"And if we’re playing the ‘whose fault is it?’ game, I should’ve gone after you that night, Jade. I was foolish to think that staying away would keep you safe from Ramsey. I’m sorry for putting you in this mess.” Paul frowned, the feeling of sad disappointment briefly washing over him for a second time in the past twenty-four hours. He turned to his uncle, who met his gaze with a sense of fatherly compassion. “Uncle Leo, will you please help us find our daughter?"
"Of course, I will. Ava's family, just as much as Jade is. We’ll find her and bring her home. I'll brief the men in a few minutes and see what we can do now. I suggest you take Jade to the family house, I'm sure your mother and the others are waiting there." Leo chuckled as Paul flinched at the mention of his mother.
"Might as well go meet the rest of the family," Paul sighed. "Though it's not high on my to-do list at the moment."
"Afraid the old women will scold you for not getting married first?" Jade teased playfully.
"You're not that far off, love. The Italian side is very traditional when it comes to life and family. Plus, my mom terrifies me when I get on her bad side."
The light sound of Jade giggling melted his heart like butter. He reached for her hand absentmindedly, giving it a slight squeeze as he helped her out of the chair. Before they left the office, Jade shyly turned back to Leo.
"Thank you for helping me," she said softly. Leo got up from his chair and walked over to her.
"You're welcome, my dear. As I told Paul, you are family and the Carmichaels take care of what's theirs." He hugged her and smiled before looking pointedly at Paul, silently communicating with his nephew.
"Got it, Uncle Leo. Come on, Jade, the family's waiting to meet you."
CHAPTER 8: MEETING THE FAMILY
As we left Leo Carmichael's office, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding. Paul grinned wickedly as we made our way back to my car. I raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"What? Why are you grinning like that?"
"No reason. No reason at all."
"Fine. Don't tell me," I stuck my tongue out and he burst out laughing.
"What are we, five?"
"Maybe."
I smiled sweetly as I slid into the driver seat. Since I hadn’t been to the family house in years, Paul gave me directions from his uncle’s office and we were off. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him reach for the radio.
"Don't, please. Ava loves this station."
Paul dropped his hand and we sat in silence for a few minutes. Then he chuckled and shook his head.
"Are you sure this is Ava's favorite station?" he teased. I blushed as I realized I was humming along to a song from Beauty and the Beast.
"It's a catchy song," I said defensively.
“Right. It’s not like Beauty and the Beast isn’t your favorite Disney movie ever,” he scoffed sarcastically. “We may have been separated for four years, but I still remember that.”
“Guilty as charged,” I laughed before shooting a curious side glance at him. “What else do you remember?”
We spent the next twenty minutes talking about likes and dislikes that we could remember. It was fun opening up back to him and starting new. Some things hadn't changed, like my love for books or his hobby of musical instruments. There were a few surprises, like Paul's interest in learning French and working on cars. He went to the gym every day for the last four years; boxing was one of his favorite things to do. I told him about the Spanish class I was taking, the bakery I wanted to open one day and the record company that hired me two years ago. We talked about Ava and what she liked as opposed to what she didn't like. As we got closer to the next exit, Paul's phone began to ring. He glanced at the screen and groaned. Mouthing "Mom", he answered on the third ring.
“Hey, Mom. Yes, I’m on my way to the house right now. Uncle Leo’s still at the office, he’ll be there shortly.” Paul listened to whatever his mom was saying, answering yes or no every so often. Five minutes later, he said goodbye and hung up.
"Nervous?" I glanced at him.
"Not at all. Okay, maybe just a little. I have no idea what they're going to do. I never really told them about us. Although, you were right about Mom knowing about us in high school. I needed someone to help me not make a fool of myself on our dates."
"I knew it! There was no way you could plan something so romantic." I teased.
“I’m plenty romantic on my own, thank you very much.” He shot back, smiling.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone else?” I asked after a moment, biting my bottom lip as I passed an elderly couple in the right lane of the highway.
