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Angela recalled a time when Gabriella told her Mariano was hot—that was before J\'s death and her wedding with the enemy. The girl wasn\'t lying. Mariano had long dark hair that he effortlessly styled as if he couldn\'t be bothered; some strands fell down the left side of his face that nearly covered his eyes, which looked blue but also greyish. He had a sharp nose and a couple-days-old scruff on his jaw that made him look more mature than his age.

Gael told Angela that Mariano was twenty-nine years old. The latter also carried a confident air with him that bordered on arrogance as he stepped in the foyer to follow Gabriella inside. He wore a black loose turtleneck sweater under his black trench coat. Yeah, Mariano was indeed a looker, but for Angela, Gael was way, way hotter, of course. Come on. No one was better than Gael.

Angela made the first introduction after closing the door. "You\'re Mariano, right? I\'m Angela."

"Yes." He smiled and shook hands with her. "I figured… You\'re Gael\'s fiancee. It\'s nice to meet you."

Gabriella let out a gasp, and she quickly grabbed Angela\'s left hand. "Oh! This is so pretty!" she gushed, admiring the engagement ring. "I know I already said it, but Anj… I can\'t wait for us to be sisters-in-law!"

Angela, who had just woken up not too long ago, was still reeling from the sleepiness, but she still tried to return the same enthusiasm. "I know. Me too! I\'m so glad you guys came today. Though, you\'ll have to excuse me for a bit. I literally woke up from your call. I haven\'t had the chance to wash up yet."

"Sorry for crashing your morning. I thought my brother already told you we were coming today."

"Oh, he did leave me a note. But I slept in." She knew they would meet at the party and not this morning, so their visit surprised her. But she was delighted to see Gabriella again. Softly chuckling, Angela tightened the robe around her and began retreating upstairs. "You don\'t mind if I take a quick shower, do you? Gabby, you know the way around here. Make yourself at home. I won\'t be long."

She heard their response as she walked up the stairs. Just as she entered the master bedroom, a knock came at the door, and then not long after, Trigger\'s voice floated from downstairs. Angela knew Gael\'s men were just nearby. She figured that Trigger must have felt the need to come inside when Mariano entered the house.

***

It took Angela about half an hour to shower and get dressed. It was cold and lightly snowing outside today, so she had to blow-dry her hair first, knowing they would run some errands today.

Gael called to check up on her, and they spoke for a few minutes. He didn\'t fail to remind her to wear warmer clothes and update him later on their whereabouts. Once she descended the stairs, she was already wearing a casual white sweater and a pair of blue jeans.

Mariano and Gabriella were talking in nearly hushed tones in the living room. They weren\'t touching each other—possibly a little over a foot between them—but even from the base of the stairs, Angela could feel the tension between the two. It was as if they kept loads of things from each other—one of which could possibly be frustration. But as Angela tried to decipher, she couldn\'t sense any animosity.

Mariano\'s brows slightly furrowed, then they relaxed as he nodded and backed away, already heading towards the front door.

"Yan…" Gabriella called, and it wasn\'t lost on Angela how the nickname sounded so intimate.

He looked over his shoulder to meet Gabriella\'s gaze, but she didn\'t say anything. Her mouth opened as if she wanted to say something and then closed again. Mariano curled his lips upward slightly and told her, "I\'ll be safe." After nodding courteously at Angela before leaving, he was gone.

"Everything okay? Where\'s he going?" Angela probed as she walked over to Gabby standing by the window where they watched Mariano drive away in a black Town Car.

Gabriella cleared her throat and began putting away the empty cups on the coffee table. "He\'s going to meet with his sister. You\'ve met her, right? Lia?"

Angela nodded. "Yeah. Last Monday. Why do you look worried? Is meeting her bad?"

"It\'s not that. Lia\'s good. It\'s…him seeing Keith I\'m worried about." Gabriella glanced at the kitchen where Trigger was chilling at the table with a phone in hand. "I don\'t know how much you know about them… Mariano doesn\'t tell me everything, but I know that his relationship with his brother, Filippo, is not good. So that extends to Keith—who\'s Filippo\'s drug business partner. With what\'s going on at home—I mean…in Chicago, I\'m sure Keith wouldn\'t be keen on facing Mariano."

