Gael's Naughty Angel: A Mafia Prince Romance

Later that night, Angela and Oliver were in the living room with the TV on, but their eyes were glued to their phones. The TV volume was low and he occasionally glanced at it while he kept tapping on his phone screen, responding to emails. Angela had a pillow on the side of his arm and she'd leaned her back against it, her legs sprawled on the sofa while she texted with Nina.     

The siblings were on speaking terms, but there was a slight strain after last weekend's conversation. They hadn't spoken about Cynthia since, and Angela didn't actively convince her brother, but deep inside, she really wanted to give her mother a chance.     

She didn't want to regret not trying to make her mother be part of her life again and, of course, the wedding. It was certainly a lot to take in and there was a lot of healing to do, but Angela had seen enough deaths to remind her that life was too short. She was done running away and being scared. She just hoped that Oliver would get there too—or that at least, he tried.     

Glancing in the direction of the stairs, Angela let out a sigh. Gael and Charlie were in the study. "What do you think they're talking about up there? What's taking them so long?"     

"I have no idea."     

"Did Dad seem angry?"     

"You know how he is. You won't know it until it hits you."     

He was right. Their father wasn't very expressive. He showed love and appreciation from time to time. Sometimes, they wouldn't realize that what he had done had been just him showing his love. And when he was angry, well... Their father could be really quiet, but he was really scary when he gave punishments.     

There was one time when Angela and Oliver sneaked out in the middle of the night to a common friend's party on a school night and they were so wasted when they came home. Charlie was sitting in the dark near the stairs and they nearly shit their pants when the lights came on and saw him there. He wasn't scowling, but the way he looked at them with his eyes…     

Oliver instantly dropped to his knees—wobbly—and started asking for forgiveness. Angela felt cold all over and froze on the spot. She knelt next to her brother because she didn't know what else to do. They stayed like so for what seemed like hours when it probably was only a few minutes. And their father? Charlie just sat there. Quiet and superior. He didn't speak at all and that was even scarier than if he had scolded them.     

He didn't need to tell them they were wrong, they already knew. But he wanted them to feel how disappointed he was. They cooked breakfast for him for the rest of the week to say sorry, though it took him a couple of weeks for his shoulders to warm up. Whenever the siblings remembered that night, they'd both shiver. They didn't stop going to parties later, but they made sure it was on a weekend.     

The sound of footsteps at the stairs made Angela sit up, her head snapping in that direction and when Gael emerged from the corner, she quickly got to her feet. "How did it go?" she wondered, peeking behind him and not seeing her father. "Where's Dad?"     

"He's gone to bed. It went okay."     

Skeptical, Angela tilted her head and pushed, "What did you talk about?"     

"Just my plans about moving here, work, and the new house. He'd invited me to a gym workout and possibly a boxing session tomorrow afternoon."     

As soon as he said that, Angela gasped and Oliver snapped his head toward him, his eyes going wide. "No… Really? Are you sure?" Angela muttered in nearly a whisper, slightly going pale.     

Gael looked between the two siblings, wondering what their reaction was about. Oliver got up and tapped Gael's bicep as he passed by him, chuckling as he did. "Good luck, man."     

"What?"     

Angela bit her lip, worry drawn all over her face. "Baby… Did you agree?"     

"Of course. We've worked out a few times together before. What's going on?"     

Before she could tell him, his gut was already churning as if he'd realized what was about to happen even though he hadn't thought there was something wrong initially.     

She swallowed. "My dad used to train in boxing all of his teen years. He never planned to make it a career his whole life, it was just something he took as a hobby, but his coach and trainers were all professional boxers. I remember our uncle telling us one time that Dad was supposed to fight in a bigger match, but he had a knee injury and stopped training after that. It's been decades, but he's pretty much still…"     

"Oh, I can't wait to be in the front seat." Oliver beamed. "Dad is going to kick your ass, De Luca."     

"You don't have to do it," Angela quickly said.     

Gael had to admit, that got him a little worried now. He knew Charlie was mad about what happened, but Charlie hadn't even spoken about that when they were in his study. So Charlie was planning to fuck him up on this "boxing session"?     

It wasn't about getting hit by Charlie that worried him. Gael was certain the older man still had moves. It was that Gael would let his future father-in-law hit him and would never hit him back. He wouldn't even try. He'd just accept all the blows. Fuck. He wasn't looking forward to that. If Charlie would let all his aggression out on him tomorrow, he might not stop until he killed Gael.     

There was a pounding in his ears as he imagined what would happen tomorrow. There was no escaping this. He'd let Charlie down and he had to take it like a man.     

The volume of the TV increased, pulling Gael out of his trance. "Check it out," Oliver called their attention and the three of them watched the screen.     

It was breaking news. The anchor reported about a politician being arrested for bribery and corruption. Then a clip of Congressman Mitchell being escorted by the police was displayed on the screen. A whistleblower from the congressman's office had come forward to support the accusation. In connection to that, he was also linked to his son's—Herman's—case which had recently surfaced. Herman was missing, but now, on top of his being missing, he was labeled as "wanted" for child trafficking.     

"I know it's still too early," Oliver started as he walked back to them, a bottle of champagne and flutes in his hands "and there's still one more to take care of, but I'm drinking to this." He popped the cork and bubbles fizzed out of the lip.     

Angela watched her brother as he poured some liquid into flutes, glanced at the TV, and back at him, the gears in her head turning. "Did you have something to do with this?"     

"Maybe." He grinned then flickered his eyes to Gael, their smirk widening as they clinked their glasses together.     

"You too?" She arched a brow at her fiancé.     

Gael took a sip of the bubbly drink and shrugged. "Charlie and Oliver were already working on Herman's case for a while, I just extended a hand. I knew we were going to stay in Mayne even before you bought the house or me having the idea of opening an office here. That was always something I considered. I didn't want to risk him coming after you. When they find Herman, his father would surely come after us. I didn't want to risk that. Turns out the father is as much involved in the trafficking as his son is."     

She went quiet, mulling over what he'd said. "You said there's one more. Who are you talking about?" she asked.     

"General Leos," Gael and Oliver answered at the same time.     

"That's… Why?" Angela probed. She knew General Leos was bad, but she wanted to understand everything Gael was doing. She wanted in on things.     

Gael narrowed his eyes, his jaw tightening as he thought about his answer carefully. "Me staying in Mayne is going to make some people unhappy. I don't doubt they've heard of my family—Leos especially. And he might've already known about what happened to his son from Filippo. I'm doing what I believe needs to be done for all of our safety. If he becomes governor, we're all fucked. Leaving them untouched would be a danger to us. That's a risk I'm not willing to take. I've already lost so much, Angel. I'm not going to give them a chance to hurt my family here again."     

The room was silent for a moment. Angela understood him fully. And he was right. The two candidates didn't deserve the seat.     

"You calling me family?" Oliver muttered, his face unreadable.     

Gael's brows knitted. "Well, you're going to be my brother soon, aren't you? Any person in Angela's life is in mine too."     

Oliver scoffed as he turned around and Gael shook his head. These two were starting to act like real brothers.     

"You two are cute." Angela chuckled. Taking a deep breath, she glanced back at the TV again. "Will it work?"     

Gael gulped down the rest of his drink. "I'll make sure it will."