Chapter7
Gabriella settled herself back into her apartment and as soon as her bags were unpacked, she called Lila to tell her all about the weekend and how it went.
Lila answered right away. “Where are you?” she asked anxiously.
“I’m home. It’s been crazy, though. I have a lot to tell you.” She sighed. Confusion had been tangling her every thought and emotion since she left Antonio at the bus station. She had loved being with him, but the further away she got from him, the more she wondered just what it was she was doing and what it was going to cost her.
“What’s going on?” Lila sounded worried.
Gabriella sighed. “Well, you know I texted you that Julian was taking me up to Bear Lake to do a photo shoot this weekend, and that I thought I was finally going to get the cover, right?”
“Yeah…” She sounded uncertain.
“Well, we got up there and I found out that he had been lying. There was no photo shoot. He just wanted to get me out of town to a remote place where he could try to make me sleep with him.” Gabriella explained, ire growing in her as she recounted it to her friend.
“He did not!” Lila gasped in horror.
“He did,” Gabriella confirmed. “He laid it all out on the line.” She thought of the words he used. “He said that I had to sleep with him or he was going to fire me and wreck my career. He said that… just like that. Plain as anything.” She felt nauseated repeating it.
Lila was appalled. “What? That son of a—”
Gabriella cut her off. “There’s a lot more.”
“More?” Lila was astounded.
“Yeah.” Gabriella’s mind went back to her fight with Julian in the library. “He demanded that I sleep with him and when I wouldn’t do it, he got angry and took off out of the house. The trouble is, he had downed most of a bottle of Jack Daniels by that point and I was upstairs in my room so I didn’t know he was leaving until he was already peeling out of the driveway and down the hill. I couldn’t stop him.
Next thing I know, there are two highway patrol officers standing at the door and they are telling me that he wrecked his car and wound up in the hospital. He was going to be okay, but he got really banged up.”
“Oh no…” Lila, like Gabriella, didn’t like Julian at all, but she didn’t want to see him hurt, either.
“So I called Antonio and told him about his brother’s accident and he came straight up from Los Angeles and met me at the house. He picked me up and took me with him to the hospital and we checked on his brother. The doctors put him in a medially induced coma until he had healed a little more, so there was nothing there that we could do.
We stayed a little while and then we went back to the house. It was wonderful to be there with him, but I wish it had been under different circumstances. Anyway, it got really hot between us at first, but we kept our distance, and then when Julian woke up, we went to see him and he yelled at both of us. He told me off and ordered me to come back home here, and said when he got back I was going to have to decide what I’m doing or he would end my career. I believe him. I’m not going to sleep with him, but he is giving me what he considers to be my last chance.”
Gabriella felt her heart come close to breaking. She knew he meant it, and she had no idea what she was going to do, other than contact everyone she knew in the modeling world. She wasn’t sure that that would help, because the minute Julian spread the bad word about her in the modeling world, her career was as good as dead, anyway.
Lila groaned. “My god, what a mess. What a horrible mess. Honey, I’m so sorry.”
Gabriella continued. “Well, there’s more. After Julian told us both off in the hospital, we went home and we had been being really good, but we just couldn’t hold back from each other anymore, and Antonio and I made love. He was amazing. It’s never been that good for me. Italian lovers…” She laughed a little and shook her head.
“Anyway, I knew I was going to have to leave, because Julian was going to be heading home to the cabin soon and if he knew that Antonio and I slept together it would be a nightmare for us both. I have to figure out what I’m going to do with my career before Julian destroys it, and even though it was amazing with Antonio and I wish I could have so much more with him, I had to leave.
I know he wants more, but I have to consider what’s happening with Julian, too. They’re brothers, Lila, and it’s a screwed up triangle, but there’s too much in the balance right now. I can’t take any chances with either of them.” She sighed and rubbed her fingers over her head, massaging away the stress that was building up there.
“You are in a fine mess, my girl,” Lila said with a sigh. “Listen to me. I don’t care what you feel for Antonio or what you want with him, while Julian is still after you and in the picture, you leave them both alone. They’re brothers. Trust me, you don’t want any part of that.
Family feud and angry men both after the same woman… it’s terrible. They make movies about this kind of thing, and they never end well. Just stay the hell away from both of them. Right? Do yourself a favor. A big one. Leave them both alone.”
