Page 21 of Savage Claim

“Enough,” I cut her off. “We’re not going out today. End of discussion.” I took Don Gallo off of hold and gestured for Isabella to leave. “Don Gallo, talk me through the annual meeting’s logistics.”

Isabella stood there, staring at me, and even as I listened to Giovani discuss the ins and outs of their annual meeting, I watched as her expression soured. She whirled around and marched towards the door, and something about the way she did it nagged me. I covered the mouthpiece of my phone. “Dolcezza.”

She stopped but didn’t look at me. “What?” The word came out like a growl.

“If you eventhinkabout leaving this house without me,” I said, keeping my voice as emotionless and unaffected as possible, “I’ll make sure that you never do again. Do you understand me?”

I expected her to turn back around to confront me, but she didn’t. She kept her back to me, which sent a spike of irritation straight through my chest. “Just lock me in the basement if you’re going to keep threatening me. Why bother with all the proposals?”

She stormed out, and it felt like a fist had closed around my heart, and I choked on it. “Don Vitali? Are you all right?”

I sucked in a breath. “Yes, I’m fine,” I said. “Would you mind if we tabled this discussion for now? I need to discuss things with myvicecapo, and then I’ll call you with my answer.”

“Grazie, Don Vitali,” he said. “Tell my nephew that his mother would appreciate a phone call.”

I couldn’t remember the last time Damian had even mentioned his mother. Or had a day off to see her. “I’ll do that.Ciao.”

I hung up the phone, took a deep breath, and then I was up and moving in the direction I saw Isabella go. I found her in the living room; she had her phone held up to her ear. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “He’s having a bad day, and it would be irresponsible of me to leave him alone.” Whoever was on the other line said something that made her face contort. “No, no, he’s fine. We don’t have to go to the emergency room or anything, but I need to keep monitoring him. We can find another time for lunch, okay? Send me your work and school schedule, and I’ll make something work.”

Once she was finished, Isabella hung up. “I’m having a medical emergency?” I asked, and her head snapped towards me. Her eyes were full of fire. Beautiful even in her anger, as always.

“Well, I can’t exactly tell her the truth, can I? Gemma doesn’t know anything about how I came here or that I’m pregnant or any of it yet.”

“Yet? Why would she need to know any of thatever?”

“You can’t possibly think that she won’t have questions when she finds out that she’s going to be an aunt.” At my blank expression, Isabella became even more frustrated. “Lorenzo, she would have noticed that I was pregnant had we gone to lunch today.” She gestured at her belly, as if the small bump was all the evidence that she needed to support her claim.

“You barely look pregnant, especially if you wear a big sweater or something like that.”

“Gemma will notice,” she snapped back. “She’s not a moron.”

“Then, you can’t see her again. Not until after the baby is born.”

Isabella reared back like I’d slapped her. “Why would I do that?” The longer this conversation went on, the steadily more frustrated I became. She must have known what I was going to say from my expression because she held up a hand to stop me. “Gemma isn’t a security risk. She’s a college kid who doesn’t know a thing about the Cosa Nostra.”

“And it needs to stay that way for your and her safety.”

“I actually agree with you. I want to keep her as far away from any of this,” she said, waving her arms around, “as possible. But I don’t understand why she can’t know about the baby at all.” She cradled her bump unconsciously, protectively. “Do you expect me to cut her out of my life? When you were the one who put us in contact again?”

“The circumstances are different now.”

“Why? We’re not engaged.” Isabella rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands, smearing the light makeup she’d applied. “Would it be better if we were? Would we be equals in this relationship?”

I crossed the room but stopped short of touching her. From the look on her face, I knew trying that would not be appreciated. Instead, I sat beside her, just far enough from her that we wouldn’t accidentally touch. I considered telling her what she wanted to hear…but this wasn’t something that I could lie about. She had to know what it would be like if she agreed to be my wife. “We aren’t equals, Isabella, and we never would be,” I said. She went still beside me, and although she hardly moved, I could feel her withdrawing from me. “The Cosa Nostra is harsh, and there are going to be certain expectations placed on your shoulders as my wife.”

“So, you would see me aslesserif I became your wife?”

“You wouldn’t be lesser,dolcezza,” I assured her. “But as my wife, there are expectations that you would have to follow where I lead when it comes to certain things, like making sure that you’re safe. It’s just the way things are.”

Isabella let out a low, frustrated growl. “There’s so much to unpack there, but what does any of it have to do with my sister?”

“She’s an outsider now, Isabella, and there’s only so much she can be allowed to know. Including the fact that if you accept my proposal someday, you would be the matriarch of a major family in the Cosa Nostra, and that you carry my heir.”

CHAPTER 14

Lorenzo

“Did you really expect that telling her that marrying you meant she would have to eventually give up her little sister was going to go well?”

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