It dawned on Angela that a lot had changed in the last several weeks. Not only to her but also to Gabriella. If she wasn\'t mistaken, Gabriella had been married to Mariano for six weeks now. Although she wasn\'t judging, Angela couldn\'t help but be curious if the younger woman was falling for her husband. That sentence was strange if anyone else heard it, but the fact remained that the two didn\'t get married out of love.

However, Angela didn\'t look down on Gael\'s sister. God forbid, she knew first-hand how it was to fall in love even if she tried to stop herself. She fell fast, and she fell hard. And with Gabriella\'s situation, living with Mariano in that big house with only Val as her family nearby, it wasn\'t at all impossible.

Gabriella once told Angela that Mariano apologized even if he wasn\'t the one to blame for J\'s death. He still felt terrible because it was his family who did it. But Gabby hadn\'t told her about catching feelings.

Angela didn\'t know what to make of Mariano yet as she had only met the man and there were very few things she heard about him. "So…you\'re worried that something will happen to him?" she asked in a lighthearted way, sounding a bit teasing.

Gabriella narrowed her eyes as she caught on to her right away. Then she chuckled as she carried the cups to the kitchen. "Oh, not you too, Anj!"

"What did I say?" Angela feigned, exchanging a look with Trigger who now gave them his full attention. "I\'m just asking if you\'re worried about your husband. That\'s all!"

A slow grin formed on Trigger\'s face as he leaned his crossed arms at the breakfast table, nodding at Gabriella. "You fuck him yet?"

Angela suppressed to laugh at the sudden flushing of Gabby\'s face. By now, Angela was already familiar with Trigger\'s playful side.

Trigger, Gabriella, and Jino were like best friends. At first, Trigger held a little resentment against Gabriella for marrying Mariano. However, it seemed as if he had now moved on from the second-hand betrayal.

"Shut up." Gabriella gave him the stink eye before raising her chin. "That\'s not happening."

Unbothered by the glare thrown at him, Trigger added, "Ah… So you haven\'t fucked yet. But you want to, don\'t you?"

"No!"

"I know HE wants to," he muttered under his breath, grabbing an apple from the basket in front of him and then taking a bite. "Asshole couldn\'t keep his eyes off you. Makes me want to gouge his eyeballs out of their sockets."

Gabriella turned away from them, trying to busy herself by washing the cups in the sink. 

Angela cleared her throat, backhanding Trigger\'s bicep as if telling him to stop. "So…?"

"So what?" Gabby said with her back still on them.

"Are you worried?" Yes, Angela was nosey. She already knew that. It was an occupational hazard, considering she needed inspiration for her books.

Gabriella took a deep breath, wiped her hands dry with a tea towel, and faced them as she leaned her hips against the sink. "Fine. I\'m worried. But it\'s not what you think. You do realize that he\'s the only one keeping me safe there… I mean Val\'s there too, but she and I wouldn\'t be enough to fight off a whole family on our own if something happens to him."

The room was silent as the three of them cast silent glances at each other as if there was no need to voice out their thoughts.

It was Trigger who spoke first. "You know you can always call us any time if something happens."

Gabriella nodded, offering him a small smile. "All right!" She clapped her hands and flashed an excited smile. "Anj, my brother, specifically instructed me to make sure you eat your breakfast before we leave, so do that now, and then we\'ll be on our way."

While heating up the bowl of congee in the microwave, Angela asked, "Where are we going, by the way?"

"Well, we\'re picking up Mika on our way to the salon. And then have our dresses ready for tonight and tomorrow\'s party."

At the mention of tomorrow\'s party, Angela\'s face fell. They were expected to be at a Senator\'s daughter\'s eighteenth birthday, and Gael told her the Bratva would most likely be present too.. She was not ready to meet her mother again—or a whole bunch of Russian mafia.