Gabriella nodded, though Lila couldn’t see it. “You’re right. I know you’re right. My career is the most important thing, and if I put that first, it totally wipes out the men. Both of them. So, I’ll focus on that. I don’t want to do any more damage. I’ve done enough already.”
“Well, so have they,” Lila added. “Or, at least Julian has. Now, Antonio knows that his brother is after you and he still made a play for you; so that means there’s trouble in paradise for both of them. You don’t want to be in the middle of that. What brother goes after his brother’s love interest, even if it is just for sex? They don’t. Brothers don’t do that. Just stay away from them both. You don’t need the stress and the headache. Focus on your job.”
Gabriella agreed. “I will. You’re so right about it. I’ll just focus on work and leave the guys totally out of the picture. That’s the best thing I can do.”
They talked a while longer, and Lila caught her up on her work and her sister Sophie, who was up to crazy shenanigans as usual. They laughed and Gabriella promised to visit in the near future, and then they hung up. Gabriella made up her mind that work was going to come first. No guys. No problems.
***
Antonio was sitting on a chair on the balcony off the room that Gabriella had stayed in. He was holding a coffee cup in his hand, gazing out onto the winter mountain scene before him. Thoughts of her were playing through his mind. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking of her since she’d left, and the silence in the cabin had become deafening.
Julian would be joining him later that day, but he wasn’t quite looking forward to having him there. He would be there just until he was able to take the ride back to Los Angeles, which the doctor estimated would be soon.
The cell phone in his pocket buzzed and Antonio pulled it out and saw his cousin’s name come up on the caller ID.
“Marcus!” he said with a smile growing over his face. “How are you doing?”
“I’m well, Antonio, thank you. I heard that Julian is having a hard time right now, though,” Marcus replied, sounding disappointed.
“He’ll be all right. Just had a little accident. He’ll be back in Los Angeles soon.” Even with their cousin, Antonio was careful to try to keep his brother in as good a light as he could.
“That’s good to hear,” Marcus returned. “I’m calling you about the company, Antonio. The board has made a decision and it is going to bring about some changes. I am quite sure your brother will not appreciate what they are going to do, but it’s for the best.”
Antonio sat up straighter in his chair and took a deep breath. “What is it? What changes are going to take place?” he asked as his heart began to thud against his chest.
Marcus paused a moment and then said simply, “Each member of the board is giving you some of their shares of the company. Not much, but enough that you will have the controlling half. Enough that your brother will never have control of it at all. Enough that the Fanellis won’t be able to take anything over, no matter what. We all want the company in your hands, Antonio. Your father should have put it that way to begin with, but now we’re fixing it. You’ll always be able to take care of Julian, Antonio, without fear that he may wreck what your father built up for you.”
Antonio was floored. “My god…” he said quietly.
“It’s already in the works. It’s being done. It’ll be finished by the time you get back to Los Angeles. You are not to tell your brother what’s going on under any circumstance until it’s done, do you understand me?” Marcus was deadly serious.
Antonio knew he meant it. He had no idea what he would say to his brother anyway. He had no idea how to convey to his brother that Julian’s poor choices had cost him the faith of their private board members and no one wanted him to have any kind of control over the company.
“I understand you. I’ll keep it silent.” He spoke quietly. He would too, and Marcus knew it.
“Let’s have lunch when you get back to the city,” Marcus said with a slightly lighter note in his voice. “Take care of Julian,” He added with a hint of sympathy.
“Will do, Marcus. See you soon,” Antonio answered, hanging up the phone and sliding it back into his pocket. He stared out at the frosty white landscape before him and sighed. Everything was going to change, and he had no idea whether it would be for the better or not.
He was falling for a woman that his brother wanted and had forbidden him from seeing, and he was secretly going to take control of the company that he and his brother had inherited equally. There was going to be hell to pay, to say the least, when Julian found out.
***
Gabriella went back to work at the magazine, not knowing when Julian might show up or when he might try to force his hand, but she knew he hadn’t said anything to anyone at the magazine and she wanted to work there as long as she could, so she went in acting like nothing was wrong, doing her shoots and avoiding Kathy’s evil gaze.
They were shooting the April contents of the magazine and she tried her best to keep her mind off of the cover. She knew she couldn’t ask Kathy about it; she was just going to have to wait to hear if she would be on it, and no one was talking about it.