"I had my reasons for keeping the rest of my family in the dark about us, which are pretty similar to the ones you gave my uncle. I was scared. I was scared of what would happen to you if word had gotten out and people like Ramsey knew we were together. If they knew how important you were.. are… to me."
His honesty made me speechless. Silence weaved its way through the air as I tried to concentrate on the road in front of me. Paul quietly told me where to go as we got off the highway, his eyes watching me warily. Ten minutes later, we pulled up in front of the Carmichael family house. I gasped in awe as I made my way around the car, still taken back by its beauty. Growing up in a somewhat wealthy family, I was used to fancy mansions. This one, however, made even my grandfather's mansion look like a cozy cottage in the countryside.
It was a beautiful white mansion with huge pillars in the front and a wraparound porch; the design reminded me of something that came straight out of Gone with the Wind. Paul held out his hand and helped me up the stairs. Like a real gentleman, he opened the door and gestured for me to go first. I stepped over the threshold and gaped silently at the redesigned entryway. Instead of the gray decor I vaguely remembered from the last time I stood in this foyer, the color scheme was now a soft blue and green palette that instantly reminded me of my mom; she had designed her home in a similar pattern when I started high school, shortly after she divorced my dad. There was a grand spiral staircase in the middle of the foyer, oak wood bannisters proudly standing tall. A middle-aged woman with graying black hair and bright green eyes appeared at the top of the stairs as soon as Paul shut the door behind us, a wide smile clear across her face.
"Paul! Oh, my son! I've missed you," she exclaimed, making her way down to us.
"Hi, Mom. I missed you too," Paul said, hugging his mother when she reached him. The sight made me miss my own mother. "You remember Jade."
"Hello dear, it’s so good to see you again. You’ve grown quite a bit since I saw you at your high school graduation. And you’ve made me a grandma, I hear!” Clara Centofanti beamed as she pulled me into a tight hug. "My brother Leo called as soon as you left to let me know you were on your way over. It’s been ages since you’ve been here, hasn’t it? We remodeled a couple years ago… well, you know that Paul's father and I moved in here when I was pregnant with my oldest and nothing had changed since Roman passed away when Paul was 13 years old, God rest his soul."
"Where's everyone else?" Paul asked, looking around curiously as he swiftly changed the subject before the tears swelling in Clara’s eyes could spill onto her cheeks.
"They're getting the backyard ready for the party tonight. Taylor finally proposed to his girlfriend! Alpo and Jade's friend Sky are helping with the tables out back. That Sky is a wonder to have around."
"You remember that Mom loves to throw parties,” Paul smiled as he winked at me before turning back to his mom. “I’ll come out and help in a minute. I'm going to show Jade where her room is first."
"If you get hungry, I'll be in the kitchen. Make yourself at home, dear. I insist."
“Thank you, Clara.” I replied with a shy smile. Clara smiled back at me before disappearing into the kitchen.
Without another word, Paul led me up the stairs and down the right hallway. Stopping in front of the fourth door on the right, he opened the door and took a step back, giving me some space.
I looked at him, then headed into the dark bedroom, curious. Flipping on the light, the first thing I noticed was the French doors leading out to the iron wrought balcony. Just beyond it, I could see the pool area and a beautifully colored garden. I focused back on the room, trying to absorb everything at once. In the middle of the room was a king-sized bed sitting on a dark cherry oak frame. It was completely covered in various shades of purple, my favorite color. I glanced at Paul in surprise and he shrugged; I smiled to myself and continued to explore the room.
On the other side of the room was a dark cherry oak desk, topped with a purple lamp and black swivel chair. A nearby wall had built-in shelves, which held a black radio/CD player and a variety of books, DVDs and CDs. A small flat screen TV had been mounted to the wall across from the bed, easy to watch movies comfortably. The nightstand next to the bed was also dark cherry oak to match the rest of the furniture and had a purple lamp and an empty picture frame sitting on it.
"The closet is over here," Paul said softly, gesturing to a door adjacent to the hallway before pointing to another door near the balcony. “And that’s your bathroom… it’s slightly smaller than mine, which is across the hallway.”
