"Ginevra stays where she is," I repeated for the umpteenth time to Jacob and the others.
"Fuck, Lorenzo, that girl saved your life. My sources confirmed everything he told us, and she wasn't joking when she told us that Edoardo Rinaldi wants her dead ", Sebastian was furious.
"She's been good in that dump for two days without complaining even though we're keeping her under pressure. She told us all she knew and why she sought refuge here. Come on, Lorenzo, that girl was treated like an outcast from society by her father! I can't blame her for what she did! They even wanted to force her to marry Brian! "
"I know," I sighed with my head throbbing painfully. I had witnessed all the interrogations Jacob and Sebastian had subjected her to. I had always been on the sidelines and refused to speak to her, to believe what she had told us.
However, I could not deny the evidence.
Everything I knew about Ginevra now made sense.
It was as if each piece of the puzzle had found its place.
Yet I couldn't forget the dull pain I had felt when I found out who she was.
A Rinaldi! I could never have loved a Rinaldi!
"If you don't intend to free her, then kill her before you find all your employees turning against you, since they are all fond of Ginevra and they are against what you are doing to her," Jacob provoked me in a defiant tone that made my nerves jump. He had always been the most suspicious of Ginevra, but since he had saved me, he had done nothing but justify and protect her.
"Do you think I won't?"
"Prove it to me," he challenged me, holding out his gun.
I took the weapon in a fit of anger. I would never let myself be teased by my second in command.
I was about to go downstairs when I heard the sound of a gunshot, a scream and I saw Randy running wildly towards me. He was terrified and pointed to the prisoner's room.
Ginevra!
In an instant I felt the blood freeze in my veins.
If something happened to her, I ...
I would have died.
I ran and when I arrived in the basement, I was greeted by the laughter of a man who had fun shooting towards Ginevra, who tried to hide but without success, since there was no possibility of finding shelter in that cell of five meters by five meters.
"Put that weapon down or I'll shoot you," I said, pointing the weapon at the intruder's neck.
"I was told you are having difficulty finishing the job and so I thought I'd give you a hand," the man chuckled without lowering the gun.
"I'll handle that. This is my house and you are not welcome, Daddy," I snarled through clenched teeth, when his amber eyes met mine of the same color.
"I'm leaving but kill her first. It's a Rinaldi and I want her dead after what she did to you. Jacob told me everything. "
"Go away," I hissed, furious with him and my friend who had come to ask for help from the only person in the world with the person I no longer wanted to have anything to do with.
"You know the rule between the Rinaldis and the Orlandos, don't you?"
"Yup."
"Then why is she still alive?"
"She's mine," I said firmly, leaving my father stunned for a moment.
"Are you falling in love with her ..."
"It's none of your business."
"Then kill her."
"No."
"No?!"
"No."
"Lorenzo, I know you too well and I don't like what I see," said my father, realizing that there was something strong and profound between me and Ginevra, if I had decided to protect her to such an extent as to point a gun at him.
"No, dad. Seven years have passed, and you no longer know anything about me and my life. "
"You think so? Do you really think I'm not keeping an eye on you? Do you think I don't know that you love that woman so much that you would do crazy things for her? "
"It's not true."
"Are you sure?" He challenged me with a clever spark in his eyes.
"Yup."
"We'll find out right away," he said with a sinister smile, loading the weapon and pointing it straight at Ginevra.
"What do you want, dad?" I understood. He never did anything for nothing.
"Your beauty's inheritance, to begin with."
"She has been disinherited. She has nothing left. "
"Another daughter who gives up her inheritance for freedom, huh? Now I understand why you like it so much. You are so alike. "
"Put that weapon down," I told him ferociously.
"If I can't have her, then I want you."
"What?"
"Back home. Reclaim your place as my heir and I promise you that no one will dare to harm this woman."
"Forget it."
"Either you accept my conditions, or I kill you. Me or her, Lorenzo. It's up to you to choose whom to kill. Your father or the woman you love? "
"I don't love her," I blurted out furiously at that ultimatum, but above all because I knew the words I had spoken were untrue.
"Lorenzo." Ginevra's voice was weak and insecure, but I heard it. "I don't want you to kill your father for me. Please drop your gun and let my fate be fulfilled. As much as I want to deny it, I will always remain a Rinaldi and I can never be part of your world. "
"Finally, someone who has some sense!" Exclaimed my father, hiding the disturbance that I read on his face for a moment. Apparently, he did not expect a Rinaldi to speak in his defense.
"I'll give you three seconds to leave ..." I threatened my father, determined to put an end to that stalemate. Actually, I would never have had the courage to kill him, but it was important that he believed me at that moment or for Ginevra it was the end.
"Three. Two. One ... No! ", I screamed when I saw a bullet in Ginevra's direction. I didn't think my dad would really have the courage to shoot.
Instinctively, Ginevra collapsed on the ground and I ran to her to see where she had been hit.
"Ginevra!" I shouted with my heart rumbling crazy in my chest.
"I'm fine," she whispered trembling, and pale in the face.
I hugged her to me as if I could protect her whole body and erase all those memories from her mind.
"I guess you made a decision," my father said to me before leaving. "I'll give you a month to take the reins of the Orlando empire."
I was struggling to breathe because of the fear I felt, but I was lucid enough to understand that my father had voluntarily missed his aim. He was an excellent shooter and would never have missed Ginevra if he hadn't wanted to. His was a warning, a way to make me decide.
And it had worked.
At that moment I would have done anything, even sell my soul, to save Ginevra.
Why?
Because I loved her. Madly. So much so that I could not think of living without her.