The shoot that she was working on that day was all about April showers, and they were shooting in manufactured rain around fountains in a garden. The garden was set in a courtyard at the studios. It was thick with lush green plants and flowers, and the fountain was shining in the sunlight, though the shower of rain came falling down on her from an overhead apparatus.
She was wearing a pretty blue dress with a blue raincoat over the top of it, carrying an umbrella and working on and around the fountain. She’d gotten to splash about and play in the water, and James was shooting her like mad while she did it. He called to her to get in the fountain and she climbed in, playing and splashing in the water and loving it as she got more and more wet and the umbrella did next to no good keeping her dry. James called to her to continue.
Gabriella was smiling wildly, laughing and playing joyfully when she happened to glance off to her side where she saw a movement where there shouldn’t have been anyone. Her eyes landed on Antonio, standing on the sidelines, a bit further off from everyone else. He was watching her, his hands in his pants pockets, sunglasses on, and his mouth pressed into a line.
She wasn’t expecting to see him at all, and the shock of it threw her off of her mental space for a moment, and James saw it. “Head back in the game!” He raised his voice to reach her. She nodded and tried to put the smile back on her face that had been there.
She was glad to see him, but he was a complete distraction to her and she had no idea what he was doing there. There was no reason for him to be at a shoot, especially her shoot, except to see her, and concern pushed through her veins, worrying her slightly as she wondered why he was there.
She wondered if perhaps something had happened to Julian and he was there to tell her about it. It didn’t make any sense, though; if anything had happened to Julian, everyone would have known. There was only one other reason that he would be there, and that would be to see her.
She glanced up at him briefly, and saw that he had pulled his sunglasses off. He was watching her intently, and as he did, he smiled, and a sweet and happy warmth began to spread through her, erasing all of the concern and filling her with delight. The grin returned to her face and her play in the fountain became genuine. James was thrilled. He laughed and yelled to her to keep it up.
Careful not to be too obvious about it, she looked around at all of the people who were there watching the shoot, making sure to include glances to Antonio as much as she could without drawing attention to them. She loved that he was there, and more than that, she loved that he was watching her. His gaze felt to her as if it was burning right into her skin, heating her up, and as the raindrops and fountain splashes cascaded over her dark skin, glinting in the sunlight and running over her body, she began to feel warmer and warmer, knowing he could see all of it.
Memories of their night in front of the fireplace flashed in her mind, and she remembered every touch, every kiss, and every pleasure as if it was all happening right then, and the thoughts of it caught her on fire, filling her with an aching need that seemed to be growing each time she looked over at Antonio.
From the look on his face every time she caught his eye, he was feeling the same, and knowing that he was, seeing it on his face, turned her on even more. By the time James called for the wrap, saying that the shoot was done, her heart was pounding in her and all she wanted to do was feel Antonio’s hands on her.
The crew came and began to dismantle everything around her that had been set up for the shoot, including taking her props, and all the while, he stood off to the side, watching her. She saw Kathy go up to him and he looked completely distracted when she started speaking to him, as if he had forgotten where he was entirely and her voice had brought him back to reality.
He said a few things to her and she nodded and left, and he walked toward Gabriella as he crew began to dissipate, and she was finally left alone. When he reached her he shook his head slightly.
“You looked incredible doing your photo shoot today. I was amazed,” he said softly, standing before her. He didn’t reach out for her, though he desperately wanted to. He was so hungry for her; yearning to touch her, to smell her, to feel his lips on her skin, but he knew that they had to keep a professional appearance around all of the staff, at least for the time being. Nothing about them having been together could be supposed or guessed at by anyone else, especially Julian’s people.
Gabriella grinned and looked up at him as if he was the sunshine in her day. She wanted to hug him, to kiss him, and show him how much she wanted to feel him against her just then, but she knew she couldn’t let anyone see.
“Thank you, it was a lot of fun shooting today.” She looked around them subtly and then raised her eyes to him. “I’m so surprised to see you here! What are you here for?” she asked, wondering aloud what had been saturating her thoughts.
He smiled. “I came to see you. I can’t seem to get you off of my mind… I can’t stop thinking about you at all, and I had to come and see how you are doing and tell you… that I was thinking of you.” He spoke with a low voice, but she heard all of it, and she knew just what he meant. She may have said no men when she was on the phone with Lila, but that didn’t stop him from slipping into so many of her thoughts and her dreams.
