Quinn squeezed my hand and leant towards me. “Stay with the boys, little girl, I should go speak to the rest of them, okay?”
I nodded knowing whilst he wanted to stand by me right now, he still had to do things to protect us. As he left my side, he was replaced by all three of the others crowding around me and almost pushing my mother out of the way. Eric had his hand on my shoulder as he stood behind me, Xav wrapped one around my waist and Rory was in front of me staring at Vincenzo with narrowed eyes.
They were making a statement.
I was theirs.
My mother’s blue eyes were wide and Vincenzo had that sly smile on his face. I leant further into Xav and Eric, feeling proud to be theirs. Proud that we were showing the fucking world we were together. That this wasn’t just a short term fling, a direct result of us being forced together in close quarters. We were real.
“I should leave you to it,” Vincenzo said, giving me a wink before strolling away.
“I don’t like that guy,” Xav growled low when he was out of earshot.
“He’s harmless,” I said quietly.
Vincenzo might be a bit of a dick, but he was never a danger to me other than wanting to get between my legs. He wouldn’t dare try anything now.
“He wants you and I don’t fucking like it.”
I looked up at my overprotective beast of a man, his expression almost murderous.
“You know I’m yours, tesoro.”
His hand around my waist tightened.
“I just hope he fucking knows that. Dickhead needs to keep his eyes off you and his dick in his pants.”
I refrained from saying that was the pot calling the kettle black considering how much Xav didn’t keep his dick in his pants around me and Eric, but I decided not to poke the bear when he was in a bad mood.
“Don’t mind him, hellcat, he’s grumpy,” Eric whispered in my ear. “Rory and I were giving him shit.”
I raised an eyebrow and looked back at him. He was smiling, his green eyes twinkling and his chestnut hair falling in his eyes.
“Don’t tell her that.”
“What? It’s true. You keep telling Quinn to chill out. Well… so do you.”
“Fuck off, E.”
“Boys, quit it,” I hissed not wanting them to be fighting in front of Isabella who was still staring at us, disbelief written all over her features.
I turned to her whilst still keeping close to my boys. They noticed I was looking at her.
“Mrs Russo,” Xav said with a nod.
“I would say it’s nice to see you three again, but I would be lying,” she said in a low voice. “Especially when you’ve clearly dragged my daughter into this… debauchery.”
I would’ve been annoyed at her giving them shit, but in all honesty, I found her disapproval amusing.
“It wasn’t them, Mother, it was me. I asked for a relationship with each of them.”
Her eyes flicked to me and she looked incredulous.
“You?”
“Yes. Me.”
Her mouth thinned and she stared at me, almost dumfounded my assertion.
“What are you doing here, anyway? Did you come to check up on me? Does Viktor know you’re here?”
She looked over at Gregor for a moment who watched us silently. If he even dared say a word to Eric, I would be in his face in an instant. No one would threaten my men and get away with it ever again. They were mine to protect.
“Yes, he does. And I came to support you, just like I told Vincenzo.”
“Why would he let you come here?”
“He was there when I spoke to your f… Frank on the phone and told him I was leaving him.”
“You did what?”
I couldn’t believe it. She’d told me she’d left without telling Frank when I saw her.
“I told him I was leaving and that he could do what he wanted, but I was going to protect you because you’re my daughter.”
I blinked. Then I leant back further into Eric. He dropped his hand from my shoulder and instead, wrapped an arm around my chest from behind.
“You’re okay,” he whispered in my ear. “I’ve got you.”
I didn’t know what to say to her but having the support of my boys gave me the strength to stay standing. Eric was always there when I was emotionally overwhelmed. Always. He knew what I needed.
Isabella stared between the four of us and then by some miracle, understanding formed across her features. Like she suddenly started to get it. Perhaps. I didn’t know if she could ever understand my relationship with them, but it didn’t matter. She’d done something I hadn’t expected. And somehow, I no longer felt so angry with her for what she’d done. Somehow, I started to realise perhaps she’d done everything she could to keep me safe from Frank.
I didn’t know if I could forgive her, but I did feel as though I needed to stop being angry about it. I needed to learn to let go of the past so I could focus on the future.
“Are you saying you’re going to help me going forward? You know Quinn wants to destroy Frank.”
She nodded slowly.
“And you know I want to destroy him too.”
She nodded again.
“Then maybe we can talk about this tomorrow.”
That’s when Quinn reappeared by our sides. He glanced at Isabella.
“It’s time we left before things go south,” he muttered.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve done what I can, but I don’t know if it’s enough. I need you safe, little girl and I need it right now.”
Eric let go of me at the same time as Xav and my four boys directed me towards the door, ignoring Isabella and Gregor. I looked back at her, finding her eyes on me. They pleaded with me not to give up on her.
And I really didn’t know if I could do that or not.
Chapter 26
Having spent the last half an hour dealing
