“We want out,” I said. “Me and Luca. We want to shut it down. When that happens, we can all be in Philly together. Or California. Or wherever we want. Us, the girls, the kids. We can be happy together.”
Ricky shook his head. “Ever the optimist.”
“If it will protect my brothers, then I’ll make it happen.”
Ricky raised an eyebrow. “The great defender.”
If Ricky thought that was true, then I was willing to believe it. I couldn’t be the looming intimidation that Luca was, the pure muscle that Marco was, or the blazing brain that Alessandro was. If all I had was to be the great defender, then I would wear that like a badge of honor.
I would shut down the Varasso business, once and for all.
16
Stacy
It had only been a day since I last saw Gabriel, but I already missed him so much that I ached. When I got the text that he wasn’t going to be able to see me today because his brother and brother’s best friend were unexpectedly in town, I was understanding but sad. I did everything in my power to keep my mind from wandering to what kind of business they might be getting into with an unexpected visit.
I started by cleaning my entire home from top to bottom, including a lengthy visit from my mom so she could inspect and purify its aura. Fortunately, the only noteworthy thing she found was the glint of love floating around. Unfortunately, she then pulled mom rank and made me talk about it. We spent the entire morning discussing Gabriel in a way that didn’t jeopardize my parents for knowing too much, and my mom admitted to being disappointed I didn’t bring him up sooner. She all out demanded that I bring him over to visit with her and my dad soon, and I knew that the next time Gabriel visited, I’d have to make sure they weren’t vulture-watching my place for his arrival.
When I finally managed to shuffle her out the door, I turned my attention to work. The studio was closed for the day, so it was a good time to get some electronic filing done. My assistant needed a day off, and Wednesdays were always lighter days for the studio, so I felt comfortable to divert traffic to a different day and close the studio down so she and I could both get some well-earned rest.
My exhaustion was a result of Gabriel being likened to an energizer bunny in the bedroom, though I knew he’d blame our romps on me. Laying my eyes on him for even a second was dangerous. His spirit, love for his family, and quiet innocence were the reasons I adored him, but I wasn’t about to turn down his clean-cut abs, sharp jaw and cheekbones, and sexy dark eyes. Nor was I about to go complaining about the endowment he’d been blessed with. It all worked out for me any way that pie was sliced, so even if it meant I was going to be a little sore and tired the next day, I’d power up that ride until I was all out of quarters.
We were still using paper and pen customer forms in lieu of a ridiculously expensive online program, so when the studio was closed, it was up to me to translate the multitudes of different styles of writing in order to log my customers’ information into an old-school database for safekeeping. My ears were ringing by the time I finished shredding all the papers after they were all finally entered, but it was a task I’d put off the entire six months since my business transferred to Philly, and it needed to be done.
After I’d taken care of the house and work, I tried to sink my mind into a few things sitting on my Netflix queue, but my mind traveled back to that morning I found out who Gabriel really was, and in no time at all, I was thinking about him again. I hadn’t heard from him all day and was debating whether or not to call him. I didn’t want to bother him, and the pieces of me that still didn’t understand how this whole underground crime syndicate thing worked outside of the movies wanted never to call him for fear he was in some life or death situation and my phone call is the thing that gives up his position. I was certain I was way off base. Hopefully, in reality, they were smart enough to turn their phones to silent when they were walking into dangerous situations, but what if they didn’t?
Maybe it was the train of thought I was on, but when there was a knock at my door, I jumped sky-high and stared at it nervously. I didn’t know many people in Philly still, and my mom had already visited for the day. Mira was back in New York, so I couldn’t figure out who it might be. I was trying to decide what was in proximity that could be used as a weapon when I realized how silly I was being. It could be a neighbor, or a delivery, or my mother again.
Don’t be ridiculous, Stacy.
I stood up and walked over to my door and opened it, and my heart leaped when Gabriel appeared before me. He was holding two pints of ice cream stacked on top of one another in one arm and another potted orchid in the other. He held out the flower to me with a proud grin, and I laughed, remembering his irritation from the night prior when he was forced to bring me an orchid after the flower shop he went to only had that and a fern to choose from. I couldn’t imagine that he ran into the same problem again, but now it was something of an inside joke.
“You really need to pick a new flower shop, or this one has to step up their game, at least.” I chuckled as I took the flower and then leaned in to take a kiss. “What are you doing here? I thought you said your brother was in town.”
“He is,” Gabriel responded, “but he’s…weird. Luca’s dealing with him, and I wanted to see you.” He held up the ice cream. “It’s vegan. Is slamming ice cream when you’re sad still considered an unhealthy habit?”
“Unfortunately,” I said, pulling the pints from his arms and standing aside so he could enter my place. He walked past me and took another kiss as he moved. “We’ll ignore the health warnings today.”
He kicked off his shoes and walked over to the couch, and I passed the living room to go to the kitchen. I slid one of the buckets of ice cream into the freezer for safekeeping, set my orchid alongside its counterpart from the hotel on my kitchen counter, grabbed a couple of spoons, and made fo
r the couch myself. I peeled the lid off the bucket of ice cream and handed Gabriel one of the spoons, and we dug in immediately.
After starting some background music and setting it to a quiet volume, I started the conversation up again. “So, why are we slamming ice cream?”
Gabriel took a healthy bite, and it made me smile to see him so easily consuming vegan ice cream when I had to bribe him with sex to try a single piece of vegan pizza. He set his spoon into the bucket for a bit while he spoke.
“I’m sorry to have to ask you this. I know you still haven’t decided how you feel about all this stuff, but I want to talk to you about it. I know I can trust you. I can, right?” Gabriel asked.
My heart pumped, but I wanted to be Gabriel’s support system. “Of course you can.”
“Then it has to stay between us. You can’t tell anyone I told you. Even if you meet my brothers, don’t tell them.” His face was serious, and it gave me goosebumps.
“I promise I won’t say anything.” Some part of me wasn’t prepared to make such a strong commitment, but a different part of me was ready to jump into the deep end. What invisible control had Gabriel managed to establish over me? “Go ahead.”
“I haven’t told anyone this story, but…” he sighed. “My brother Alessandro is losing it, like really losing it. He wants to come back to the business.”
“Why would he want that? Isn’t he married with a kid?” I asked, and Gabriel nodded.