I walked over and hesitantly opened the door to the closet. My eyes widened as I looked around. It was a walk-in, big enough to be a small room for a child. I shook my head in disbelief and turned back toward the bedroom. Paul was standing in the doorway, watching me.
"Do you like it?"
"I love it," I beamed at him, "But I don't think I have enough clothes to fill this space."
"I'm glad you like it. And I’m sure Mom would be happy to take you shopping," Paul chuckled. "We'll eventually turn one of the empty rooms in this wing into Ava's room, but I figured she could sleep in here with you. If you wanted, of course. I’ll let you unpack… if you need anything, I'll be downstairs. Uncle Leo's just arrived."
Paul smiled before leaving me to the quiet of my new room. I grabbed my suitcase and tossed it onto the bed, slowly opening it as I tried not to think about what Ramsey might have done to Ava in the past few hours. Instead, I focused on how good it would feel to hold her again. Tears began to form in my eyes and I blinked rapidly. Taking a deep breath to steady my shaken nerves, I quickly finished unpacking our suitcases into its proper spaces and headed downstairs in search of Paul.
Halfway down the staircase, I ran into a woman about my age with curly black hair that stopped just before her shoulders and the slender body of a model. She was dressed in a very short black skirt and a low-cut red shirt that showed off her flat stomach. Her amber eyes were cold and hard, matching the disdained expression on her face. Glaring at me in disgust, she blocked my way as she crossed her arms over her chest, letting her gaze look me over from head to toes and back again.
"So. You're the girl Paul brought home," She sneered.
"Uh, yes?" I said, confused by her rudeness.
"Listen here, tramp. Stay away from Paul. He belongs with me and I'm not going to let some white piece of trash take him from me. Especially not one who's as fat as you are."
"Excuse me? I don't know who the hell you are, but obviously Paul wants me or else he would've already chosen you. You don't know anything about me, sweetheart so until you do, you better watch who you're calling white trash when you look like you work at the local strip club. As for the fat part, I'll let you slide on that because I haven't been able to lose some of the baby fat from my pregnancy. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go see if Paul has found our daughter," I emphasized 'our' and smiled sweetly, stepping around her. I noticed Paul, Clara, and Leo standing at the bottom of the stairs, watching our encounter warily.
"Hi, Paul," I said cheerfully, causing the mysterious woman to spin around in shock.
"Hey Jade," he replied smugly. "Lola."
"Paul," Lola said, clearly embarrassed. He turned back to me without another glance at her.
"Good news, baby. We found her."
"Let's take this into the study," Clara glared at Lola, who huffed and disappeared upstairs, her face as red as the shirt she was wearing.
"Ramsey's taking her to an abandoned warehouse? When?" I asked Leo a few minutes later after he explained everything to me.
"Later tonight, around midnight. I have men watching his every move. We're going to get her back, I promise."
"What can I do to help?" I looked from Leo to Paul as they shared a look. "I'm not just going to sit around and twiddle my thumbs together, waiting for my daughter to be brought home!"
"Baby, we don't know how dangerous it will be when we go rescue Ava," Paul said.
"I know how to shoot a gun and I know self-defense," I smugly said as Leo looked impressed. "Besides, Ramsey might deal with the situation better if I go talk to him. No offense, babe, but he hates you."
"She has a point," Clara pointed out as she paced back and forth.
"Are you sure you can handle this, Jade?" Leo asked, bluntly ignoring Paul who was staring at him as if he never saw him before in his life.
"I'm sure." I said confidently, meeting Leo's gaze steadily. He nodded once.
"Alright, it's settled. One of my men will call when the time comes. Now," he glanced at his watch, "we go finish preparing for the party."
I headed back to my room, my body begging for a shower as the saltwater began to dry out my skin. Rummaging through my closet, I didn't look up as Paul silently entered the bedroom. I knew he was upset by the decision made, but Ava was my daughter too. Grabbing the plum dress Clara had brought to me earlier, I gathered my stuff and went into the bathroom. Paul was sitting on the bed as he watched me move around the room. Once I had everything, I turned toward him.