“It’s the same for me,” she said quietly as she began to walk with him back into the studios. He followed her. “I try not to, you know… to focus on other things, but you just keep coming into my mind and I can’t stop thinking about you, or wishing I could see you.” She hesitated and opted for honesty. “I’m so glad that you came, and that you’re here. It’s so good to see you. I missed you. I never thought that you would actually come here.”
“I couldn’t stay away,” he said, his voice a little hoarse as his eyes took hers in and he felt like everything in the world was fading away from them except the two of them.
She grinned. “Good,” she told him. She went to her dressing room and let him follow her in, closing the door silently behind her. The moment the door was closed, she turned to face him and he was suddenly directly in front of her, his hands on her shoulders, gazing down into her face and looking like a lost man found.
“Gabriella… I can’t stay away from you. I can’t stop thinking about you. I need you. I need to see you, I need to feel you near me… I need to taste you…” he trailed off as he closed the distance between them and kissed her full on the lips, moving his mouth over hers with voracious need.
Flames leaped up in her and she reached for him, closing her hands around the solid muscles of his shoulders, drawing him to her. Her lips parted and his tongue invaded her mouth, sweeping over hers and making her moan softly as she grew heated and dizzy in his arms.
Her hands slid from his shoulders to his chest and her fingers began to move over the buttons on his shirt, pulling them open one by one, as his mouth left hers and trailed down her neck to her breasts, leaving a line of fire and need behind them.
Antonio pulled at her dress, taking it off of her hurriedly, leaving her in his arms in nothing more than her bra and panties, and at the sight of them, he gasped so hungrily that she knew it wouldn’t be long before they were on the floor with the dress she had been wearing. She pulled his shirt off and kissed his chest and his neck, as her hands moved to the buckle on his pants.
Fiery need was spreading through them both, and they grew more breathless and passionate with each moment. Antonio’s hands slid down her back and held her hips firm and tight, pressing her against his rock hard arousal and she ached to feel him inside of her.
“I need you… now…” he moaned as he kissed her voraciously again. She was about to slide his pants from him when a loud sound shocked them both and they turned suddenly to look up and see Julian standing in the doorway, his eyes burning with fury at what he was witnessing.
Panic and fear shot through Gabriella and she let go of Antonio, bending swiftly to grab her dress from the floor and cover herself with it. Antonio gasped and turned toward his brother. Julian walked into the room and slammed the door behind him.
“What in the hell is going on in here? What is this?” he fumed at them and then glared furiously at his brother. “Antonio! I can’t believe you would do this to me! To your own brother! You know she’s mine! You know that and you go after her like you can take her from me! Is that what you’re trying to do? Take the girl I want?”
Antonio felt a hard tangle of emotions in him. Regret, sorrow, disappointment, anger, jealousy, defensiveness, and possessiveness over Gabriella. He had made love to her. He had gotten her. She wasn’t Julian’s, she was his, and she wanted him back.
She didn’t want Julian, but he knew about the change with the business and he knew that his brother still had no idea that he had lost all control of the company. He knew that Julian was losing everything, and his anger and desire to fight Julian for Gabriella was stemmed by his loyalty to his brother, and the guilt over all that he knew.
“It’s not like that!” he said quickly, trying to defend the two of them somehow.
Julian was having none of it. “Get out!” he roared at his brother. “Don’t you ever come here again! This is my magazine, my building, my girl, and you are never to be here again! Out!”
Antonio pulled his shirt on and turned to look at Gabriella, who had tears forming in her eyes. She couldn’t believe the situation she had found herself in. Her thoughts were going in a myriad of directions; she knew she should have listened to Lila and stayed away from both brothers. She knew she should have been more careful at work, not knowing when Julian would be coming back in. She should have never slept with Antonio, no matter how much she wanted him.
She watched him as he shared a look of angst with her before turning and pushing roughly past his brother, walking out of the room and closing the door behind him. Gabriella couldn’t believe he had left. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it wasn’t to be left alone with Julian while he was so angry with her.
His raging eyes turned back to her, and she felt like she might not be able to handle his anger for her, or the repercussions of him catching her with his brother.
“How dare you do this! How dare you sleep with him when it’s me that wants you! You’d risk not only the cover of the April issue, but your job here as well, by being with him when you know that’s exactly what I want from you? I thought you were so worried about your all-important career? I thought that getting the cover was the most important thing in the world to you? I didn’t realize that it meant so little to you that you’d throw it all away to be with my brother instead of me!” His face was turning red, he was so angry.
