Breathless & Bloodstained (The Chicago War #4) (22 page)

“The old DeLuca
property, apparently.”

That was where
Lily and Damian lived now.

Abriella struggled
to put two and two together to try and figure out what might have occurred to
put Joel in such a rage. The only thing that really linked Adriano Conti and
Damian Rossi was the not-so-secret relationship between Theo DeLuca and Evelina
Conti.

What did they do?

“Why are you still
sitting there?” Joel snarled. “Are you fucking deaf or stupid? I told you to
move, Abriella.”

“Jesus Christ,
chill out.”

“Get ready!”

“You’re not
permitted entrance,” said the guard at the gate.

Joel glared at the
man from inside the BMW. “Listen, Kirk, I get you’re doing what Damian told you
to do, but if you don’t get that asshole on the phone and tell him I’m out here
waiting, you won’t see your wife tonight. Do you understand that?”

“Joel,” Abriella
hissed.

The DeLuca
enforcer was just doing his job.

Joel flicked his
hand at Abriella as if to silence her. Then, he turned back to the enforcer.
“Call him right now and tell him.”

Huffing, the
enforcer pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. He muttered a few words
into the phone, and kept his eye on Joel all the while.

“Yeah, Skip,” Kirk
said. “What do you want me to do?”

“I could drive
right through the fucking gate if I didn’t like the paint job on my car as much
as I do,” Joel said under his breath.

Abriella rolled
her eyes. The iron gate was reinforced with concrete and brick pillars. It could
probably withstand a few hits. She hoped her brother wasn’t serious, because
her body couldn’t withstand him ramming his vehicle into an iron gate and
bricks.

Under her
annoyance, Abriella’s anxiety simmered on low. It was never good for someone to
invite themselves to a party where they weren’t wanted. It only caused more
issues in the Outfit than was needed.

Joel didn’t seem
to care.

“Okay, I’ll let
him through,” Kirk said before he ended the call.

“Thank you,” Joel
said, sneering. “Now open the goddamn gate.”

Without a word,
Kirk hit a button on his cell phone and the gate began to open automatically.
Joel hit the gas pedal hard the moment he could fit the BMW through the
opening, spinning rocks and making the tires screech.

“Calm down,”
Abriella told her brother.

It felt like she
had said that exact thing fifteen times since they left the house.

“You don’t get
it,” Joel growled. “I specifically demanded Adriano keep his sister in line, or
better yet, set her up in a decent marriage to strengthen the families, and he
went behind my back—”

“Eve is a grown
woman, Joel. I don’t know what she did, but you don’t get to control her life.”

“See, you don’t
get it.”

Abriella chose not
to argue it any further with her brother. It didn’t matter as she already had a
pretty good idea of what was going on. Evelina took her freedom and ran with
it—with Theo DeLuca.

Good for her.

Up ahead, Abriella
could see at least ten or more parked vehicles. She recognized a few
immediately. Lily’s yellow Maserati. Damian’s blue Porsche. Tommas’ Jaguar.
Evelina’s new electric blue BMW. Another handful of cars and SUVs were
scattered in the driveway, too.

“Nice crowd,” Joel
noted.

“Are they having a
dinner or something?”

“Or something.”

Abriella scowled
at her brother. “Can I wait out here?”

“No.”

That was that.

Abriella got out
of the car once her brother had parked and shut off the engine. She followed
behind Joel, feeling entirely uncomfortable at having been forced to crash
whatever was happening—a celebration, likely—at the DeLuca family home.

If it was what
Abriella believed it to be, a wedding celebration, then the last thing she
wanted to do was sully Evelina’s day with Joel’s jealousy and nastiness.
Evelina deserved happiness. Abriella wasn’t the kind of friend who would ruin
that simply because others didn’t agree with the marriage.

As they strolled
up the front steps, the door opened. Theo DeLuca stood in the entrance with
cold eyes and a tight frown.

Joel smiled. “Aren’t
you going to invite us in?”

“No,” Theo said
quietly.

Abriella fidgeted,
and kept a few feet between herself and her brother.

“You won’t allow
me to congratulate you and Evelina, Theo?” Joel asked bitingly.

“I don’t want your
fake platitudes and cheers, Joel. You didn’t come here because you’re happy for
my wife and me, but because you’re pissed off that neither me, nor Adriano,
gave you any say in the matter of my marriage. It is none of your business.
Take that and run with it for all I give a damn.”

“That’s awfully
big coming from a Capo with no pull in this family.”