"Before we have this discussion, I'm going to take a shower. We will talk when I'm done." I shut the door before he could reply and locked it so I could enjoy my shower without interruptions. Fifteen minutes later, I dried off and slipped into the dress. It was definitely my size and form fitting, showing off my curves. I admired it in the mirror.
Blow-drying my hair, I smiled as my curls started to form. As soon as I was satisfied with how I looked, I slipped on the black heels I bought a few months ago and walked back into the bedroom. I ignored Paul, who came back from his room, dressed in black pants and a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. As much as I wanted to remain annoyed with him, I couldn’t help but mentally acknowledge that he looked hot. I sat down in the chair at my desk as he stood in the doorway.
"Don't do this," he said softly.
"I have to, Paul. She's all I've ever had in the last four years. You've had your family," I met his gaze. "She's my baby and I'd do anything to get her back. You understand why I have to do this."
"Yeah," he sighed. "I get it. Uncle Leo used to say 'The gang is family. Do whatever it takes to keep them safe.' I guess I have to get used to including you and Ava in that now."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about her sooner." I stared at the floor.
"Don't do that, Jade. You did what you thought was right. Let's just focus on getting her back and then we can worry about the future. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Come on. The party will be starting soon," he grabbed my hand and we made our way downstairs. People were already arriving and Clara looked happy playing hostess. She smiled in approval when she saw us and I grinned back.
"Looks like Lola was wrong about the fat white trash part. You look absolutely beautiful, my dear," Clara whispered in my ear as she hugged me. I blushed.
"Thank you, Clara. For everything," I hugged her back.
"It’s nothing, dear. Now, come with me. There’s someone here who wants to see you," Clara led me to the study where Leo was talking to another man. It took me a few moments to recognize who Leo was talking to.
“Dad?” Both men turned toward the sound of my voice. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“I’ll leave the two of you alone,” Leo nodded to my father. “We’ll finish this discussion later,
Brian.”
“Hello Jade,” Dad said, looking a little guilty like a kid who got caught sneaking a cookie before dinner. “You look lovely.”
“What are you doing here?” I gawked in slight confusion. “I thought you were in California with your girlfriend or fiancée or whatever she is?”
“I was. Until I found her cheating on me with her boss. So, I left her in California and moved back here last week. I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. But I’m glad you’re home.” I gave my father a hug and breathed in the familiar scent of cinnamon, cigarette smoke, and oil. Before Dad retired, he was one of the best car mechanics in town; now, working on his car is a hobby.
“I am too,” he said, kissing the top of my head.
“Are they here too?” I asked meekly, not looking up from his chest.
“No, your brothers aren’t with me. They didn’t want to come back… not yet, anyway.” Dad sighed, giving me another squeeze before releasing me. “And I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you about Anne in the first place. But enough about that, now. Leo told me what happened to Ava. Are you okay?”
“Not really. I’m trying to hold it together, but I’m so worried about her. I have to get my daughter back. I can’t lose her.”
“You’ll get her back. Don’t worry, my dear. If I ever taught you anything, it’s always do what you need to do.” Dad smiled at me, before his eyes glanced over my shoulder. “Hello, Paul. You clean up nicely.”
I turned to see Paul standing in the doorway, his suit jacket now buttoned over his white shirt. I had to agree with my dad, Paul looked good dressed up. He smiled warmly as he approached us.
“Thank you, Mr. Corbett. You’re looking good yourself.”
“Please. Call me Brian. We’re practically family, there’s no need for formalities.”
“Brian,” Paul nodded, then turned toward me. “Do you mind if I steal your father away for a few minutes?”
“Not at all,” I motioned for the door. “I have to go check on Sky anyway, see how she’s holding up. You’re staying for the party right, Dad?”
A Heart of Gang (The Centofanti Gang Book 1) Page 6