He couldn’t believe what he had walked in on. He’d told no one that he was back, and he was still quite injured and healing, but he was anxious to see Gabriella, and he’d made a special trip to the studio just to see her. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about their fight in the library or the way he had been with her at the hospital, and he wanted to force his hand a little more to see if he could get her to sleep with him. He felt like he had been close.
Julian had decided that he liked having her modeling at the magazine, and deep down he thought it would be good to keep her there, but he was unaccustomed to not getting his way, and when he expected her to satisfy his urges and desire for her and she said no, it was frustrating beyond measure to him.
Women never said no him. They all wanted him, and he was used to two or three women a week laying down for him and he never had to even really try to get them, but since he had met Gabriella, his attention and focus had become centered on her because she was the one woman he seemed to not be able to get, and the more she told him no, the more he wanted her.
He felt no emotion for her other than anger and irritation, and a good deal of lust, but there was nothing in his heart for her, it was all because he wanted her beneath him in his bed, and she kept holding back.
He looked at her standing there in her bra and panties, holding her dress up to the front of her body to cover herself somewhat, and he felt nothing but disgust and rage. He had been so focused on her that he hadn’t even bothered to be with any other women since he’d been trying to bed her, and he hadn’t gone without sex altogether since he’d started having sex at fifteen. It was a completely new phenomenon to him, and he hated it. He had waited for her. He had held out for her, and then he had walked in on her and his brother, and he knew if he had walked in ten minutes later he’d have caught them having sex. The knowledge of that was infuriating to him.
He had been betrayed by his brother, and he had been tossed aside by the woman who was driving him crazy so that she could sleep with Antonio. The whole thing was completely baffling to him, and he felt like they had both stabbed him in the back.
Julian took a few steps and stood directly in front of Gabriella; so close that she could feel his breath on her and see the anger in him making him tremble. Fear began to swell in her and she steeled herself for the onslaught of rage that she was sure was coming. She felt chained to the spot by uncertainty and the paralyzing fear that he created in her.
“If you ever see Antonio again, I guarantee you that your career will be over. I’ll destroy it, and I will destroy you. It’s because of me that you are in this business, because of me that you are working, because of me that you are a success, and I will take all of that away from you before you can blink if you even think about seeing him again.
Ever! You owe me everything you are, everything you have, and if you want to work another minute in this industry, you are going to forget you ever met him and you are going to give me what I want with you, and you will not give it to anyone else, especially my brother! Do you understand me?” he growled at her in a deep angry voice.
Gabriella’s heart was pounding outrageously and everything in her was saturated in adrenaline. Her breath came short and fast, and she tried to stop herself from quivering. She watched him carefully, worried about what might happen between them just then. She could not answer him right away, she was so gripped with fear, and she wasn’t entirely sure if he was looking for an answer, or if he was hell bent on making a mandate that she would be expected to follow.
“Answer me!” he screamed at her suddenly, his face reddening further, and she jumped at the sudden shout.
“I won’t see him again,” she said quietly. She knew she should never have seen him in the first place. She felt so strongly for him, she wanted him, and she wished that they could be together, but she knew that Lila was right; she couldn’t have both of them.
She couldn’t have Antonio and expect to have her career as well. She was going to have to give one of them up. She had worked far too hard all of her life to get where she was with her career to give it up for a man, even a man she cared about so much and wanted more than any other man.
Julian reached his hand to the back of her neck and grabbed it, pulling her within a few inches of his face, and her heart nearly beat right out of her chest. She was so afraid of what would happen.
“Never again,” he demanded in a low warning voice.
She shook her head as hot tears pricked at her eyes and flooded them, threatening to fall. She stayed completely still as his eyes bored into hers.
“You better start thinking about what you’re going to do for me to make up for what you wanted to do with him. You owe me, Gabriella, you owe me everything, and you’re going to pay it back to me; all of it. Soon.” He stared at her a minute longer and then he let her go, releasing her from his fierce grip, and turning to walk to the door.
He didn’t look back at her at all, he just walked out and slammed the door behind him. The moment it closed, she sank to the floor and sobbed, gasping for air as her tears rolled down her cheeks. She was ripped in half by what she wanted; both her career and Antonio, and it was crystal clear to her that she was only going to have one of them, and she knew which one it was. She was going to have to let Antonio go completely, and the idea of doing that hurt her heart deeply.
