Page 49 of Fight Me Daddy

Gabriele

I staredat Calix as he sat at the table and squirmed in his seat. He'd been doing that since we came downstairs, and every time our eyes meet, he glances away. A smile curled my lips as I turned back to the stove. He might be uncomfortable, but I had never felt lighter.

Apologizing had always been like pulling teeth for me, but after I said it to Calix and he relaxed, I felt as if we were getting somewhere. Maybe he could see beyond all my edges and accept me for the lying, hardass, bastard that I was. And if he couldn't, then I fully planned to make him see the good parts of me even if I had to drag him kicking and screaming to my side.

The truth, that I would never admit out loud, was that I'd missed him. Every second I spent away from Calix had been torture. I thought I wouldn't give a damn if he wasn't around, but that was bullshit. I craved him in ways I had never craved anyone before. I was around for a hell of a lot more than a stupid loan.

"Gabriele," Calix called and I turned on my heels to meet his puzzled face. "Why didn't you go to your father's grave?"

I tensed as all the blood drained from my face. My father. It was the one subject I didn't want to broach. My throat tightened and I shook my head.

"No."

Calix frowned. "No?"

"No," I repeated more firmly as I turned back to the stove and flipped a pancake over.

Behind me, Calix scoffed. "You can't just say no! This is what I'm talking about, Gabriele. You think you can grunt one-word answers at me and I'll sit down and shut up, but that's not how this works."

My grip on the spatula tightened. Calix didn't understand what he was asking of me. There were some things I never talked about because if I did, I would go down a long, dark path that I had just found my way off of. I didn't have time to break down and drop off the grid once more when I knew Amadeo was counting on me to keep things going. Me and the rest of my family had demanded that he let us into his life. And he had. Now I needed to do my part to be sure everything didn't fall onto his shoulders alone.

"Gabriele."

"Enough," I snapped. I stopped to take a long, deep breath. "You like to push me when I've already told you I don't want to fuckin' talk about it. Stop. Now."

Calix gazed at me before he nodded. "Okay."

His shoulders slumped and I wanted to kick myself. I'd never talked about my father's death beyond attending his funeral and visiting his grave. What Calix wanted, I couldn't give him.

My phone rang and the charged silence broke. I snatched it up and groaned when I saw Amadeo's name on my screen.

"Yeah?"

"Where the hell are you?" he asked.

"Out," I answered as I plopped pancakes onto the plate I'd taken out. "Whatever you need, reroute it through Dar or Riccardo or hell, even Nic."

"No," Amadeo said firmly and I froze. "I need you. There was a fire at one of the houses today and we're carrying out bodies." Amadeo sounded close to the breaking point. "One of those assholes got caught in the blaze and there was the damn tattoo on his arm. This shit is escalating and I need answers. Now."

I tensed. "Right, I'll be there in twenty minutes." I checked the phone. "Which house?"

"Walnut Terrace."

"Okay."

I hung up and sighed. House was code for brothel and it was one of our big ones. No doubt Amadeo had already paid off the police. Our business wasn't legal, but we donated huge funds to the cops, the fire department, and local politicians so they looked the other way. Amadeo had probably tripled the cash output to keep it out of the news.

"I have to go," I said as I stuffed my phone into my pocket and carried the plate over to Calix along with a bottle of syrup. "Here."

Calix picked up the bottle and frowned at it. "This isn't mine."

"I know, you only had that artificial crap. This is real maple. Eat it." I poured the syrup onto his pancakes and placed utensils beside his plate. "We'll talk more when I return. For now, I have work to do."

He frowned. "Yeah, I can guess what kind of work."

"Don't try to guess. You'll give yourself a headache." I held my hand out. "Give me your wrist."

Calix hesitated. "Why?"

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