WHEN WE WALKED out of the ballroom, Giovanni placed his hand on my lower back.
I shoved his hand off, pulled out my blade then pinned him up against the wall with the blade pressed against his neck.
"Don't fucking touch me." I snapped.
He smirked, twisting my arm, he yanked the blade away from my grip, spun us around then pressed the sharp blade against my neck.
"Feisty." He teased.
I rolled my eyes and then aggressively pushed him away from me. I grabbed my blade out of his hand and then tucked it back under my dress.
"Dick."
I walked past him and marched over to my car.
I pushed the start button and the engine roared to life, turning my head. Giovanni's car pulled up beside me, he rolled down his window and I did the same.
We glared at each other, dark amusement filled his eyes.
I broke eye contact and sighed, waiting for Giovanni to lead the way. His car drove down the street and waited for me in front of a stop sign. I shifted my gear and then followed him from behind.
- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -
We both glare at each other. Not saying a single word. All you could hear was the ticking of the clock. We are currently in his office in New York, he said that we needed to talk somewhere safe and quiet. I suggested we go back to my hotel but he said the place might be bugged so it's better if we talk at his office. I'm trying so hard to keep myself from blowing his brains out.
But of course, he doesn't trust me so he took all my weapons.
Dick.
I raised a brow as he took a sip of his Scotch whisky.
"We both have our differences," he says as he places his empty glass on the table. "We have to put that aside now." Giovanni pointed out. I laughed. This asshole.
"You disappeared for four months, four fucking months Giovanni! Fooled me that you faked your death and decided to come back like none of this happened therefore have the mother fucking audacity to show up and tell me 'we should put our differences aside!" I yelled.
"Now tell me Giovanni why would I put our differences aside? Please enlighten me." I declared and smiled.
"We both want something." He said. "But we can't get what we want if we don't work together."
What does he want that I want as well?
"I want my brother dead." He started as he unbuttoned his shirt halfway. "And so do you," Giovanni says, pointing his finger toward me.
I was about to speak but he beat me to it. "You killed Esmee didn't you?" He informed me.
"How do you know about that and how aren't you affected by it?" I asked. He chuckled. "Word spreads fast Gabriella and I'm not the same man as before."
He has changed. He is better and stronger.
"We can combine our skills and finally take him down."
"He killed our-my sister." He seethed. "Including your parents."
He's right, for years I've been trying to find out who was responsible for my parent's death. When I found out it was Antonio I wanted to hunt him down, disarticulate all his limbs, then feed them to small, ugly dogs.
"So what's the plan?" I asked. "First we become one, merge our gangs."
"Think about it, the power and respect we have. Together."
"We will be unstoppable Gabriella."
That isn't a bad idea at all. For now, I can work with him until Antonio is dead. "I'm in," I say without thinking twice. He smirked.
"If we're going to be allies we need to trust each other. No more back-and-forth bullshit." He states.
Giovanni stands up and so do I. "If we now start to trust each other."
"Who is the rat?" I asked.
Giovanni looked at me for a second, licked his bottom lip then ran his fingers through his hair. "Amelia." He says.
Amelia. That little son of a bitch! Now it makes sense when I found her snooping around.
I fucking trusted her! Calm down.
Giovanni is responsible; she was just following orders. "Turns out she's a rat for me as well." He said. "She originally works for Antonio."
That little piece of shit. When I see her face I'll pop her eyes out and -
"I know what you're thinking Gabriella, and it's a bad idea." He argued. I rolled my eyes. "Giovanni we might be fucking allies but don't you ever tell me what to do and not do." I declared as I walked up to him and stopped when I'm inches away from his face. "Understood," I stated. He looked at me then looked away. "We should wait, fool Antonio that we are unaware of Amelia." He says. I scoff. "No, I want him to know."
"He should know that we are no longer hiding like pussies, we are coming for him, Giovanni. End of story."
I took a step back. "I'll inform Oscar and Chiara to meet us here for an emergency meeting and so do you with your people." I decided.
- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -
After that, we called everyone. Oscar and Chiara were the first to arrive then five minutes later Luca and Enzo were at the door.
I have to be honest everyone was freaking out and confused about what was happening. They were even about to kill each other. We explained everything to them at first, they thought we were out of our minds but decided that it would be no use putting up a fight.
"Il me faudra du temps pour faire confiance à ces salauds." Chiara spat bitterly. I sighed. [ translation: It'll take a while for me to trust these bastards. ]
"Je sais.." I replied, pinching the bridge of my nose. [ translation: I know. ]
"Boss, I'm loyal and respect you but why should we work with this cage." Enzo spat bitterly giving me a disgusted look. "Don't you dare call her that name again?" Giovanni snapped. "We work together, So the way you respect me is the same way you respect Gabriella."
"In about a few hours, we will all be on our way back to Italy," I said. Everyone turned to me. "Giovanni and I will handle Amelia, While the four of you guys will prepare the assembly for our announcement with both of our gangs."
"Make sure no one enters the building with weapons. The only people who are allowed to have weapons are the guards that are on duty."
"If any of you have a problem with this situation or me, then you're free to leave but I must warn you, I'll have to kill you because you know too much," I said they crossed my arms. "So we're good?"
They all looked at each other and back at me. "Yes," Oscar spoke up.
I turned to Giovanni to find him staring at me. "So this is happening?" I was insured. "Yes." He said as we still locked each other's gaze.
For some reason, I feel like we aren't on the same page yet. He hasn't told me the full story of why he disappeared for four months then suddenly showed up and acted like everything was okay. He's hiding something and I'm going to make sure I find out.
"Good."