Julian left the studio and drove home, his anger boiling in him to a point that it never had. He zipped the car along the roads of Los Angeles; tires squealing, engine roaring, all the way back to the mansion. He slammed on the brakes in front of the house, threw the car into park and didn’t even bother to turn it off. He left the driver’s side door open and flew up the stairs to the front door, throwing it open and looking around in a rage.
“Antonio!” he yelled out, his eyes darting all around for his brother.
There was no response. He walked into the foyer and through some of the adjacent rooms, and was coming back into the foyer when he saw his brother walking down the stairs from the upper level. Antonio was rolling the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows.
“Julian,” He said in a level voice as he met his brother’s wild eyes.
“You!” Julian shouted, stabbing his finger through the air toward his brother. “You betrayed me! You went behind my back! How could you do this to me?! I told you to leave her alone! I told you! You went after her anyway! How could you do that to me? I’m your brother, Antonio! Your own brother! Your flesh and blood!”
Antonio reached the bottom of the stairs and looked down slightly at his younger brother. They were as different as they could be. Antonio stood there in his dress pants, button up shirt, and a tie which had been loosened slightly. His hair was combed back neatly, his face clean-shaven. His shoulders were squared back, his jaw lifted, his eyes hard on his brother. He seemed to be an impenetrable wall. Julian was in jeans and a pullover shirt, his dark hair tousled in array, his cheeks flushed with anger, looking like he could explode in every direction at any moment.
Julian’s outburst in Gabriella’s dressing room had changed everything between them, and it was the first time as adults that a fight between them had been so powerful that it was causing a rift. Antonio had realized it on the way home from the studios; he had spent every moment in the car on the way home carefully thinking about everything that had happened, and what would happen, and he had come to some hard and bleak realizations.
“What did you say to Gabriella when I left?” he asked sternly as he stood before Julian.
Julian felt his ire flash hotter in him and he ground his teeth. “It isn’t your business what I said to her!” he shot at his brother like a swift blow.
Antonio clenched his jaw. “It is my business, Julian, because she is my business! What did you say to her?” he repeated, his voice remaining level, but with an undertone of strength.
Julian considered not telling Antonio briefly, but then he thought that it might hurt his brother to know what was said, and he wanted to hurt him more than anything right then; to lash back at him and put him in his place.
“I told her that if she ever sees you again, I’ll destroy her career. She wants her modeling career more than she wants you, so you can just forget ever seeing her again. I forbade her from seeing you, just like I am forbidding you from seeing her, again, but you better listen to me this time.” He jammed his finger in the air toward Antonio, but didn’t get too close to him.
“I promise you, Antonio, if I find out that you tried to see her at all, even once, I will fire her from the magazine, and I will make it my own personal mission to destroy her reputation in the industry, and she won’t ever get a modeling job again. She’ll be blackballed all over the world. I promise you that. You want to destroy everything she says she’s worked so hard for? Do it. See her again and watch what I do. You’re going to bring the axe down on her, just out of greed. Never see her again! Ever!” Julian demanded, glaring at Antonio.
Injustice and anger began to burn deep and hot in Antonio and he felt the rift between them growing. He shook his head slowly and looked his brother directly in the eye.
“You can’t possibly be making a threat like that, Julian! It’s the girl’s whole career! You’d destroy that out of jealousy? Out of retaliation because she won’t sleep with you but she wants me? You’d really do that? Over something so totally unimportant? You don’t care about her at all! She’s nothing to you; just another woman, just another piece of ass for you! What do you care?
You go through women all the time and none of them mean anything to you! Why does this one matter? You don’t care about her, you don’t like her, you don’t love her, she means nothing to you! This is all about you getting what you want! You’re a selfish, spoiled, son of a bitch who is ready to demolish a woman’s life just because she doesn’t want to have sex with you!” his voice raised slightly, as his temper began to flare even more.
Julian gritted his teeth and nearly shouted back at Julian. “It’s a matter of pride! It’s a matter of family honor! It shouldn’t matter how I feel about her, and it shouldn’t matter what I want her for! What should matter here is that you are not putting me first! I am your brother! Your blood! If I want the woman, and I had her before you did, then I should get her! You should respect me, and respect our bond and what I want, and you should stay the hell away from her!
