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"…fucking ridiculous!" Gael gritted his teeth as he cracked his neck from side to side.

"Why am I not surprised anymore?" Giovanni scoffed, and the two of them went quiet.

Confused as to what they were talking about, Angela hesitated as she placed a hand on Gael\'s shoulder. He turned in her direction even before her hand landed on him, and then his expression softened a little when he realized it was her. "What\'s going on?" she wondered.

Gael\'s jaw ticked as if he was contemplating telling her or not. And when Angela thought he would brush her off, he turned to face her and said, "Perry might be working with the Bratva."

Okay… That wasn\'t what she expected him to say. At first, she thought something terrible had happened to his family—and thank god that wasn\'t the case. But this… Angela didn\'t know how bad this was exactly.

"How are they working together?"

He rubbed his forehead back and forth, trying to relieve the growing headache, but it only did a little to alleviate the pain. His mind went back to a few minutes ago—at the time when he and Perry had a conversation.

~~~

"That\'s right, De Luca, just smile while you still can," Perry muttered next to him so low that only the two of them could hear. He always lifted his chin when looked at people as if he was looking down at them. Perry was of mixed race, an American father and a Hispanic mother. His sharp features made him look standoff-ish.

Gael wasn\'t the least bit irritated at the taunting. In fact, he widened his smile more just for the heck of it. "Are you being cute? My apologies, Kieth, but I don\'t flirt with men."

Perry chuckled then took a generous sip of his white wine before letting the passing waiter take the empty glass from him. "Has anyone ever told you how obnoxious you are?"

"Me? Obnoxious…" Gael smirked and decided to hit Perry below the belt. "I don\'t know about that. Though I\'m quite certain that your fiancée actually finds me…tasteful."

Now, this bit of information might be a little dated, but Gael knew there was some truth to it years ago.  He wasn\'t interested in the woman, but he guessed that Perry might be insecure as hell if he said that.

And he was right because right after he spoke, Keith Perry turned to face him. The smile on Perry\'s face was still on, but his body went rigid. Ha! Who knew this man was easily riled up?

"You think you\'re a fucking hero, De Luca?"

Oh, boy. Here we go. Gael was just glad that only the two of them were there at that moment. They didn\'t need the audience.

Giving Perry his attention, Gael let out a sigh, slightly turned his body towards the other, and shoved a hand into his pocket while the other gently swirled the wine in the glass. "A hero…" He chuckled. "Come on, Keith. I thought you think I\'m obnoxious… Now I\'m a hero? I gotta say, you change your mind quickly. Are you on your period? Man… If you weren\'t you, I might\'ve actually found you adorable."

Perry nodded slowly, swiftly glancing sideways before he leaned closer. "Go ahead, be the class clown. Who knows? The comedy club might be your fallback one day. You might have tried getting to me, but this is the closest you will get."

"Oh, Keith… Where do you get such confidence? From your little buddy Filippo? You think he\'s got your back here in New York?" Gael laughed, and it sounded so devilish, even he thought he was a demon. "Or is it your mommy and daddy patting your back, hm?"

The amusement drained from Perry\'s face, and the next words that came out of his mouth made Gael want to punch him in the throat. "I\'m surprised you don\'t know yet. Haven\'t you heard? I\'m in bed with the Novikovs. You might have heard of them…"

Gael drew his brows together, and a taste of displeasure coated his tone when he questioned, "You? In bed with the Novikovs? Since when?" There was no way Alessandro would be all good for a threesome with the Bratva and Perry-Morelli tandem. He stopped himself from reaching for Perry\'s throat. If only they weren\'t in a room full of people, he would have already taken out a tooth or two from this guy. He didn\'t want to admit it, but his taunting got to him now—all because he mentioned Angela\'s maternal family. 

"Are you scared now? Good. Watch your back, De Luca—or your front. You know how the Bratva works." And with that, Keith Perry lifted a corner of his lips in a smirk as he walked away and left through the side door.

~~~

As Gael recalled what Perry said to Angela, he saw her pale. She always had the same reaction whenever the Bratvas were mentioned. 

She clutched her chest, concern lacing her face. "This… This is what he meant, Gael. Whoever he spoke to on the phone, he meant this. Perry gets my grandfather involved, and they\'re out to get you. Can they even do that? Aren\'t you allies with them? Why—"

"Wait, what?" Giovanni interrupted. "You heard him talk to someone on the phone? Did you hear him give threats? When did this happen, and why wasn\'t I informed?" he questioned the two.

"I did," Gael cast him a look. "I told you Angela overheard a phone conversation last Monday. Fuck, you don\'t even listen to me now?"

"Oh… That… Yeah… I remember."

"You sure? You seemed to be so distracted lately. What the hell\'s going on?" Gael folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes at his uncle.

"Fuck off. I\'m not distracted. I just forgot about it!"

"Whatever it is, snap out of it, man. I need you focused, Gio. I can\'t do this without you."

Giovanni closed his eyes and exhaled deeply as if letting all his frustrations leave with it. 

Angela stared at the two, unsure what was going on about Gio, but the two men seemed to be under a lot of pressure. Even she was feeling it now too. "Okay, so…?"

Gael shifted his gaze on her and remembered her question. He shook his head. "No. They can\'t. Or there would be a war between them and us."

"But… Perry said…"

"He might just be bluffing."

"You think so?"

Giovanni huffed. "If he\'s bluffing, he surely knows something we don\'t and thought he could provoke us. If he\'s telling the truth, then he\'s a little dumb to be blabbering about this detail. Either he\'s dumb or just overly confident. You think he and Volkov struck the deal?"

Gael\'s jaw tensed, and he swore his teeth were about to crack from how hard he was gritting. "I called my father just now and told him. He said he\'d try to find out. But if it comes up empty, then I guess I\'ll have to see tomorrow and ask Volkov myself."

Tomorrow. Angela felt a shiver down her spine. The birthday party tomorrow where the Bratva would also be present. Gael had already confirmed this to her. For the first time, she might see her grandfather in the flesh, and she could admit that she was a bit terrified.

However, there was no way out of it because the Senator\'s daughter personally invited her to go to her party after the two met a few days ago by chance while she dined out with Gael at a restaurant. It would reflect poorly on the De Lucas if she canceled, given the relationship between the Senator and Alessandro. These people take courtesy very seriously in their world.

So not only would Angela possibly see her mother and Ivan but also her grandfather.. She just hoped that the party would be so big and the guest list was long enough for her to hide among the crowd and away from their sight.