Joel’s words were
meant to mock. Abriella bit the inside of her cheek, hoping Theo caught onto
Joel’s games.

“You’re not
important to me,” Theo said simply.

“I—”

“Let him in,” came
a voice from somewhere behind Theo.

Abriella’s
shoulders relaxed at the sound of Tommas’ dark, rich tenor.

Theo, on the other
hand, looked ready to kill. “I don’t want to upset my wife.”

“He was bound to
show up. Eve knew it was a possibility.”

“Fine.” Theo’s
gaze cut to Joel, a promise of violence flashing in his brown eyes. “Disrespect
my wife on her wedding day, or upset my pregnant sister in her home, and I will
gladly take the prison sentence when I put a fucking bullet between your eyes.
There are a lot of people here tonight—some unconnected. Mouths will run, but I
don’t care. Evelina would be a little pissed at me, but I hear conjugal visits
are worth a try. Do you understand that, Joel?”

Joel tipped his
chin up, flashing his teeth in a sneer. “I get it.”

“Make sure of it.”

Abriella tipped
her wine glass up for another drink as her sister slid in beside her in the far
corner of the room. She had been trying to stay out of view as her brother made
the rounds with his false smile plastered on, and his passive-aggressive
congratulations following right behind.

She was not going
to be a part of his mess.

Abriella didn’t
want to be connected to him tonight.

“You could have
given us a heads-up,” Alessa said.

Abriella’s back
straightened. “Well, I would have, except Joel took away all methods of my
communication.”

Alessa blinked,
her mouth falling open. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

“I’m sorry. I
shouldn’t have assumed. It was just that Lily and I thought it would be nice
for Eve to be able to celebrate with Theo a little. They didn’t even tell
anyone until after. We didn’t want them to feel like they had to hide their
marriage. They adore each other.”

“I can tell,”
Abriella said softly, finding Evelina in the crowd dancing with her new
husband. “She looks happy.”

Evelina wore a
short, flared white dress with matching pumps and a crown of small roses in her
hair. With her eyes darkened by kohl, and her lips painted red, Evelina looked
like a sexy young woman ready for her life. Her skin was flushed from laughing
and moving so much, but her eyes were only on Theo. The couple rarely stopped
touching one another.

Now that was love.

Abriella was so
filled with envy, it stung.

She wanted to be
able to do that with Tommas, too. She wanted people to see how happy and
radiant Tommas made her when they were together. She wanted to smile for just
him in a crowd of people. She wanted to celebrate what they had.

It killed her that
she couldn’t do any of those things.

“I do have a
burner phone,” Abriella said, needing to get away from the sadness in her mind.
“Tommas gave it to me to use, but I can’t let Joel see it. Joel didn’t give me
a chance to call you or anyone else before we left the house.”

“You’re wearing a
dress,” Alessa said, looking Abriella over.

“Yes, one I put on
while Joel waited outside the bedroom and banged on the door to tell me to
hurry the fuck up. I’m sorry, Lissa. Honestly.”

“I believe you. So
… Tommas, you said?”

Abriella tried to
find her lover in the crowd, but failed. Maybe he had moved into the kitchen.
Adriano didn’t seem to be in view, either.

“What about it?”

“He met up with
you?”

“Pulled some
strings,” Abriella clarified, keeping her voice down.

“You’re messing
with him again?”

Abriella laughed
weakly. “I couldn’t stay away.”

“Yeah, love sucks
like that.”

“Tell me about
it.”

“What is Joel even
hoping to gain by coming here tonight?” Alessa asked.

“I don’t know,”
Abriella admitted.

That was the
scariest part. Joel was unstable on his best days. He thought life was a game.
Those who played it with him usually lost. Abriella didn’t want her friends to
be one of them.

Needing a
breather, Abriella took the chance to escape from the immediate sights of the
guests and her wandering brother by entering a hallway that led to the back of
the house. In the darkness, she rested her back to the wall, closed her eyes,
and tried to relax for a second.

It didn’t really
help.

“God, he’s really
got you on pins and needles,” came a whisper in her ear.

Abriella shivered,
smiling slightly. She’d felt Tommas’ presence before she had even heard his
voice. His familiar cologne, a woodsy and spicy mix, alerted her the moment he
rested beside her.

“What are you
doing?” Abriella asked. “You’re going to get me into trouble.”

“Joel is occupied
with Adriano currently. I’m taking the chance to make sure you’re all right,
Ella.”