to the Carluccis. And what do you do? You not only fuck around, you do it in public.”
“I won’t give up Gemma, Remo. I don’t give a fuck what you say or decide. I’ll marry her. And don’t play the high card, you fucking kidnapped a bride and held her captive until she succumbed to your madness.”
Remo gripped my collar and jerked me against him, his eyes burning with rage. Everyone fell silent, and even the kids watched open-mouthed. Remo shook with the effort not to beat me to a pulp, or try at least. “Never mention it around the twins again, got it?” he said in a deadly voice. “You’re lucky I don’t want Greta to see me breaking your fucking jaw.”
My eyes slanted to his little girl, again in her favorite pink tutu, staring at us with huge terrified eyes. Nevio, on the other hand looked like he was getting a huge present. Massimo and Alessio watched in curiosity while Aurora kept crawling around.
“It won’t happen again,” I said quietly, my version of an apology. The only one I was capable of and Remo knew, because he was the same way. He released me and took a step back.
“I didn’t nullify anything. I talked to Daniele this morning. He was pissed, but he doesn’t want to cancel the engagement at this time because it would reflect badly on Gemma and their family.”
“What about Gemma?”
“He was careful with his words, but it’s safe to say that at the current time, she’d rather go to a nunnery than become your wife.”
Gritting my teeth, I looked away from his twisted expression. Guilt wasn’t a feeling I kept in my standard repertoire. I didn’t care about enough people to invest that level of emotion often. Only my family… and Gemma, I realized now, because I felt like an asshole for how I’d treated her. These last few weeks had been kicking my ass with the Bratva trying to gain their footing in Las Vegas again. The city was too important to give it up easily. For a while, our shaky understanding with the Pakhan of Chicago had helped but that was a thing of the past now too. Diego and I had been leading a few attacks on Bratva outposts, the last one two days ago, which almost ended with both of us dead.
I’d thought that party and the two girls would be the perfect distraction, I was wrong.
Fuck it.
I never wanted to hurt Gemma.
“Maybe you should move your ass over there and apologize to your fiancée,” Fabiano suggested.
“You think?” I muttered.
I turned around and headed toward my Bugatti, only to remember that it was still in front of the party mansion, covered in cake. Grabbing the key to Nino’s Tesla, I headed out to the Bazzolis.
Daniele opened the door with a tight expression. “Savio.”
“Daniele,” I said, waiting for him to invite me in. He didn’t. Behind him, I could see Claudia and Nonna looking at me like I was the Devil.
“Where’s Diego?” Daniele asked.
I rubbed the back of my head. “He’s still sleeping…”
Daniele shook his head. “We don’t condone alcohol abuse and promiscuity. When we accepted you to join our family, we hoped you’d respect our values, not convince our children to trample on them.”
Ouch. Diego had never needed much convincing, and Gemma still held true to her values, but I got his point. “Can I have a word with Gemma? I need to clear a few things up.”
Daniele glanced at his wife, who was halfway up the stairs, then he turned back around to me and shook his head. “Unfortunately, Gemma doesn’t want to see you.”
“She’s my fiancée.”
“That she is, not by her choice at this point.”
I grimaced.
“I think it would be for the best if you don’t see Gemma until you’ve made up your mind about a wedding date and the meaning of the sacred bond of marriage.” He gave me a nod and closed the door right in my face. Stunned, I waited for a couple of moments then I walked around the house to the tree. Gemma’s window was right next to it. I was about to climb the tree when Nonna’s face appeared in the window. The look she gave me could have frozen the Mojave.
All right. They needed time to cool off.
On my way to the car, I sent Gemma a text.
I won’t let you go, Kitty. I promised to marry you and I will. Thanks for the cake, by the way. I guess I