Page 1 of Angel's Forever

Chapter One

GABRIELLA-ROSE

I HAD BEEN IN New York for nearly seven months. I had finally found a home and two gorgeous men to call my own. Okay, in some people’s minds, it would have been a strange arrangement – one woman sharing two men – but for us, it was normality. I had my handsome millionaire, Dom, and savior in Hudson Bryce-Stanton, and my gorgeous mafia don protector and carer in Dominico Veronese. What more could one woman want?

Not only did I have those men, but I had Nico’s underboss, Gino Russo, and the Russian bratva boss, Viktor Koslov, looking out for me as well. Life really couldn’t have looked any better for me.

Except for one thing. No one had seen or heard from Vincent in nearly six months, and that worried me.

We had seen quite a bit of Viktor over the past few months, regularly visiting the office to update Hudson and Nico on what he knew, but unfortunately, it wasn’t much. Unlike before, I welcomed him with open arms whenever he came in to see the guys. I had come to see him as the father figure that I had never really had. He had even started to call me malyshka – at least that was how he pronounced it – which he told me meant baby girl. For the ruthless mafia boss I knew he could be, he was also one of the softest teddy bears you could meet. Although I still made sure not to get on his bad side. Even Hudson, who had been very skeptical about Viktor’s reasons behind helping us at first, was starting to like him coming around and genuinely thought that Viktor cared about me.

He wasn’t the only person who had started to spend more time with the three of us. Gino came around most evenings. It wasn’t difficult, as he already had an apartment below ours, which was always handy if Nico and Hudson had to head off somewhere on a trip because he would always be around to look out for me.

The more time I spent with him, though, the more I realized how much he truly cared for Nico. I wasn’t sure if the guys had noticed it at all, but I quite often saw the forlorn looks he gave whenever Nico and Hudson were together. They didn’t feel as though they needed to hide their feelings in front of him because he had known them both for so long. However, I could see how hurt he was every time he saw it. If it wasn’t for me lightening the mood every once in a while, I was sure he would have stopped coming around to see us all.

We had all spoken about Gino. I had suggested that we wait for Gino to be honest with one of us about his feelings, and I was hoping that by spending time with us, he would finally break. I wasn’t doing it to be unkind; I could just see how much pain he was in not having the person that he loved in his arms or even being able to show it. I was also pretty sure that he had feelings for me. He was always so carefree and fun when he was around me. I knew Hudson wasn’t so keen on the idea of bringing another person into our family, but he had agreed to do whatever we all wanted. I knew deep down in my heart that he would come around. He may not have had feelings for Gino, but he loved Nico and me and would do anything to make us happy.

The problem with my plan was, I had the distinct feeling that Gino would never be honest about his feelings. I supposed he had spent so long suppressing them that he now didn’t know how he could express them without losing everything. That was the thing that worried me the most.

It was a typical Friday morning in the office. Hudson and Nico were in a meeting discussing their trip back to Detroit next week. They were spending a couple of days there for the yearly board meeting. Another thing that I had found out recently was that Nico was actually part of the board of the company. That meant when there was a full meeting of the board, he was also expected to join them. So I would be spending another two days with Gino. I hoped to be able to use this to my advantage, in more ways than one.

It was then that Gino walked into the office. I thought I would start to put my plan into action immediately when he walked up to my desk.

“Hi, Gino. I’m glad you stopped by. I need your help with something.”

He looked quite taken aback at my cheery disposition. Usually come Friday morning, I was tired and grumpy, and it would be him who was trying to cheer me up.

“Well, someone is happy today. How can I be of service to you?”

There were several ways I could think of, but that wasn’t for discussion today.

“Well, you know you have the boring task of looking after me for a couple of days next week. I need you to take me shopping. It’s Hudson’s birthday coming up, and I have a plan for him. But I need to get a few things and make some arrangements. And I thought that as you like shopping with me so much…”

Gino rolled his eyes. I knew that, deep down, he did enjoy it, even if he tried to say otherwise. It was always Gino who Hudson or Nico sent out to buy me something because they hated shopping themselves. They might choose what they wanted him to buy, but it would always be him who had to get it.

A smirk came over his face before he answered me. “I suppose if I must be the mule for the day, I will be.”

I jumped up from my chair and flung my arms around him. I felt him flinch slightly as I did it, which was a new reaction for me. It was only a second, but I still felt it before he placed his arms around me to return the hug.

“Thank you, Gino. I’ll treat you to lunch.”

“No problem. Nico still in with Hudson?”

It didn’t escape my notice that his demeanor had changed, far more serious than before. I shook the thought from my head, realizing he just probably had his business head on.

“Yes. Do you need him? I’m sure I can interrupt them if it is important.”

“No, it’s fine. Can you just ask him to come and see me when he is finished? I’ll catch you later.”

He didn’t give me a chance to reply before he turned and walked out of the office. I sat there for a moment, running through our conversation.

What had I done or said to make him change his mood so quickly? It was as if something was worrying him and he didn’t want me to realize what it was. This in itself surprised me, because we quite often spoke about a lot of things, sharing the odd secret between ourselves.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard the door of Hudson’s office open and saw Nico walking out.

“Was that Gino I just heard? Checking up on you again.” He laughed a little.

“Yeah. He wants you to go and see him. He was in an odd mood, though. I think something is on his mind. I hope he’s okay.”

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