I told you at first that you could have her when I was done with her, but now I don’t even want you to have that! You’re putting her before me, and that isn’t what family does! I come first! Me! I am your priority, I am your brother! She’s mine! You back the hell off! You have a duty to me and to our bond, and you are putting that trashy little bitch right between us where she has no business being!”
Anger shot through Antonio like a bolt of lightning and he had to hold himself back from completely losing his temper with Julian.
“She is not yours! She works for you, as an employee! The fact that you have been after her does not make her yours, it gives you no right over her whatsoever! She’s not a possession to be owned, Julian, she is a person; a woman, and you cannot possess her like an object! She does not want to give herself to you, and you have to acknowledge that and let it go! She said no, she said she doesn’t want you, that’s it! Let her go! It just so happens that she wants me, and I want her! I want more than just to take her to my bed, Julian, I am falling in love with her, I want her in my life, and you are the only thing standing in the way of that happening!” He took a step toward Julian, who was fuming at that point, and he continued.
“I am not breaking any brotherly bond here, Julian, and you have no right pulling that crap with me. None! She’s between us right now because you want her for sex and I want her for love. If you can’t see how stupid and shallow that is, then you’re the one who doesn’t understand what our brother bond is! You’re the one who has no right to her!
You don’t want her for anything more than a quick lay, and she’s worth so much more than that. She’s worth being loved, and I can give her that; I want to give her that! How do you have no respect for me, for my love for her, and most of all for her as a human being? How can you be so damn chauvinistic? How can you put no worth at all on the love I have for her? How does your lust for her come before my love for her?” Antonio was on a warpath. Everything that he had been keeping bottled up was being unleashed, and there was no holding back the tide.
Julian’s eyes were ablaze with outrage. “I had her first! I told you to stay away from her and you didn’t! You don’t respect anything! Our blood bond should be the most important thing to you and it’s obvious to me that it isn’t! I’ve had it with you taking whatever you want no matter how I feel about it! You don’t get everything just because you’re older, Antonio, there are limits to what you should get, and she is beyond your limits because she’s mine! You stepped in where you had no business being and you put yourself first, like you always do!
You’re a selfish bastard, Antonio! I’ve put up with your greediness long enough! I’m going to tell you this right now, and I mean it! If you go after her, not only will I destroy her career, but us… you and me big brother, we are done. I will disown you and that’s the god’s honest truth. You choose her over me, you lose me. That’s how this is going to go. You think you love her enough to lose your own brother? Go after her. I will destroy her and I will leave you; you will be dead to me forever!”
The line had been drawn. Antonio knew as he stared at his brother that Julian was in earnest. He meant every word he said. Everything was in jeopardy. Their brotherhood, their family, his love for Gabriella, her career, and he knew that when Julian discovered the changes at the company, it would only get worse.
Everything was teetering so delicately on the brink of disaster for everyone, and the one who seemed to be pulling all of the strings was Julian. He was the one who was going to wreak havoc if everything didn’t go his way. Antonio knew that most of it probably wasn’t going to go Julian’s way when it was all said and done. It was going to be much worse when Julian learned that he had lost any kind of control at Medici Corp.
Julian turned on his heel and stomped out of the front door, slamming it behind him, and a moment later, Antonio heard the car engine scream and the tires squeal as Julian peeled out of the driveway. He sighed and walked to the back of the house, letting himself out of the doors onto the patio overlooking the gardens where he had danced with Gabriella.
He had no idea how he was going to try to keep from seeing her, but the more he thought about it, the more he knew that he couldn’t bear to cost her the career she had worked so hard for. He wanted her, and he knew that everything he had said to his brother was true; he was falling in love with her, but he couldn’t let his desire and need for her cost her everything she had spent most of her life building up. He refused to be the downfall that ended her career; especially for his own desires.
He was going to have to let her go, as much as he didn’t want to, as much as he ached for her and wished with all of his heart that she could be his, he knew that there was no way it could happen. Not as long as his brother was holding all of the aces and calling all of the shots. Julian was the only thing stopping them, and he wasn’t going to budge. There was no future for either of them with Julian making the rules and demands.
There was no way around it. He was going to have to let Gabriella go, at least for a while. At least until his brother’s interest in her waned and his focus shifted to other desires. Then maybe, some distant day in the future, he might have a chance at winning Gabriella as his own, if she hadn’t found someone else by then, and if she had forgiven him for everything that had happened with his brother.