“This is a conversation between the two of us,” Luca said before turning to the rest of us. “Outside now.”
I raised my eyebrows at his order then turned to Marcella. “Do you want me to stay?”
Marcella actually considered it for a moment before she shook her head. Luca looked about ready to choke me to death for the mere question. I sent him a tight smile before I followed Matteo and Amo out of the room. Marcella could handle her old man like no one else. If someone could make him stop trying to kill me, it was her. But it definitely didn’t sit well with me that I couldn’t just retaliate like I would have in the past.
But for Marcella, I was willing to try, no matter how suicidal it was.
“I didn’t think you’d bother to come back,” Matteo said once we were upstairs in the still empty bar. “Didn’t like the taste of freedom?”
“I liked it, but I like Marcella even more.”
Amo scoffed. “For now. You don’t know the first thing about our lifestyle. We’re bound by rules you’ll never understand.”
Returning to New York and working with the Famiglia meant being bound in ways I wasn’t used to, he was right. My heart had always called for freedom but now it longed for Marcella with every furious pump. Still, riding my bike and the freedom that came with it ran in my blood. I already missed the feeling of riding side by side with others. “Is that why you wanted to have me killed, to give me back my freedom? A cowardly move to use others to do the dirty deed.”
Amo got in my face with a harsh expression. “I would kill you myself, right now, and I’d enjoy it, if I hadn’t given Marcella a promise.”
“You have a strange understanding of keeping a promise. I thought only bitches stab someone in the back.”
“Fuck you, White. You are and will always be a dirty biker and our fucking enemy. No matter what you tell Marcella and what she wants to believe, you’ll eventually lose interest in my sister and return to your biker whores.”
I stepped closer to him until the toes of our shoes bumped against each other. Though the kid was only fifteen or sixteen, he was my height, and I was already a tall fucker. “Your sister’s not a woman anyone could ever lose interest in. I’ll always thank the fucking Lord that she chose me.”
“You call kidnapping a choice?”
I tilted my head. “She didn’t choose the way we met but she sure as fuck chose to be with me.”
“And once she’s back among civilized people, she’ll realize her mistake and drop your ass.”
I smiled harshly. “You’re awfully interested in your sister’s choice in men. If there’s something like an Oedipus complex between siblings, you probably have it. You might want to get that checked.”
Matteo chuckled appreciatively, obviously enjoying the fight between Amo and me. The latter, however, lost his shit and lunged at me, his hands closing around my throat in an all too familiar way.
I gripped his fingers, trying to pry them off, but only succeeding marginally. “Trying to be like your old man, kid? Nobody ever told you that there can only be one OG, and it’s not you.”
“Fuck you, White,” Amo growled.
I grinned and head banged him. Pain pierced my skull but at least Amo’s hold loosened.
“You’re dead, White!”
The moment Maddox, Matteo, and Amo had left the office, I moved toward Dad.
“Don’t give me that look, Marci. He doesn’t understand our values or our rules. Bikers live a life of promiscuity and unsteadiness. Family doesn’t mean anything to them, marriage close to nothing. I stand by my opinion. He’s not worthy of you.”
“Many Made Men cheat on their wives. Is that how they prove how much they care about their family? What kind of values do they have?”
Dad shook his head. “That’s not the point. I want a husband for you who treats you like a queen. I won’t allow anyone to disrespect you.”
“Neither would I,” I said firmly. “Do you really think I’d let Maddox cheat on me? Or treat me badly in any other way? I’d kick his ass.”
“He kidnapped you.”
“Dad,” I said, annoyed. “We discussed that. That’s the past, and Maddox paid for it, and he’ll prove himself over the next months and years. I don’t have a doubt in my body about it.”
“You’ll face plenty of backlash for being with someone like him. The press, the other women, our circle overall, they won’t take it kindly. I’ll try my best to keep the rumors down, but even my power has its limits when it comes to a scandal of this enormity.”
“I can handle it. People will badmouth me either way. I know what people will say. Many will gloat when they see my ear and tattoo. I won’t allow them to make me feel bad.”