14: The Truth

Lucca

After welcoming my angel inside, I asked her to go upstairs and freshen up and then join us for lunch. During the lunch Francesco took the initiative and told her everything he had done so far and how he was keeping an eye on her using K.

"Miss.Gabrielle I am really sorry for what I did and ..." Francesco says once everything was out in clear.

"Francesco, I am not happy with what you did but now I see to what extremes you can go to protect your brother, your boss and my Lucca." My angel says as she quietly grabs my hand under the table and squeezes it. I look at her in reassurances as I squeeze back her hand, silently thanking her for understanding my crazy family.

"You are too good to him angel." I say with a soft smile on my face but in a sad tone. I was sad what Francesco did but I also knew he did it for my safety. That is the only reason I have forgiven him. He always thinks about me first and then about himself.

"Lucca he did what he had to do plus I asked him to keep you safe no matter what. And he kept his promise." She looks at Francesco as she says the last part. I look at both of them as they silently exchange a understanding nod.

"C'mon lets go to the lounge, so we can discuss what our next plan is and also buttercup can I see the file that Corbiniano gave you." Ciro says as he pushes his chair back and stands.

"Yeah sure let me get it; it's in my bag." My angels say, and I kiss her head and whisper thank you before heading out of the dining room.

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"Here you go" Bella says as she hands Ciro a thick folder and then comes sits next to me.

I open my arm, and she snuggles next to me. We were sitting on the a big couch facing both Ciro and Francesco in the lounge room.

"Would you like some tea?" I ask Bella as I pull her closer to me.

"No I am good, thank you." She replies as she looks up at Ciro and Francesco . They were going through the file and trying to find anything that can help us.

"Angel, whatever Corbiniano said about my father is all lie. My father would never hurt an innocent soul. Let alone kidnap a new born." I say as I grab her hand in mine and look at her. I knew she trusted me, but I wanted to tell her everything. Every single thing. So I go ahead and tell her all about Corbiniano's and his evil plan.

"Corbiniano is not what he says he is buttercup." Ciro says when I am done explaining her all of Corbiniano's and Dante's stunt.

After two minutes of complete silence my angel looks up at me " Lucca the moment Corbiniano said he was my father. I knew he was bad." We all look at her in confusion.

"What do you mean angel?" I ask ask both Ciro and Francesco look at her for a explanation.

"The day I was adopted from the orphanage, the head master came up to me and handed my a letter." She says and swallows before continuing. "The letter was from my mother, my birth mother."

All three of us look at her in shock. I though she was not in contact with either one of her parent. "Angel." I say as I drape my hand over her and pull her even closer to me. I just wanted to show my support to her and let her know that I was there for her.

"She wrote..." She says as she looks down at our entwined hand. "She said my birth father didn't wanted a daughter he wanted a son. A son to continue his name, his empire. And if I was born in his world he would either kill me or use me to increase his wealth."

"Angel." I say in both rage and shock.How dare he think of hurting an innocent life? One who can't fight back. One who can't defend herself.

She looks up at me and continues,"She said she bribed the nurse with her diamond jewelry and asked her to drop me at the orphanage. She also said never to look for her or him to seek revenge. And to just live my life the way I desired and to be happy."

Her words hit all of us like a brick and we three share a look of utter shock and disbelief but we all control our anger and let her talk.

My angel smiles softly,"She warned me to stay away Lucca. Aways from my own father who was out there to kill me.But now he found me and he will kill me. I saw it in his eyes. He was just faking a smile and luring me in his trap."I feel a shiver run down her spine and I tighten my hold on her and rub my hand up and down over her arm.

"Angel, you are mine now and no one can ever hurt you. I will always protect you with my life. " I say in firm tone and look right into her beautiful golden eyes. They were not red but still swollen from all the crying. I wanted her to understand that no matter what, she is my top priority and I will do anything to keep her safe.

"Miss Gabrielle I will do anything in order to protect you and Lucca." Francesco chimes in, trying to reassure her that she was safe with us and we would do anything for her.

"I will always look after you buttercup. You are one of us now." Ciro says with a smile, and that makes my angle to chuckle. 'And still you guys will not call me Bella' My angel whispers but it was barely a whisper and I was pretty sure they heard it.

"Thank you guys. It really means a lot." She says as she snuggles closer to me and I welcome it with a soft kiss on her forehead.

"You are my angel. And I protect what's mine." I whisper in her ear, and she smiles.

