Charlotte blinked hard, and so did I.
“Well,” she rose to her feet. “You and your bottle can go fuck yourselves. Thanks for dinner.” She turned towards me. “I’ll go wait with Angelo for you.” She threw down her cloth napkin and started to walk away.
“Good. Let her go,” Fabio said.
“Fabio,” I said calmly. “You’re such a jerk.” I wanted to grab his precious two hundred and fifty-year old bottle of wine and pour it all over his head. It would serve him right. But I didn’t. Instead, I stood up and followed Charlotte.
Fabio jumped out of his chair. “What the hell?” He came after me and roughly grabbed my arm, his eyes ablaze with anger. “Have you lost your damn mind?”
I remained calm. “Fabio, let go of me.”
“You know what, Sienna, you are a rude fucking bitch. I invite you over to dinner at my house and without asking, you bring along the most uncivilized person I have ever met in my life. And I’m still polite and feed her. Why should I let her drink the wine that I have paid hundreds of thousands for? She is nothing to me.”
“Fine. Save your wine for you and your friends. If it’s too good for my friend then it’s too good for me too. Now, let go of my hand.”
Instead of letting go, he tightened his grip. “No, I want you to stay and drink the wine.”
“I don’t want the wine, Fabio. Now, let go!” I warned through gritted teeth.
His eyes flashed and it reminded me of him as a boy. He always was a petulant child who used to throw tantrums when he couldn’t have what he wanted. He smiled nastily. “I wonder what your parents will say if I told them how you behaved today. Shall I tell them you don’t want to marry me because you want to fuck your bodyguard.”
I froze.
“You thought I didn’t know. Now get back to the table and drink the fucking wine,” he ordered.
“Let her go!” the command suddenly came … low and menacing.
It actually sent a shiver down my spine.
We both swiveled our heads to see Angelo strolling over to us with unhurried, even strides.
Charlotte followed behind him, alarm flaring in her eyes at the sight of Fabio’s grip around my arm. “Sienna, are you all right?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” I replied.
“Let her go,” Angelo repeated. “And if I have to say it again, I’m going to break your hand.” His voice was quiet, but no one, not even Fabio missed the absolute intent in the threat.
Fabio’s grip around my arm loosened.
Charlotte immediately came to my side and started pulling me away from him.
“All of you,” Fabio shook with anger. “Get out of my apartment!”
He didn’t need to say it twice.
Chapter 41
Angelo
“What a dick!” her friend exclaimed again as I drove them home. “God!”
Sienna remained quiet, her gaze once again focused on the window as we zoomed along the freeway.
“Sienna, you cannot marry that asshole. He’s sick in the head. I have never met a bigger asshole than him in my entire life and I’ve met some major assholes!”
“Charlotte,” Sienna said quietly, and then stole a glance at me.
I caught it through the rearview mirror, but she quickly averted her eyes.
I felt sick to my stomach. When I saw him grabbing her I wanted to kill that low life. I didn’t even want her to go to him, but I knew I couldn’t stop her until I had all my plans laid out. But I let her go because I knew Charlotte would be there. I nearly died when she came out of the apartment without her. I knew now, there was no more time to waste. I had to swallow my pride and do whatever it took to make Sienna mine.
My disturbed, jumbled thoughts came to an abrupt stop when we arrived back at the compound to a flurry of panic going on. Right at the entrance were the flashing sirens of an ambulance, and three paramedics in uniforms.
“Oh, my God,” Sienna cried out in fear.
“What’s going on?” Charlotte asked, alarmed.
I had hardly brought the SUV to a halt when Sienna jumped out of the car. I didn’t know what danger lay in front of her, so I threw open my door and sprinted after her. I caught up to her before she could get too close to the scene and grabbed her hand.
“Let me go!” she cried and tore at my grip. “Angelo.”
“Calm down,” I said, as I let my eyes quickly scan the scene. Only after confirming the presence of the other guards ... Alessandro, Mateo, and the others was it clear things were somewhat under control.
I was about to let her go when a gurney was rolled out of the house with her father strapped onto it. Her mother and a couple of paramedics following closely. Relief flooded through me when I saw that his face wasn’t covered with a white cloth. Instead, an oxygen mask had been fitted over his mouth as his unconscious body lay still.