugly, all because you were too horny to make up your mind in time.”
“Gemma wants to marry me, not Mick, that’s something you should keep in mind, and let’s be honest, her family will throw a fucking party if Gemma becomes a Falcone.”
“Are you sure the girl really still wants you? Maybe she’ll hold your man-whoring ways against you, not to mention that you didn’t bother asking for her hand when she wasn’t promised to another.”
I glared at my brothers. They always knew how to make me feel like a stupid boy again. “Gemma still wants me, believe me.”
“Be that as it may, we need to figure out a way to break her engagement to Michelangelo without causing discord.”
“Mick wants her. He won’t go quietly.”
“Challenge him,” Remo said. “During one of the public training sessions. Challenge him in a cage fight for Gemma’s hand. In front of fellow soldiers, he’d lose face if he didn’t agree to the fight. Make the girl be there as well. If he’s got the hots for her, he’ll try to impress her.”
I considered that. There was only one problem. “Mick knows he doesn’t stand a chance against me in a cage. I’ll wipe the floor with his sorry ass. Why would he agree to a fight he can only lose? He already has Gemma in the bag after all.”
“Tell him you’ll fight him a day after your big fight. You’ll be sore and tired fighting this close together. Have Diego and Daniele be there as well. Mick would be considered a coward if he didn’t accept your challenge.”
“All right. This sounds like it could actually work,” I said, smirking.
“Nothing to be smug about,” Remo growled. “Because of your fucking dickheadedness, we’ll have to offend a loyal family. That’s nothing that should happen again, so you better go through with this wedding once you’ve won the girl’s hand, or I’ll personally castrate you.”
“Don’t worry. Gemma will be mine.”
The next day, Dad joined Diego and me on our way to the gym. Apparently, Remo wanted to check the fitness level of his men and had invited several of them over to train with him and his brothers. It had happened before. Dad always said that Remo had made the Camorra strong by making his men strong and keeping them that way. The man despised laziness and weakness and expected his men to stay sharp and in shape.
I’d almost backed out. It wasn’t like I was required to be there, even if today was my usual training day. Deep down, I was scared of facing Savio after I’d been promised to Mick. I was worried about the feelings his presence would evoke in me and absolutely terrified of realizing that he couldn’t care less that I was promised to another man. Diego had mentioned that Savio knew about the upcoming engagement, but he hadn’t been forthcoming about anything else. That could only mean that Savio didn’t care that I was as good as engaged. Savio had so many girls at his disposal, all of them beautiful and not bound by restricting traditions, why would he waste a second thought on me?
Dad looked almost worried when we headed for the gym. “It’s been a while for me. I haven’t had much time to work out these last two months.”
“You’ll be fine, Dad,” Diego said, slanting me a concerned look when we walked into the gym. It was already filled with many soldiers Diego’s age but also a few men who were over forty like Dad. Over to the right, there was Mick with his father and older brother.
Mick still looked as if he was on cloud nine. I avoided looking directly at him. I simply couldn’t meet his eyes, because across the