After a few minutes Francesco and Ciro goes back to reading Corbiniano's file and suddenly Francesco's eyes go wild. "What is it?" I ask in confusion. In my 30 years of life I have never once seen Francesco so surprised. His face was pale as a host and his eyes were wide.

Ciro moves closer to Francesco and look at the paper he had in his hand and his eye to go wild. He looks at Francesco in shock and then back at the paper.

"What is it?" I growl this time in irritation.

Ciro looks in my direction and then back Francesco.

"It's Eleanore." Francesco says as he looks up at me. Shock was written all over his face.

"Eleanore??" I ask in confusion and Ciro nods.

"Yes Eleanore. My Eleanore. She is Miss. Gabrielle younger sister."Francesco says as he looks back at the paper.Her name brings back memories... memories from when we were teenagers. Francesco meet Eleanore when he was still a teenager, a naive boy who fought hard and loved even harder. He saw Eleanore at one of our dinner parties and fell in love with her instantly. At first I thought I would be a teenage crush, and he would get over it. But the crush changed in to love so fast that even Francesco couldn't handle it. He couldn't stay away from her even fro a single second and wanted to marry her as soon as possible.

So when he turned 18, he proposed her and she accepted it. But only to leave him the next day and to never come back. Francesco looked for her for five long years. And then on my and Ciro's request he stopped looking for her. But now she was back and was my angel's younger sister. I couldn't believe it.

"It's all lie Francesco. Corbiniano is playing with us." I say as I move and grab the paper from his hand. It was a a family picture of Corbiniano. He was sitting on a sofa with a women next to him, probably his wife my angel's mother. She had the exact same eye as my angels. And behind the sofa stood a thin Eleanore. And she looked so much like the older women in the picture that there was no doubt that she was her daughter. But then it meant she was my angel's sister.

"How is this even possible," I ask to no one in particular but I look at everyone in the room.

"What??What is going on??"My angel asks me as she comes next to me and looks at the picture in my hand. But all three of us remain quite and look at each other.

"Lucca??" My angels say in questioning tone and looks at me for explanation.

But before I could say a single word, Francesco starts explaining every single thing about Eleanore and I see the look of shock and hurt on my angel's face.

"Omg Francesco I am so sorry." She says as she holds his and looks up at him.

"It's not your faulty Miss.Gabrielle. It's Corbiniano." Francesco says in an annoying tone.

My angel grabs Francesco's hand in her soft hand tight when he tires to leave the room "I will help you Francesco. I will find the truth behind Eleanore. I promise you and bring her back to you."My angel promises Francesco.

"Angel." I say in shock. It's not that I don't believe or trust her to full-fill her promise. It's that I don't want her anywhere near my dark world. A world that is full with devils and a pure angel like her won't be able to survive.

"You are not getting involved with anything angel." I say in annoyances as I drape my arm over my angels shoulder and pull her closer to me.

"Lucca, if I can help you guys catch Corbiniano and save those high school girls. I will get involved," She replies with her chin up.

"No angel.." She cuts in .."Lucca I am already involved in this matter. There is no point is separating me from this. Please let me help you guys and save those poor girls. Lucca please." She looks up at me with pleading look and I just growl in frustration and rest my head on hers.

"If anything happens to you angel. I will never forgive myself" I shift my head back and place a soft kiss oh her forehead. I knew one way or the other she would get involved. He was her father after all, but what I was really worried about was up-to what extend can the crazy Corbiniano go. I was not ready to lose my angel. I just found her. I can't.

"Nothing will happen to me, Lucca, if you are there with me." My angel whispers as she hugs me from side and snuggles close to me.

"Always. Angel always." I reply in seconds. No matter what path we take I will always stand next to my angel. Always.

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THE NEXT DAY.

"Morning angel. Did you sleep well?" I ask her with a smile as she opens the guest bedroom.

"Morning Lucca. Yes, I did."She smiles softly at me. She was trying to hide her exhaustion but her baggy eyes give them away. "Did you sleep well?" She asks with a shy smile.

"Yes, I did." What I really wanted to say was no I didn't even sleep a wink. I was up all night thinking about her. My angel.

