Page 99 of Forever Mine

Gabriel gives me a beaming smile. “Of course, I trust you,anjinho. Order away.”

Marco clears his throat. “You’ve called her a couple names. What do they mean?”

“Jesus, Marco, lose the fucking attitude,” I retort.

“I’m not trying to give an attitude. I’m legitimately asking. I don’t know Brazilian.”

“Well, for starters, you damn oaf, it’s Portuguese. Brazilian isn’t the fucking language,” I tell him. Gabriel stifles a chuckle next to me. “He calls me sweetheart and angel. Plus some other things. But those are the two he uses most.”

“He calls you other things?” Marco asks.

“Well, he says other things.”

“How do you know what he says?”

“I learned Portuguese, duh.”

“You learned a language for him?” my father demands, his eyes narrowed.

“He didn’taskme to do it. I did it because I wanted to communicate with him on a different level. His first language is Portuguese.” I stare defiantly at my father. He better not fucking say another word about this.

“I’ve started learning Italian to communicate with her as well,” Gabriel states clearly, and my head whips to stare at him.

“Really?” I ask, and he nods with a small smile.

“Really.”

I lean over and place a sweet kiss on his lips. This man.

“Wow. Seems like you got a good one, Mon,” Gio says with a smile.

“I did. I really did.”

The server comes to take our order. I order a few appetizers for the table, my favorite queso, and then meals for Gabriel and myself. I know exactly what he likes. Once the server leaves, I take a long drink of ice water and turn to my father.

“Start explaining,” I demand.

My father gives me an exasperated expression as he chuckles. “When did you get this bossy and belligerent?”

“From the moment I realized my life wasn’t my own when I was sold to a forty-year-old man, and expected to smile and do my duty. That’s when Dad. That’s when I decided not to give a fuck anymore, especially when I decided not to give a fuck what you think about me,” I blurt out angrily. Gabriel squeezes my hand as hot tears cloud my vision. My father noticeably pales as he struggles to form a response.

“Life hasn’t been all bells and whistles for us either, Mon. Cut dad some slack and let him explain,” Alex says with a roll of his eyes.

“Shut the fuck up, Alex. You’ve got your head so far up dad’s ass you can move his arms for him. I don’t trust one fucking word that comes out of your shit-filled mouth,” I retort. Gio barks back a laugh as Dante stares at me in amazement. Gabriel chuckles next to me. “What?”

“That mouth,querida. That fucking mouth,” Gabriel murmurs as he shakes his head.

“Monica Rose,” my father booms, “I know I did wrong by you. I thought by eliminating the connection with Angelino, you’d be in the clear. You could go live your life with my mother. I knew you weren’t made out for this life. I didn’t realize the Angelino family would want payback. I didn’t know they’d track you. I’ve been keeping people off your trail for years. I visited my mother in the hospital. She didn’t tell you that, did she? I visited her and told her to push for you to move. The Angelinos were closing in on you in Oklahoma, and you needed to get out of there. I did everything I could to cover the trail leading you to Colorado. Dante and Marco had the whole fucking Angelino family under surveillance. We had no idea they were working with the Bianchi’s. Nicolas was so off our radar.”

“Nicolas?” I ask, confused.

“He means Marcus,querida. Nicolas is his real name, remember?” Gabriel says gently.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot. It’s been hard remembering him as anyone other than Marcus.” I look at my dad. “Keep going.”

“We found out about Nicolas one week ago. It took a couple days to track him. He followed you in Oklahoma. As soon as you left for Colorado, he was on your tail. He was tasked with delivering you back to the Angelino family. Once he began to care for you, he got sloppy. That’s when the Angelinos began to pressure him to expedite the process.”

“I knew that part. Well, at least the part about Nicolas caring for me.” I guess I knew. Although he had a really fucked up way of showing it, beating me up in a bar. “Wait. You visited Nana? When?”

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