After a very long discussion last night, my angel asked me if she could sleep alone in the guest bedroom. At first I wanted to say no but when she said she needed some space and alone time to clear her mind, I agreed. I wanted to hold my angel in my arms and never let her go. But I agreed with her, she was hurt and in the state of shock. Everything was too much to take. She just meet her father who initially wanted to kill her. But now he wants her back in his family, along with her other daughter. Over my dead body. Corbiniano was playing a very dirty game, and I was going to find out every single thing about it and destroy him.

"Let's go downstairs and join Ciro and Francesco for breakfast. I bet Ciro is going crazy with hunger. He doesn't take getting hungry easily he becomes a wild beast." I smile back at her as I grab her small, soft hand in my rough hand.

"Yeah let's go." She replies with a chuckle. The sound of her sweet laughter warms my chest and makes me smile even brighter. Slowly she is becoming the reason for all my laughter and joy. My happiness. My everything.

I lift her hand close to my chest and interlace her finger with mines. Her faces flushes with color and I pull her over to me using her hand and place a gentle kiss on her cheek.

"I love when I make you flush angel." I whisper close to her ear and then tilt my head back to see her reaction. She dugs her chin down shyly and I use this opportunity to place a kiss on her forehead. "Let's go before Ciro comes up looking for us." I say as I step back and then we walk downstairs.

We enter the dining room, hand in hand and glance at a very hungry looking Ciro. He looked angry. "What took you guys so long. I am starving," He says and rubs his hand over his toned abs.

Ciro loves food more than anything. He is always either eating or on his laptop. And both Francesco and I joke always tease him about it.

"You just had the smoothies an hour ago after the workout." Francesco say in a sassy tone as he gives Ciro look.

"A — It was 30 minutes ago bro and B — it is a liquid, it is not considered a food." He tires to explain with a fake pout as he presses the bell for our butler to bring in the food.

Bella and I chuckle while Francesco just shakes his head.

Our butler starts serving us food and Ciro digs in right away.

While eating the breakfast peacefully, my angel's phone starts ringing and we all look at her.

"Oh sorry, nobody usually calls me except work." She says as she pulls her phone out of her pocket and looks at the screen.

The moment she read who's call her face loses all color and her eyes go wild.

"Angel, who is?" I ask her gently as I grab her hand and give it a reassurance squeeze.

She looks up at me and then back at the screen. "It's Corbiniano," She says in a low tone that was barely audible. If all of us weren't quite, I would doubt we could even hear it.

"Answer it and put it on the speaker." I say in a firm tone and she looks up at me.

She nods and then slides a finger across her phone and then presses the speaker button before placing it on the table.

"Hel..Hello" She says nervously, but I quickly move my seat closer to her and drape my arm over her shoulder and pull her closer to my chest, showing support.

"Hey Bella dear, is it too early for a call ?? Are you sleeping??" A thick rusty voice asks over the speaker. The Italian accent was clearly audible even when the man was trying to hide it.

When my angel doesn't respond to his question I squeeze her shoulder gently and nudge her to continue. "..ah No no.., I was just eating breakfast." She says still sounding a bit unsure and nervous.

"Oh, good, I thought you must be sleeping," He says as he chuckles on his own joke. "So, I just called to check if you are free tonight for a family reunion over dinner?"

"..ah I think.. ah yeah. Sure, I would love to join." My angel replies shocking all of us. Her tone was firm though, it was like she has already made the decision and nothing was going to stop her.

"That's great Bella dear, that's really great. You mother and sister is dying to see you."He says sounding very happy."Thank you so much dear. I bet your mother and sister would be ecstatic to hear the news."

" Hmm.." my angel just hums in agreement.

"So tonight then. I will send my driver to pick you up and.."

"Oh no no, I will come on my own, just text me the address. I will be there."My angel cuts in.

"Oh okay then I will just text you the address." He says sounding a bit annoyed. Maybe because my angel interrupted him or maybe she didn't agree to his idea. I wasn't sure but he was a bit annoyed that was clearly audible.

"Okay then, see you at eight?" She asks and tires to end the call.

"Yeah eight will be perfect."

"Okay, bye." My angel says and abruptly ends the call, not letting him say bye. And then she sighs loudly and I feel her stiff body that was close to mine relax.

"You are not going anywhere angel." I growl the moment she ends the call.

She was not going any where near that Corbiniano creature. No matter what she says this time. I won't budge a little. She was my everything and I couldn't just let her go to him without even knowing his intensions first. Because both of us knew it wasn't any friendly, happy family reunion dinner. It was a trap, and I can't let my angel go in.